The Best Build Order for Beginners Part 1: Foundation

If you get overwhelmed as soon as your opponent attacks you then maybe try out this build and see what you think! It's designed to be simple while also being an effective way to learn necessary skills to improve on the ladder.
Part 2: • The Best Build Order f...
Build order playlist: • Build Orders
How to improve series: • How to Improve at Age ...
How to wall your base: • How to Wall Your Base ...
Gameplay Channel: / survivalistgameplay6593
Twitch: / survivalistaoe2de
Discord: / discord
Heroku App: aoe2-de-tools.herokuapp.com

[@edmis90]

( 1:00 ) --- *Dark Age:* 6 sheep 4 wood 3 boar 3-5 berries The rest on food until up to feudal Up on 20-21 villagers On the way to Feudal: 9 wood (use 1-3 as wallers) 3-5 berries The rest on sheep Where do those 5 wood guys come from? Are there really 6-9 workers on sheep and none on farms? --- *Feudal Age:* Get double bit axe/horse collar Every 60 wood, add a farm Continue queuing villagers Add houses as needed Get to 15 farms Go to gold -8 villagers before wanting to go to castle age Berry villagers make farms, or go to gold Have 2 prereq buildings before clicking to castle age Where do you rally point those queue'd villagers? How am I supposed to know when I want to go to Castle Age? --- *On the way to Castle:* 9-10 gold 15-17 farms The rest on wood If I wanted to go to Castle Age at 31 villagers, do I really only have 4-7 villagers on wood and no more? --- *Castle Age:* Queue knights from all stables Research bow saw Research chain barding armor (+2) Add additional houses Attack opponent after 6-10 knights Research husbandry Bloodlines yay or nay? Can you not go Archer line with this build? Any tips for eco balance from here on out, and how many TC's and when should be added? --- I will start practicing this against the AI, once I start beating Extreme on Arabia - I'll start playing Ranked (or Unranked, or Quick match). Great video!

[@SurvivalistAoE]

1. Wood vils come from under the TC. After your second boar finishes, you'll probably have more than can fit on one sheep so you can send at that time (if you pretty much have 500 food to go up to feudal) 2. Queued vils go to straggler trees and then build a farm once you have 60 wood. 3. Knowing when to go to castle age is a complex topic, but if not much has happened in terms of enemy aggression, you should be able to go up around 33-37 villagers. If you have more than 40 vils, you're probably late (or there was a lot of aggression in feudal age) 4. Keeping 9 villagers on wood until you reach castle age is fine. You shouldn't have to adjust your woodline villager number if you keep 9 there from the time you click to feudal age. 5. Get bloodlines on the way to castle age. 6. You could do archer line as well, but it's much more difficult as you need to hit a timing with 8-10 xbow as soon as you reach castle age. 7. Additional eco balances/other things: check out my knowledge playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLQ8BgSJQQkY3XiYdhsAp1tcPAAJob9CJb

[@LbK314]

Excellent video. I realy like the premise: Master the basics first then strive for fast timings with tighter build orders. Too many players can hit Hera-like feudal timings but struggle with basics. Idling TC in Feudal, late with spending wood on farms, oversaturation gold mine or woodline, failing to double check for possible holes and not scouting are top 5 feudal age mistakes imo. Adding a Market when you are at 30+ villagers and have 500+ food but you are late on gold is another great tip.

[@EliasHasle]

This hits me... I am pushing in all my deer and going fast to Feudal age, but half the time I forget to move villagers to wood on the way up, forget double bit axe once I reach Feudal age, neglect walling or let three walling villagers fall idle for ages, forget to build farms in Feudal age, forget to attack with my army (or delay it because I still have no blacksmith), forget to scout my opponent, etc... On the other hand, once I get my two archery range rush going early and don't meet skirmishers behind full falls, I often destroy these slow fast-castlers...

