Saracen Generic Fast Castle with Knight Rush ( by Arcane)

I'm really bored right now, so I decided to write a rather in-depth post. This is a write up on how to obtain a fast castle (sub 17:00) while attacking with knights. This post is nothing new- I'm sure a lot of players can do this quite well- this post is meant to help people that are new to the game or are just not that good at building up fast.

The Quick Castle and Knight Rush 

The goal of this strategy is to reach castle age before 16:30 with enough resources to make about 8 knights. This post will tell you exactly how to do it- this build order works with any civ. (For a short version of the build, see the end of this post). 

The Long Version of the Build

Practical Considerations 

The Short Version of the Build 

The recorded Game 

1) The Build

For this to work, you need to find 2 boars and all 8 sheep -Your first 3 villagers will build 2 houses- 2 villagers will build one house, the third villager will build the second house. As this is happening your scout should be circling around, once you find your starting sheep, send them to your town center.

-The first 6 villagers will be shepards (so that's the original 3, plus the first 3 trained will all go to sheep). 

-The 7th villager will build a mill, then become pick berries 

-The 8th and 9th villagers should also pick berries So by this point you have a pop of 10/15, with 1 scout, 3 foragers and 6 shepards. 

-The 10th villager trained will head towards your first boar. Immediatly after his creation, research loom. Send this villager to the boar that is furthest from your TC, the idea is that once this villagers gets to the boar, loom has finished researching. Use this villagers to lure the boar back to your TC, your 6 shepards will become hunters. 

-Once the boar has been killed, the villager that lured it will chop wood on a tree near your TC (a straggler tree). 

-The 11th villager out build a house, then chops wood (a straggler) 

-The 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th villagers will also chop wood (Stragglers). Once you have 100 wood, build a lumber camp and move your choppers there.

-The 16th villager should lure the 2nd boar to your TC, after that he should chop wood. It doesn't have to be this villager that lures the 2nd boar

- once there is only about 100 food left in the 1st boar, you should send a villager to lure the second one. 

-The 17th villager build a house, then chops wood near the lumber camp.

-The 18th villager chops wood near the lumber camp. 

So now your pop is 19/25, you have 1 scout, 3 foragers, 6 hunters, and 9 choppers working near the lumber camp. You've went through 4 sheep already, you should have 4 sheep left (out of your 8), and you're hunters are working on their 2nd boar. 

-Villagers 19 and 20 build farms (right next to the TC). -The 21st villager builds a house, then a farm. 

-Villagers 22, 23, and 24 also build farms. Around this time your hunters should have finished their 2nd boar, so they will go back to sheep. 

So now you should have a pop of 25/30, with 1 scout, 3 foragers, 6 shepards, 9 lumberlacks, and 6 farmers. 

-Villager 25 builds a mining camp, and then mines gold -Villagers 26 and 27 also mine gold. 

***You Click the Feudal Button*** 

Once your 6 shepards have went through all 8 sheep, take 5 of them and move them to wood, and have one of them build a farm. It's important not to forget to build a farm! If you don't do this, you won't have enough food to click the castle button right away... Also, once you have 175 wood, take a lumberjack and have him build a barracks- when he's done with the barracks put him back on wood. 

So as your going to feudal, you have a pop of 28/30, with 1 scout, 3 foragers, 7 farmers, 3 gold miners, 13 lumberjacks, and 1 villager building a barracks. 

-When you reach Feudal Age, queue 2 villagers at your TC- they will both be gold miners.

-Have 2 lumberjacks build a stable, and 1 lumberjack build a blacksmith. When they are done with their buildings, put them back on wood. Your builders should finish right before your 2nd villager is created, when this happens

- click the Castle Button. During the transition to castle, take 3 villagers off wood and have them mine gold. Also, take 4 villagers off wood and have them build a mill (near dear) and have them hunt (dear- duh!). You also need to research wood chopping and horse collar, and build a 2nd stable and some houses. 

So during the transition you have a pop of 30/30 with 1 scout, 3 foragers, 7 farmers, 8 gold miners, 4 dear hunters, and 7 lumberjacks. 

Once You get to Castle -Train some more villagers- set them on wood. -Train knights, you should have enough resources for 8 knights in total. I like to attack with two groups of 4 knights, one group attacks in one place, once your opponent sends in spearmen, take that group out and send in the 2nd group to another place. 

2) Practical Considerations 

-This strategy won't work if you're getting flushed (duh), since the flush is common in 1v1s, this is a better strategy for team games. 

-Once you get to castle, you don't build a 2nd TC right away- you need those resources to raise your army. 

-You want to get to castle as quick as possible- so if you need to, use more than 2 villagers to make a stable/blacksmith (in the demo I use 4). 

-Once you get to castle, you don't research bow saw, gold mining, or any other economic upgrades- you need the food to make your 8 knights.

-You don't research bloodlines or any blacksmith upgrades- each upgrade uses the same amount of food as creating 2 knights does, personally I'd rather have the 2 extra knights than the upgrades. 

