I wrote this for some of my friends to learn from when they first started to play AoK,, It work well on most maps even in AoC (Except Arabia because most people flush on this map)......... I tried to design it to be as easy as possible to do and follow, and it allows you to do what you like,, you can either boom,,, or attack in castle age its totally up to you how you execute 

Start by Pressing the H,CCC keys (this will start creating villagers) then build 1 house with 2 Vill’s and another house with 1 Vill.

Move the scout around the outside of you TC to scout the area (use the SHIFT key to set way points) then set you gathering point on a tree near your TC

When your first house is built use the 2 Vill’s to Scout around till you find sheep or chop down some wood (while you scout scouts).

When you have finished second house get the 1 villager to chop wood (from straggler tree) or scout for sheep too, if you have not already found them.

Soon as you have found the sheep, move them back to the middle of TC square, (so the villagers don’t have to walk, just stand) and get all Vill’s eating them and set the gathering point on them. Then follow the chart below (moving the gathering point as needed).

P.S Don’t forget to keep your TC doing something at all times. If you cant build a villager research loom (also you may want to research loom before boar luring, or scouting far from TC)……………….

Then press the Feudal Button (this should be about 9.40mins)

If your run out of sheep go eat some dears (if they are a long way away you may want to build a mill).

When you get enough wood to build a barracks take a wood chopper and build one near to the woods.

When you reach Feudal Age:- build 2x Villagers, mean while build a market then Black Smiths.

Then press the Castle Age Button (this should be about 14.10mins) for a time of about 16.30mins and a pop of 28….. (you can get a faster castle time by not building 2x Villagers, but you will have a weaker economy). Now you can research Double Axe Bit + Gold Mining for a stronger economy (if you want)JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

This is a basic guide on how to get an average castle time of 15:30 to 17:30 on Arabia or other such land map.

Faster and slower castle times are possible depending on number of villagers you build and the civilization played.

It was written since there is a lack of good update to date general fast castling Articles besides the DevilZ British Fast Castle and Captn_Kidd’s six month old Newbie guide.

It is really a compilation of my experiences playing AoK, AoE, and RoR and the current fast castle technique. I have also included some tips and tricks that o thought might be helpful. Also it wouldn’t of been possible if there was no MFO and the entire gang over there.

Before you start there are a few principles you must understand in order to get a fast Castle.

1.                     Never have you TC idle if it’s not building a villager or researching a technology or upgrade, you have done something wrong.

2.                     Don’t have idle villagers. Idle villagers results in less resources and slower times.

3.                     Scout the greatest area possible as fast as possible.

4.                     If you going for speed try to have you villagers working for long as possible and minimize walking distances.

5.                     Unless your Saving up resources for buildings and upgrades don’t have resources saved up this means as soon as you get some wood or food in dark age spend it as fast as possible, resources just sitting there do nothing (also if you do spend it, spend it on something that will either help you economy, something you need, or something that you will put to use soon; for example in most games there is typically no need or use of a barracks till well after someone has pressed the feudal button so it shouldn’t be built till the last possible second if its built too early it is 175 wood just lying there doing nothing). (Note: Ignore parts of this rule if your are expecting an early feudal rush)

6.                     Always stay ahead of housing by at least 2 that means building a house after the 13^th, 18^th, 23^rd, and 28^th, population unit or earlier. (Note: this is Different For Water maps)

7.                     Unless you need a building to be put up really fast like the necessary buildings to advance in age, try to build all buildings before the castle age with one or two villagers maximum.

8.                     Take full advantage of civilization’s bonuses and tech tree this means change the way you play to maximize the civilization’s bonuses. A few examples of this are less sheepherders with Britons, fewer woodcutters with Celts, and maybe use of Market with Saracen.

9.                     Adapt your play to Map Types and the unique differences of every individual map and situation.

10.                 Never underestimate your opponent and be prepared for anything they might throw at you. Always place close attention to opponents score and age times. Even the best laid plans and economies get wasted or compromised by some well-played tactics by your opponents (i.e. stealing your sheep, killing one of your boars, or some early military harassment.)

11.                 “Location, Location, Location” Don’t just put your buildings anywhere plan ahead and be thinking about where you will place your buildings when you are scouting and before you place any kind of economic buildings make sure you have scouted the general area to make sure it is the best possible location resource collection wise. Also try to predict how you opponent will attack and place you military buildings to defend the area that you would think would be the weakest if you had just scouted you base.  Also if possible try to either use your houses to either be radar houses in which they are spread far out apart and give you an great LoS (needs town watch to be truly effective) and/or Try to put them in some sort of defensive formation in which they can protect from early rushes by forming a barrier between enemy units and your villagers. 