[@user-u5r9eude0n]

Too much to learn nowadays to be great at this game with the recent version of the game today. Trying to be great at the game nowadays felt more like doing a job without even getting money rather than playing a video game for also the fun of it. Might as well just never get a job anymore just to be great at this game.

[@LbK314]

​@@user-u5r9eude0n well, this video is for beginners and players who play the game for some time at

[@paulomartins1008]

As someone who is practicing Franks Fast Castle into Knight spam I find this better than almost any other resource I've found on build orders in specific and for the very reasons you have pointed out at the onset of the video. It provides a solid foundation on which further nuance can be developed, I'll probably watch it several dozen times as I play in the weeks to come. Thank you.

[@ns-islandsroblox]

1:00 THIS SCREEN IS SO BEAUTIFUL it's so easy to understand, I've always wanted these for other build orders. You and your editor did a great job here. Great video as always, for the beginners.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

I edited this one myself :D I'm glad you liked that part since it was the last thing I added into the video before uploading it since I figured it would be easy to understand if I just put all the information on one screen so people could take a screenshot or something.

[@skipper472]

Hi survivalist, great video. I have a couple of other video requests; these are topics you havent covered yet. 1. Similar guide for Arena, and how to go forward after reaching castle age. 2. Guides explaining how to play teamgames for beginners. I know you dont play teamgames often, but this will be a video for only low-mid level players (900-1100 TG elo), not for 2k+. There are 2x as many teamgame players as 1v1 players, and yet there is an absolute lack of quality content on youtube.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

I could potentially do an arena focused video but I don't play teamgames at all so I wouldn't be able to talk about them with any kind of authority.

[@davidgood840]

@@SurvivalistAoE Why don't you play team games at all ?

[@SurvivalistAoE]

@@davidgood840 I don't enjoy them

[@paganlady7738]

Watched the other beginner tip video before and this one clarifies a lot more. Aside from walling, I've been doing good on Dark Age but clearly had no idea on how to act on feudal age. Thanks!

[@smaruhmaruh6955]

Awesome job like always here! I really like the approach of not having to rush everything but to focus more on a good economy which will be far superior than a super tight build in lower elo!

[@fabiodronigi]

Finally i found a tutorial with deep explaining ty Edit: Im getting better every Game and i am getting so much better in dark age but im still not so good in feudal age but really Ty you helped me so much man ❤

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Part 2 which will go over archers in feudal age will be coming soon. Currently writing the script for part 3: scouts as well.

[@NapKingCole84]

Hey Survivalist, this is great timing. I play and am comfortably 1170 (working on it) , but my older brother picked it up for the first time since we were kids and I've been looking for things to teach him besides the learn to play stuff. Very timely and very helpful, your builds and breakdowns are hands down the best presented on KZbin!

[@SSmithYT]

Amazing man. Haven't played much in over 3 years so this definitely helps as a refresher. The tool you made is really cool as well. That will be greatly beneficial.

[@time2popoff885]

Great video as always! You're such a benefit to the aoe2 community.

[@sireagle60]

Great Video. I'm stuck around 700-800 ELO. I'm hoping this will be just the thing I need to make progress. Many Thanks. 🙂

[@flyingscotsman92]

Great video. Got to just under 900 elo through slow knight spam, with many mistakes in feudal so this will help break the 1000 elo target

[@captainclink1038]

I found you on twitch and have only jsut found these build orders. Thanks so much for giving us these videos for free!

[@GingerDRan]

thanks for making this video it is exactly what i was looking for!

[@ihmpall]

Survivalist for president

[@Festus_Clamrod_]

Wish I'd run across this sooner. Better late than never! Great vid as always with Survivalist

[@rafaelgomesdacosta9999]

Thank you very much! You are the best on explaining

[@haaansolo8568]

Got a bit hyped after NAC, so excellent starting point!

[@olivierderoy2065]

Great video! Would love to see a full gameplay video of this strat in action. Do you happen to have/know one?

