23+2 Vils Fast Castle Boom

The plan is to reach Castle Age as fast as possible while still having enough resources to start booming with extra Town Centers and economic upgrades. Only go for this if you're safe from early pressure (Arena, Hideout, walls, and similar setups), it's the best way to set yourself up for a strong late game. Be as efficient as possible in Dark Age with your resource gathering, and aim for zero idle Town Center time. Pro tip: farm around your stone or gold Town Center first, since you want more wood and food than minerals in early Castle Age.

  1. [Dark] Send 6 villagers to sheep (pop 6)
  2. [Dark] Send 3 villagers to wood (pop 9)
  3. [Dark] Send 1 villager to boar (pop 10)
  4. [Dark] Send 1 vil to make house then mill on berries (pop 11)
  5. [Dark] [Highly Recommended] Lure 3 deer with your scout into your tc
  6. [Dark] Add 2 more to hunt under TC and grab second boar (pop 13)
  7. [Dark] Send 4 more vils to berries (pop 17)
  8. [Dark] Seed 4 farms with sheep villagers when the boars run out (pop 17)
  9. [Dark] Send 4 more villagers to wood (only 1 lumber camp) (pop 21)
  10. [Dark] Send 2 villagers to gold (pop 23)
  11. [Dark] Research Feudal Age (perfect landing time: 10:30) (pop 23)
  12. [Feudal] When food under tc runs out, send remaining vils to straggler trees
  13. [Feudal] Send 1 villager to make a blacksmith
  14. [Feudal] Send 2 villager to make a market (usually the ones on straggler trees)
  15. [Feudal] Send 2 more villagers to wood (only 1 lumber camp) (pop 25)
  16. [Feudal] Research Castle Age (perfect landing time: 14:00)
  17. [Castle] Research double bit axe
  18. [Castle] Research horse collar
  19. [Castle] Send 1 villager from a straggler tree to the main lumber camp (pop 25)
  20. [Castle] Seed farms with remaining straggler vils (pop 25)
  21. [Castle] Make 1 TC on a woodline away from your lumber camp
  22. [Castle] Research bow saw
  23. [Castle] Make another TC on secondary gold or main stone if possible
  24. [Castle] Use market to buy food or wood whenever you can afford it
  25. [Castle] [Optional] Get heavy plow

What next: Keep booming and prioritizing your economy for a few more minutes. Get Wheelbarrow around 18 farms, and Hand Cart whenever you can afford it afterward. Feel free to start mining stone and add a 4th Town Center whenever you're ready. Ideally, you move into Imperial Age after booming, but feel free to add military earlier if your opponent is pushing, or if you want to push yourself. Once you're done booming, commit to a solid composition (a general rule of thumb is 1 gold unit, 1 trash unit, and 1 siege unit). Pro tip: keep making villagers until you hit 200 population (not 200 villagers!), you can always delete extras or use them for risky Castle drops. Just don't slack on building military alongside them!

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