12.                 Don’t loom till late as possible. Economic wise it is best to try to loom either when you have a food delay and can’t build a villager, just before you lure a boar, or when you first head out of the immediate area and safety of your TC to either forward build or wall. If you loom too early it may lead to a resource difference of about 40-100 res while its not much it can mean the difference between a 15:30 castle time and an 16:40 castle time later on.

Dark Age:

The First thing you should do when you first get in a game is hit HCCC after that is done you should select two villagers and tell them to build a house one farm distance away from the TC. After that take the third villager and move him in the opposite direction that your scout will move towards with that villager scout the area around there for some sheep and then build a house. Then while the villager is moving select the scout hotkey him to 1 by pressing Ctrl-1. After doing that have a scout do a tight circle around the TC just Outside of the LoS of the TC using waypoints. If you’re lucky your scout and/or villager should find some sheep pretty quickly. There is usually at least 6 sheep near your TC usually in a group of 4 and 2. If you find 6 sheep right in the beginning send 4 to the TC and have you first 6 villagers start processing the sheep and have the other 2 sheep help scout out the area around the TC (Note: don’t do this if you think you close to an enemy or you think you may be playing a rookie, some rookies have the tendency to send their scout to your base with out scouting their base at all and may cause you to lose some sheep.) Also Manage your sheep try to manage your sheep only kill 1 one sheep at a time. While some people do say 3 or 4 villagers per a sheep is the best number I like to keep 5 or 6 on one sheep at a time. Also try to keep the sheep not being processed off to the side of the TC only keep 1 sheep right next to the sheep the is currently being processed this way your villagers when they are done won’t go off and kill different sheep when they are done.

After you find the sheep with your scout you should set many waypoints for your scout to cover most of the map in an efficient pattern. You should use your scout to try to find your sheep and boars first. After that is done try to find 2 of your gold mines and 2 of your stone mines. If you can spare it try to build a radar houses by your mines they are prime locations for a forward enemy TC. (Note: I have been in games when I was denied access to my stone mines since they are usually very limited, access can also be cut off to gold but it is a little harder to do since there is usually more gold mines that are more evenly spread out.) Well anyway for the first 6 minutes your scout should scout the general area around your base after that is done and you got an good idea of the layout of the land, resource locations, and choke points you should then head out and look for the enemy.

After your first 6 villagers are processing sheep set you gather point on the nearby berry patch have your 7^th villager start building a mill have your 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th villager collect berries and when the 7^th villager is done building the mill have him collect berries too. After your tenth villager is done, move the gather point from berries to straggler trees. Keep the gather point on the stragglers rotate the gather point to different stragglers if a tree becomes too crowded. After you have 100 wood (around the 5^th or 6^th minute usually start building a lumber camp at a pre-scouted area with a decent size forest that is pretty close and can be easily defended and TC if possible (make sure your ok in the housing department before you build the lumber camp). When the lumber camp is about 50% complete move your gather point over there. And slowly rotate your guys off stragglers to the new lumber camp.

Right now it should be around the 6^th or 7^th minute it is time to lure a boar it is essential that you lure your boar before the 7^th or 8^th minute anytime slower than that will lead to a slower feudal time and ultimately a slower castle time. You should research Loom before you go boar luring but if the boar is close and on level land it may not be needed but you should always play it safe when boar luring at least till you get some practice at it. Typically the best way to lure a boar is when you are down to your last sheep or 100 food on the last boar send a villager with full health towards a boar and have him shoot it twice and then command the villager to either return to an area near the TC or garrison the villager in TC depending on the health of the villager. When the villager is about a little more than 1 TC length or 2 farm lengths away from the TC Check the villagers health if the villager has less than half life garrison the villager if the villager has more than half life command the villager to move towards a point on the other side of the TC with a path that would take it through the TC. After you have ordered the Boar luring villager on its course select at least 5 villagers at the TC (they should be either still working on the sheep or on the last boar if everything is timed correctly) have them dump their food and attack the boar. This if done correctly will lead to killing the boar directly in the middle of the TC. It is imperative that the Boar be killed in the middle of the TC killing it outside the TC will dramatically slow down your castle times. Repeat the Boar luring with the second boar when there is about 100 food left on the first boar.

            During the 7^th minute if there is still villagers left on stragglers left I convert them to farmers also the 7^th minute is the time I typically start farming it is imperative that by mid 9^th minute you have at least 4 farmers, less will lead to a food shortage. Typically once I start getting a good wood flow in whenever I get 60 wood and have a free villager I use it to build a farm. I typically reach castle age with 6 or 7 farms that is about the number needed for an about an average 16 minute castle time. (Note: It is possible to get a slightly faster time if you build only 3 or 4 farms and use the last 4 villager that would usually farm to go hunt a nearby pack of deer. But I find it too micromanaging intensive most of the time plus the villager usually finish hunting at a very inopportune time typically early castle age when I am in the middle of a wood shortage after building multiple TCs.)