[@SurvivalistAoE]

I sort of did it today on stream (except with light cav in castle age) www.twitch.tv/videos/2034131219?t=03h11m03s The walls are really nice to protect you

[@1dayitwillmake763]

This build order is good, but I would love a simple recap screen. The way it was covered made it hard for a beginner like me to follow. I appreciate the ideas in the video, but I couldn't implement it in practice due still feeling a little lost / overwhelmed as a beginner (750 ELO)

[@SurvivalistAoE]

In part 2, I go through a quick summary at the start so hopefully that helps!

[@baggie2012]

I'm fairly experienced. 1100 player and I'll say this little reset has helped me improve. Focused the mind.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

I label this build order as for beginners but it really is a good foundation to build off for anyone.

[@baggie2012]

You nailed it!

[@BlackP3ARLHD]

thanks for the great video. its helping me a lot!

[@benjaminmclaren8782]

Me watching Survivalist Video's: Ah yes. This will help me in my exclusively Campaign games. Thank you for all the help, Community of AoE2.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

You're not wrong! Efficient play and having a plan will help in all situations.

[@FirstLast-is9xe]

OMG ! 🤗☀🥂😀 This is the BEST video EVER! It should be part of the AoE showcasing on Steam!

[@SkankyBurnedToast]

I love all your improvement videos, this series is really good, but could you do a meso civ build for this series?

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Potentially, but it'd be after I go through a few more parts.

[@ConcussedGaming]

It's been awhile since I had the hardware to play this game but I remember just going strictly fast castle strats and massive eco early. 12:01 was my fastest castle time. Not only REACHING castle but that included building one. Hope to get a new computer and play the game again with your strategies!

[@ChillFactor123]

Just discovered your channel, loving it especially the beginner section and guides. What civ would you recommend to try this build? There so many it's overwhelming! Is Francs too obvious? Any other "easy" civ that might fit? Thx and keep it up!

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Franks, Magyars, Malians, Persians, Slavs, Lithuanians, Spanish, Bulgarians. There are definitely more but these should give you a bit more variety!

[@jetfan4life]

Great video !

[@carlosandrescat]

Amazing video!! Tatoh is my teacher in spanish, but is pro teacher and i'm noob, this order really helped

[@MemphiStig]

Working on learning solo campaign rn. Thanks.

[@cleon_cleon]

Thanks!

[@Tommy1nnovates]

Great video. Trying to get my neighbor to start playing.

[@russtkach9068]

Great video

[@vinconssier4224]

Thanks mate

[@sebastian900730]

Hey Master? First of all, thanks for your amazing videos!. I would like to know how do you play with archers and what civis are the best for? And in matches 1v1 for ELO 1100, what civis are more verstaile to play either archers or knights, or why not other mix of units.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

At 1100 it's still probably better to stick to knights as it's a lot easier. This way you can focus on economy management skills while will be lacking at this level. Once you reach 1200+ then try some Ethiopians archers maybe.

[@markusdegenhardt8678]

If you are at 1100 elo and you cant answer this question yourself you should definitely invest in your game knowledge if you want to succeed. You can either do it by just studying the tech tree or playing with random civs. Chosing random civ was what accelerated my learning curve the most at 1100 elo.

[@johannschild8499]

Welcome back. You were missed on your main account

[@PokiNaki]

Hi Thanks a lot for ur vids ! is it possible to add a gameplay in a real time after ur tutorial to see how we can improve please ?

[@dukedukington5495]

Top content simple as that

[@fcbole6983]

Nice vid. I guess in the overview in the beginning where it says "Go to gold ~ 8 villagers ..." You mean castle age in the end right? Not feudal age

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Yea,h, wrote the wrong thing there

[@viniciusklaussnerfonsecaco1952]

Great Vídeo!!!!!

[@henriquematias1986]

If i dont end quickly with the knights then it’s time to go IMP for trebs. The problem then is that if the opponent defends well and have added TCS before me its I generally end up without gas while he has a massive army to counter! Still with 2-3 stables running indeed a lot of games are guaranteed!