-After you've made your 8 knights, it's up you as to what to do next- whether to focus on your economy or to make more military units. I like to make a 2nd town center and expand my economy while I'm still raiding my opponent with my knights. 

-Don't lose your knights! If he brings in spearmen, get out of there and strike at another spot- the point of this strategy is to wound his economy while building up yours, not to totally destroy him- that will come later 

3) Quick Version of Build

-First 6 Villagers on sheep- they will become boar hunters too. 

-Next 3 on berries. 

- Next 9 on wood. 

- Next 6 on farms. 

-Last 3 on gold. 

During transition, one shepard becomes farms, the other 5 hunters become choppers, and one chopper build a barracks 

-When you hit feudal, train to villagers- they mine gold 

-Build a stable and a blacksmith 

During Transition, go up to 8 gold miners, have 4 choppers become dear hunters (build mill), build 2nd stable and some houses, and research horse collar and wood cutting upgrades 

-When you get to castle, make 8 knights- once you get 4, attack!

Mass-Knight Rush Civilisation: Huns!!

1-6) Sheep 

Villager 7 builds a lumbercamp at the best wood spot you have scouted so far. 

7-11) Wood 

12) Lure boar 

- Loom - (the later the better, if you feel confident and can lure without loom, then you can feel free to loom later) 

Hopefully by the time the boar actually hits your lurer, loom will be researched, depends on your micro abilities really. 

Once boar is dead, all shepherds move to boar, but if theres still sheep, keep 1 villager on the sheep. 

13) Boar 

14) Boar 

15) Lure second boar 

Villager 16 goes to build mill near deer. 

16-19) Goes to hunt deer 

20) Build mill near berries 

If deer and berries are close to eachother, you won't need to build 2 mills. In the demo, the deer and berries were in fact close to eachother, BUT I was making the demo to fit any arabia, not a lucky resource placement arabia (arabia has regular resources, so if this is possible on arabia, it is possible on most other land maps). 

After hunters have finished eating the boar, move them to eat sheep and move 1 to wood and 1 to make a farm. 

21) Berries 

22) Wood 

23) Wood 

24) Build mining camp at gold 

25) Gold 

After all sheep has been consumed, use all the shepherds to make farms around your town centre, if stragglers are in the way, chop them first - only make 8 farms around the town centre, any spare villagers can move to wood. I moved my spare villager to wood at this point, so that makes 9 wood cutters. 

26-30) Gold 

31) Build barracks, and then move to gold. 

~ Click Feudal ~ 

Recap on what we have so far: 9 wood cutters, 2 foragers, 8 farmers, 8 miners, 4 hunters 

~ During Feudal ~ 

As soon as you hit feudal, queue 2 villagers and use 2 lumberjacks to make a stable, and 1 to make a blacksmith. 

32) Berries 

33) Berries 

~ Click Castle ~ 

Use the 2 stable builders to make more stables. If you find you have too much gold compared to food, then move 2 gold miners to berries. You want twice as much gold than food near this point, I am not sure why, but from my previous experiences, having two times more gold at this point is good. 

Recap again: 8 farmers, 6 foragers, 9 wood cutters still, 10 miners 

~ During Castle ~ 

Queue as much knights as possible from each stable. Research bloodlines once 20 knights are made. Make villagers. Once foragers are finished, make as much farms as you can, the rest of the foragers can move to wood. Make some more knights for protection in town - make a few spearmen if you want, but I didn't. 

There was something I could of done to make it better, I could of moved 1 wood cutter to gold instead because I found that the house bonus saved me so lots of wood, so if I moved 1 lumberjack to gold, I could of got a quicker time, but still, this build is good 

1. aztec : the economy power + if we can get 2-3 relic also cheap unit but powerfull (+4 attack research inside castle)

combo : EEW + pike + monk + siege ram

2. goth : faster creation in barrack + 10 more pop

combo : EH + halb + siege ram

3. spanish : nothing in economy but building 30% faster and bombard/hand cannon 15% accurate

combo : EC + Hussar + Bombard canon/Siege Ram

4. Mongol : easy to boom especially if got more deer

combo : EM + hussar + Siege Ram

5. Turk : free in gunpowder research + automatically scout upgrade to light & hussar makes turk can reach imp in faster time with good troops.

combo : hand cannon + hussar + bombard cannon

good civ

1. celt : EWoad raider + halb + ram

2. teuton : pala + handcannon + ram

3. persian: pala + handcannon + ram

4. mayan : EP + halb + ram

5. huns : HCA + hussar + ram + halb

normal civ

1. byzanties : ECatapract + halb + E skirm + ram

2. chinnese : EChukonu + halb + ram

3. briton : Elongbow + halb + ram

4. viking : arbalest + halb + mangonel + ram

5. korean : EWW + halb + ram

6. japanese : ESam + halb + ram

7. saracen : EMameluke + Hussar + ram

8. frank : pala + EThrowing Axeman + ram