18 Vils Scouts into Skirms

NOTE: This build is for Deer Arabia games. On chicken maps, use the chickens Dark Age build first, then come back to this one from Feudal Age onward. This is a great answer to Archer players when you're opening with Scouts. The usual path is Scouts into Knights, but a Scout rush is flexible enough to lead into Archers, Cavalry Archers, Light Cavalry, or in this case, Skirmishers. The idea is to run a standard Scout opening to pressure and control the game. The trouble comes if your opponent goes Man-at-Arms into Archers, or just 1-2 Ranges of pure Archers, pure Scouts can work against that sometimes, but if they mix in several Spearmen too, having only Stable units leaves you in a bad spot. The fix is to mix in a Range and transition into Skirmishers to defend yourselves, and as it turns out, Scouts plus Skirmishers is a fantastic Feudal Age composition. Once you've defended against the Archer or Spearman pressure, you can counterattack for big damage. From there it's your choice: commit to heavy Feudal Age pressure, or cut Scout production and aim for a faster Castle Age.

  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] [Recommended] 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)
  11. [Feudal] Move 6 vils from hunt to wood until you have 8 on one lumber camp
  12. [Feudal] Move 4 vils from hunt to berries
  13. [Feudal] Send 2 vils from hunt to make barracks and a house
  14. [Feudal] Research double bit axe
  15. [Feudal] [Optional] Get horse collar
  16. [Feudal] Vils from TC go to hunt or straggler trees
  17. [Feudal] Make scouts
  18. [Feudal] Start making farms as soon as you can afford them
  19. [Feudal] Send 2 villagers from TC or stragglers to woodline
  20. [Feudal] Start making skirm
  21. [Feudal] Make a blacksmith and get fletching and armor ASAP
  22. [Feudal] Get Wheelbarrow
  23. [Feudal] Any New vils go to farms

What next: You can click up to Castle Age right after Wheelbarrow finishes if you have the resources for it, otherwise make a few more villagers first and send them to farms. If you want to play an extended Feudal Age instead, get Bloodlines, Forging, and cavalry armor, and you can even add a 2nd Stable for serious pressure. As a general rule, 1 Range constantly producing Skirmishers is enough to shut down Archer play in Feudal Age, as long as you have Fletching and armor on them. In Castle Age, the most common follow-up is Elite Skirmisher plus Knights, and it's worth getting Ballistics early if you're grabbing Elite Skirmisher. In some cases your opponent will drop Archers entirely, in which case you can skip the Elite Skirmisher upgrade and go straight into Knights or Cavalry Archers. REMEMBER: always get Bodkin Arrow and the 2nd armor upgrade when going Elite Skirmisher, that armor upgrade is key to making the unit effective against Archers. GLHF!

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