[@maxpowers1321]

Great

[@dragonplus12]

which mode do you use ?

[@flobuh8335]

Thanks now even more opponents will be able to go proper knights 11. I need a video how to defend full knights😉

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Making your own knights is a good start! 1 monastery defense is reliable as well

[@tlfearofthedarkhun387]

If not knights, then mass upgraded pikes/camels, lots of monks and full wall base.

[@tlfearofthedarkhun387]

As a 1150-1200 player (my max was 1270), this build order is nice, however players at this range can actually throw you off with their own strats, they can recognize this BO and counter it. And you need to start to know more about civ matchups, unit stregths, counters, map structure, win conditions and adaptation. This should definitely help to get someone up to 900-1000 elo though. My experience after a thousand of games lol. Efficient Hotkeys, control groups are a necessity.

[@fitzciaran]

What's the target (in game) time for hitting castle age with this if your opponent doesn't pressure you, with typical amount of walling needing? I'm sure I'll make plenty of mistakes and have idle tc time to start with so it'd be good to get an idea of how far behind I fall.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

I don't really play by time, but assuming no idle time, shooting for 33-36 villagers is good. You can calculate the time if you want here. Villagers/loom take 25 seconds and feudal age takes 130 seconds.

[@fitzciaran]

Thanks! Good to know, seems like it should be possible to click up at 14:40, so I've a lot to improve on!

[@ihmpall]

Yay!

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Let me know if you have any questions on this after trying it out!

[@mattwhite4302]

I'm sure it's asked often, but, what's a good benchmark time for hitting feudal? Generally when I'm about 21 pop, my time is around the 10:15-11:00 ish mark which always seems a little slow compared to my opponents.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

15-18 vils: Mongols 16-17 vils: pro level aggressive openings 18-19 vils: mid-high level scouts/archers opening 19-21 vils: low-mid level openings 19 vils: high level Maa archers openings 20-21 vils low-mid level Maa openings I can't really answer the question with any details as it's too broad

[@mattwhite4302]

@@SurvivalistAoE That's still a big help, the whole video was great, and made me step back and think over my early gameplay. Being caught in a rut around 900 ish elo has gotten me back to working on the basics. Thanks greatly!

[@mmc2565]

~1150 elo. Would the concept of this BO work with 21 pop 1 range defensive archers? Specifically the early walling/playing mostly defensive in feudal age

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Yup, you can do the same concept and follow it up with an xbow timing (attack with 8-10 xbow as soon as possible)

[@PrasenjeetKumarAuthor]

Great video, Survivalist! I've a question though. If your opponent has a castle, why not build rams? In my own experience, I've noticed that if I go to imperial to get trebuchets, it gives my opponent enough time to mass halberdiers to kill my Knights and I'm not fast enough to transition into skirms (build 10 archery ranges + so many upgrades) to be effective.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Rams die to anything melee (including villagers) so they are hard to make work.

[@PrasenjeetKumarAuthor]

I'm at 1000 elo. When I start walling in dark age with 1 wood villager, during transition I put 3 more, I'm usually walled by 13 mins which I guess is late because scout rushes will start coming in. How do I ensure that I'm fully walled before that?

[@SurvivalistAoE]

You can start walling after 6 sheep, 2 wood

[@izzi532]

Is there anything fundamentally wrong with going 2 stables knights then getting to 3 tcs before moving to 3 stables?

[@SurvivalistAoE]

What you're describing is pretty standard play. You can even add up to 5 stables later in castle age

[@izzi532]

@@SurvivalistAoE Thanks man

[@dragonplus12]

Where can i finds a guide for the other civs. Chiese, maya , burgundians ecc

[@SurvivalistAoE]

I have Chinese build orders in the build order playlist on my channel. 3 of them

[@ysolda9614]

Around 1000 elo, 7/10 games I played against were Franks knights spam. Once past 1100 I rarely encounter any. So learning how to counter knight spam will get you to 1200.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

There's a player named HumzaCrumza who did Frank knight spam up to 2200 and he even took some games off of me before. It's definitely viable for a long time. Having the baseline strategy the same and then adapting to the game is a good way to play.

