Objective
The objective of this strategy is to overwhelm the enemy with an unbelievable amount of archers as fast as possible.
Build Order:
Most experts will say that you should not follow a specific build order, and I agree……except for this one. This build up is very fragile and can be very easily messed up if you’re not paying attention or are unlucky. The steps and villager assignments have been tested over and over to ensure maximum efficiency. I have tested and tweaked and twisted the build order to squeeze every last drop of wood out of it, and this order is what produces consistent results. If at any point in the build order something goes too terribly wrong, simply adjust your economy accordingly by putting more vils on food and less on wood. You won’t have enough for 3 ranges, but you will still be way ahead on wood and easily build two ranges.
Ok, here is the to-the-point-in-your-face build order. I will go into much more detail afterwards, and it is necessary that you read this detail or it will not work.
You may notice you have 4 sheep left over. That is because one of the great things about this build order is that you have 4 leftover sheep. This comes in handy if you are late finding sheep or if that nasty enemy steals them from you!
Here is the play-by-play description:
Prior to any of this you should know that when attempting this strat, your only purpose in this pitiful life is to FIND YOUR DEER HERD!! If you don’t, stop this strat and go with your normal flush build up. When the game starts, you have 2:30 to find the deer, cause that is when vil # 9 pops out ready to mill them. The only exception is on a map with 3 boars. I’m not going into details on that, but you can figure it out.
1-6: Start by putting 6 vils on sheep. These vils will eventually hunt your boar after consuming 4 sheep. Only 4 sheep are needed, so you can save the other 4 for when you get to the feudal age. When the vils stand up to deposit the food from the 3rd sheep and start to move to the 4th, send one of them to lure the 1st boar. The sheep should be almost gone when the boar arrives. Forget what’s left of the sheep and move all of them to the boar. Make sure you tell them to FORCE deposit the sheep food they have BEFORE the boar gets there, or you will lose the food they are carrying. Send one of the un-injured boar hunters to lure the 2nd boar when there is between 120 and 150 food left on the 1st, depending on the distance of the 2nd boar.
7-8: The next 2 vils go onto a nearby straggler tree. This is the key to the insane amount of wood you will have when you get to feudal.
9-10: The next 2 vils go and mill your deer, no matter if there’s 3 or 4 deer, or if they’re 2 screens away. I have gotten lucky and found my deer very near my berries a few times.
Loom. Your 1st boar lurer should be on his way or about to go get that 1st boar. (if you can get away with NOT looming till later you should do)
11-12: The next 2 vils join your lumberjacks on a local straggler (the second one will have to build a house). You should now have 4 lumberjacks. Around this time, you should have enough wood for the required house and a lumber camp, so go ahead and build the lumber camp and a house and move your lumberjacks to the camp.
13: The next vil goes to join your deer hunters. We don’t need him working on food for as long as the other two, that’s why we are adding him late. We wanted to get as many early lumberjacks as possible.
14-18: The next 5 vils go to wood at your lumber camp.
19-21: The last 3 vils go to gold, the first one building a mining camp.
Now hold that thought before we click the feudal button. Your population should now be 22, unless you lost your scout. Your villager distribution should be 3 on deer, 3 on gold, 9 on wood, and 6 idle villagers at the TC. Hehe, I know, it’s crazy, but here’s why:
The boar hunters will finish the boar a bit before your last vil is created. When they are done, you will not have enough food to feudal yet, but don’t worry--that’s what the deer hunters are for, and it’s INTENDED to be that way so your forwards get a nice head start. You should have somewhere in the range of 430-490 food. Of the 6 vils at the TC, take three (including the two injured lurers) and put them on gold, and send the other three (healthy ones) as forward builders. When the last villager is about 60% complete, check your food supply and your deer hunters. If you don’t have the food, force deposit the deer hunters and you will. Now that you’ve done all that your 21st vill should be about done, so we can…..
Click the feudal upgrade.
The Feudal Age:
Immediately after clicking the feudal upgrade, steal one of the three deer hunters and send him to gold; let the other two finish the deer, then put them on sheep. You should now have 7 on gold. This is necessary to begin preparing for the massive gold drain you will experience while running 3 ranges.
You should know what to do with the forwards. You will have plenty of wood, so drop a barracks and 1-2 houses. Your forwards got such a good head start, you will be done with the rax/houses and have walked all the way around behind your enemy (or wherever you want them) by the time you arrive in feudal. Here’s where it gets good.
Arriving in the feudal age is a bit hectic. The following things need to occur immediately upon arrival: