18 Vils Scouts into Archers

This build used to feel weak, but it's recently become one of the favorites here, it got a lot better once houses were nerfed in Feudal Age and became easier to break. It's a great fit for civilizations that want to end up on Archers but don't want to open with them, whether because of a bad map or the threat of enemy Skirmishers. It's flexible too: you can commit heavily to Feudal Age with Bloodlines, or aim for a faster Castle Age Crossbowman timing. It's especially strong against opponents who overcommit to Spearmen in response to your Scout rush. It can be tricky to execute well, but it makes life difficult for your opponent too.

  1. [Dark] Send 6 villagers to sheep (pop 6)
  2. [Dark] Send 2 villagers to wood (pop 8)
  3. [Dark] Send 1 villager to boar (pop 9)
  4. [Dark] Send 1 vil to hunt under TC (pop 10)
  5. [Dark] 1 to make a house then mill (pop 11)
  6. [Dark] 1 to get second boar (pop 12)
  7. [Dark] [Optional] Lure deer with scout once you’ve found all sheep
  8. [Dark] Send 6 vils to hunt under TC (pop 18)
  9. [Dark] Research loom
  10. [Dark] Research Feudal Age (perfect landing time: 8:50) (pop 18)
  11. [Feudal] Move 6 vils from hunt to wood until you have 8 on one lumber camp or 9 on two lumber camps (pop 18)
  12. [Feudal] Move 4 vils from hunt to berries (pop 18)
  13. [Feudal] Send 2 vils from hunt to make barracks and a house (pop 18)
  14. [Feudal] Research double bit axe
  15. [Feudal] [Optional] Get horse collar
  16. [Feudal] Make a stable
  17. [Feudal] Vils from TC go to hunt or straggler trees
  18. [Feudal] Make 1 spear minimum, more is optional depending on situation
  19. [Feudal] Make scouts
  20. [Feudal] Start making farms as soon as you can afford them, until around 8 farms
  21. [Feudal] Send 8 vils from tc to gold and make a mining camp
  22. [Feudal] Make 2 ranges as soon as you can afford them
  23. [Feudal] Start making archers
  24. [Feudal] When berries run out send them to either wood or farms
  25. [Feudal] Make a blacksmith and get fletching
  26. [Feudal] Vils from the TC go back to making farms

What next: That's the end of the build. From here you have a few options: – Keep adding farms and Scouts, and get Bloodlines plus Forging or cavalry armor to go all-in during Feudal Age – Save up for Castle Age and aim for a strong Crossbowman timing – In Castle Age, Crossbowmen paired with a few Knights is a solid answer to Skirmishers and Siege – A 2-Range, 2-Stable all-in gold composition also works well in early Castle Age against someone without much of an army – Getting Ballistics first is great unless your opponent is on Elite Skirmisher – Or simply add economy as normal and scale into a strong late game There are a lot of variations on this strategy that go beyond what's covered here.

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