Feudal Transition:

By the late 9^th or 10^th minute you should be ready to press the Feudal Button. Here is where a little variety can occur you have to ask yourself around the 9^th minute should you sell your stone or mine gold? Both sides have its advantages and disadvantages. Its more of a personal decision but selling stone usually leads to a slightly faster time but leads you very vulnerable to early archer attacks. Mining gold is the prefer choice by me since it gives you more options later on. It takes about 26-29 seconds for one villager to mine 10 gold and return it to a pit with those numbers it takes a little over 2:15 to collect 150 gold with 3 non-Turkish Villagers so the optimal time to start mining gold with 3 villagers is around the time you press the feudal button. If you start mining gold more than 25 seconds after you hit the feudal button you will need to add a 4^th miner in order to avoid a delay caused by a gold shortage. If you plan on harassing the enemy with archers before you castle then you will need about 5 miners.

During the feudal transition is also when your barracks is built make sure you put it in a location that will either help with an attack or use it to defend from an Knight raid preferably near your wood and gold.

Late feudal transition is the optimal time to start moving your forward villagers into position if you plan or any sort of late feudal/early castle rush take two villagers off of berries and move them into a position near the enemy base preferably while being escorted by your scout.

From the moment you hit the feudal button you can usually take a guess at your castle time typically if everything goes right, you should reach the castle age about 6 minutes after you hit the feudal button. (2:10 feudal transition + 2:40 castle transition +1:00 Building build time)

Also you should still be farming and if you don’t have 6 or 7 farms yet keep adding them till you do have 7 or till it’s 60% feudal if you build farms after 60% it will hamper your ability to build the necessary buildings.

Feudal Age:

            Here you are in the feudal age at about the 12^th to 13^th minute you are well on your way to a fast castle time if you’re looking good in the food, wood and gold department. You should have 650-700+ food, about 350 wood and around 165 gold if you don’t have the necessary resources it will slow down your castle time. (Note: if you are short in the gold you can build a market and sell your stone to get the necessary gold to castle.) Since you need two feudal age buildings to advance in age and it takes time to build those buildings you should do something with this idle time at the TC. If you are looking very good in the food department you have the choice of getting town watch or some additional villagers. It’s a personal choice but if you have done a good job radar housing and think you enemy will forward build then I recommend getting town watch it will greatly improve your LoS and have saved my town many times. The other option is getting more villagers, which can help strengthen your economy. You also have the option of getting wheel barrow but the consensus seems to be in the AoK Community that two more villagers gives you more bang for the buck in feudal age.

Now that your TC is busy working have the necessary resources to age all you need is the buildings typically if you have an barracks already built one of your buildings should be an feudal age military building but the choice is up to you on which combination of blacksmith/Market/Stable/Archery you chose.

            The only question left is how many villagers you should build each building with below is a chart on how long each building take to build with 1, 2, or3 villagers

After you buildings are built and you upgrades are done you should press the button to upgrade to castle age.

Castle Age Transition and Castle Age:

            If everything is going right you should have pressed castle age button some times during the 13^th or 14^th minute. During the castle age transition many things can happen some players during this time like to do a light attack of archers and spears to slow you down  (no I’m not talking about a flush but an player sending some archers and spears to attack you after you have pressed the button to castle). Be prepared for it if it happens.  Also during this transition time you should fine-tune your economy based on the units you will attack with.  Also it is imperative that you get some feudal age upgrades during this transition.  You should always get the wood cutting upgrades at the lumber camp as soon as you can next upgrade you need is the gold mining upgrade thou not as vital as the wood cutting if you have the resources you can get the farming upgrade but it is not really has very little benefits in the short term unlike the other upgrades.  Also get any black smith upgrades that relate to the kind of unit you plan to attack but fletching should be a priority even if you aren’t planning on using archers since it upgrades the damage and range your TCs do (at least till they fix it in the patch).

There you are now you are in castle age.

Extra Notes:

            Do you know its possible to know when someone presses the button to upgrade the age but hasn’t reached it yet if you play attention to the score closely?  It’s true the way the AoK keeps track of resource spending it deducts points when you use res and you don’t get the points back till you get a tangible result from them what does this mean? Basically it means this when someone presses the feudal Button they loses 50 points from their score, when they hit castle button its 100 pts and 180 points when they press imp (Except for Byz).  It’s really very hard to keep track off but could be useful knowledge

Tell me what you think if you like it send comments to KoV_Crusader@yahoo.com

Also I don’t claim to be an expert an some information maybe wrong or out of date.