[@longbow857]

Decent video for beginners indeed. Had to laugh at 14:10 though.. bit funny that you use high ress for a tutorial that should show that the eco checks out for normal games.. also explains why you dont show the ress in the rest of the video, so seems like a whoosie ;)

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Nah, those clips where I was showing military I used the ninjalui cheat 11

[@juanluceropons]

Hi [Survivalist], I hope this message finds you well! At GameBeef, we’ve been following your content and are impressed with your skills and charisma. We believe you’d be a fantastic addition to our streaming team, particularly for Age of Empires 2. 🎮 Why Join GameBeef? • Thriving Gaming Community • Competitive Tournaments • Exciting Streamer Benefits • Networking Opportunities • Exclusive Incentives We’re reaching out to discuss the possibility of you becoming a key part of our AoE 2 streaming lineup. If you’re interested, we can set up a meeting to discuss the details and address any questions you might have. Looking forward to potentially welcoming you to the GameBeef family! 🚀 Best regards, [Juan] GameBeef Team

[@ghaznavid]

Great video, but I wish you used a pop filter on your mic.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Will buy one for next time.

[@EliasHasle]

I don't know what a pop filter is, but I wish the Survivalist would speak in a softer voice, as if reading a bedtime story for a child. I even suspect that he is naturally more of a tenor than a bass, in which case it may help to lighten up the speech a bit. Think T90. (...or the 11 taunt. 11 2) It is possible that I am a bit oversensitive to vocal technique. Anyway, I am sure that it can be improved with the right methods. The largest improvements may even come fast, like with physical exercise (or build orders). Low-hanging fruit FTW! I really like the channel content. Much appreciated! 👏

[@ghaznavid]

@@EliasHasle a pop filter is a device one puts between their mouth and a mic to prevent air coming out of the mouth from interfering with the sound. I listened to this video with headphones on and every time a word started with the letter "p" there was a loud sound which is very disconcerting. They aren't expensive and are very effective. It is usually more an issue when using a condenser mic as opposed to a regular mic, not sure if he has recently changed mics.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Improving my tone a bit is definitely something I need to pay more attention to. Before I started streaming/making KZbin content, I worked retail for like 8 years and during that time I had lots of conversations with customers every day. Talking with real people gave me better conversational technique. It's been quite a few years since then and I feel like my tone has gotten worse after not really talking in real life as much.@@EliasHasle

[@EliasHasle]

@@SurvivalistAoE thank you. I don't mean tone (e.g. that you have a mean tone, dumb pun intended 😛), but how you use your voice.

[@wesleyrogers6773]

Hey man, really love your work and what you're doing for us new and old people. Could I make one suggestion? When you say something like add "fletching" to your troops, could you highlight the icon in the video? Maybe make it pop up on the screen. I think most of us can remember the icon but not their names. Please and thank you.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

True, I definitely could've edited a bit more stuff in. Thanks and I'll keep it in mind for the next beginner friendly video

[@sharanabasaveshwarblr1988]

ty surviva;ist imma be a 3k now

[@alexandrbatora9674]

Excellent video, I just lost my first game with this BO. I don't like it. Walling is such a waste of time and resources, there's always a hole somewhere, or the vills overchop, it's easy to break through, and generally it's better to be on offense than on defense. I may try it few more times, but so far I strongly dislike it.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

It definitely doesn't suit everyone's playstyle. I still have success with this hyper-defensive play up at 2200 so I think it's a viable way to play, but you have to approach the game from a different perspective.

