19 Vils + 3 Fishing Ship Build

The objective of this build is to set up a strong early economy with a presence on the water. By adding 3 fishing ships in Dark Age, you gather more resources per second, and the longer they survive, the bigger the advantage. This build also gets you a dock early, which makes it easier to fight for control of the water. It's very adaptable, it works on any hybrid or water map with deep sea fish, and it opens the door to a variety of Feudal Age strategies.

  1. [Dark] Send 6 villagers to sheep (pop 6)
  2. [Dark] Send 5 villagers to wood (pop 11)
  3. [Dark] Send 1 villager to boar (pop 12)
  4. [Dark] Send 1 vil to make a house then a dock (then take shorefish usually) (pop 13)
  5. [Dark] Add 1 vil to boar under TC (pop 14)
  6. [Dark] Send 1 vil to get the second boar (pop 15)
  7. [Dark] Make fishingships (upto 3)as soon asyourdockis up, usually youalso have to make a house right after your first fishing ship
  8. [Dark] Add 4 more vils to food under TC (pop 19)
  9. [Dark] Research loom
  10. [Dark] Research Feudal Age (perfect landing time: 9:15) (pop 19)
  11. [Feudal] Right away take 7 vils from sheep under TC and make a 2nd lumber camp on another woodline (pop 19)

What next: This is actually the end of the build, not because there's nowhere else to go, but because there are too many variations from here to cover in full. Here are some tips for the most common ones: For Galley or Fire Galley rushes: send your remaining sheep villagers to straggler trees first, then send 3 to gold for Galleys, or 5 to gold for Fire Galleys. Add 1-2 extra docks and be ready to fight for the water as soon as Feudal Age hits. For maps like Four Lakes, where you'll want to fight on land while still having a dock: add a Barracks on the way up. If you go Archers, send 3 of the remaining sheep villagers to gold. If you go Skirmishers or Scouts, just keep them on sheep. As a general rule on water maps, keep adding fishing ships whenever you control the water and there's still plenty of deep sea fish left. Avoid fish trapping unless your water is super super safe. In big water, go Galleys and micro them, in smaller ponds, go for Fire Ships or Demolition Ships. Using the market to sell stone and buy food is a good way to reach Castle Age quickly without needing a ton of farms on water maps. From Castle Age onward, Demolition Ships are extremely strong, take advantage of them as much as you can.

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