[@alexandrbatora9674]

@@SurvivalistAoE I think that the issue (at my level, at least) is the fact that players don't take well the aggression and are easily overwhelmed. I'd rather screw up the other guy's ooda loop than my own. The vills pathing is abominable, and just watching them trying to walk towards the construction site makes me wanna vomit. Yesterday I lost a game where I wasn't able to plug the damned hole on the hill. Even with the small trees and grid, I couldn't click the fucking square, coz house or stump or whatever got in my way. This is where I decided that I'll never gonna try to wall anymore, it just doesn't fulfil any purpose. Also, when I lose a quick aggressive game, so be it, I tried to rush and I failed. But losing the game after all I done was poor man's sim city... please no.

[@PrasenjeetKumarAuthor]

@@alexandrbatora9674 I feel pretty much the same way with full walling. I think probably small walling your treelines and then going hyper aggressive with scouts might be better.

[@alexandrbatora9674]

@@PrasenjeetKumarAuthor yep, pretty uch this!

[@timosirkka5597]

Tried this bo, nailed a pretty good 19 min castle age time (arabia) and got stomped :( by the time I had 10 knights and few scorps out he came forward with 50 pikes and redemption monks . gg Elo ~1000. Well his top elo was 1300 so... demoralizing. But really good video otherwise

[@SurvivalistAoE]

How many games do you have played? A 300 Elo difference is a pretty big lead regardless. The idea is to attack as soon as you have a few knights so the opponent should only have a few units at that point

[@timosirkka5597]

@@SurvivalistAoE 500 games so not exactly beginner, but I tried this regardless. I checked the rec afterwards; he added no eco in castle age at all and just made pikes.

[@neildutoit5177]

I don't think that "just learn a build order" is good advice. When you learn a build order you don't intuitively understand why it is that way and how much/how little wiggle room there is in each of the decisions and how much it would affect your timings if one or the other of those decisions was slightly different. Therefore, when the opponent runs forward at minute 3 and lames your pig or something, or even just attacks you normally and does some damage, you have zero clue how to adapt. Can I put two more farms down now? Can I make 3 spears and continue with the build after that? Do I need to wait 1 more villiger before clicking up or 4 now? etc. Not to mention, you have zero clue how to effectively disrupt the other person's build order with your own shenannigans. "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face." To be good at aoe you need to be able to take a punch and give them. I actually think that this emphasis on people learning build orders is part of the reason that so many people resign early these days as soon as you anything unexpected happens to their "plan". I've only ever learnt 1 build order. Which I never used. Instead I make my own build orders like this: 1) Pick a goal or two you want to reach. For example "20 knights on the field ready to attack" or "boom to 80 villigers" 2) Play a game vs the ai where you reach the goal. Write down the time you get there. 3) Start optimising: - Follow the principle mentioned in this video of buying things at the right time. Don't build buildings before you need them don't make units before you need them etc. - Plan ahead for larger expenses but not too far ahead. For example if you are making a unique unit on 1 tc then make sure you have the stone ready as soon as you hit castle. But don't start collecting with your starting villigers either. Until you've clicked to castle the priority is food and gold. As soon as you've clicked the priority then becomes stone. If transitions are too rough you can smooth them out a little bit (eg, start collecting stone a few minutes before clicking castle with fewer villigers) but don't smooth too much. You get the idea. - Make sure you are never stockpiling resources. If you are, change your balance next time. - Watch replays to determine the above accurately and write down the adjustments you need to make. Following these steps you should be able to dramatically improve your time-to-goal in a couple of games. Then do this: - Play a few real games on ranked. Decide where you might need to unoptimise (slow down) your build order in order to have more buffer room for defense and handling villiger losses etc. - Watch a few pro games where they're playing your civ, and look for any ideas or ways in which they're doing things very differently. - Finally, have a *quick look* at published build orders and see if you can borrow any ideas from them. Repeat

[@justalonesoul5825]

TL:DR... This is definitely and obviously excellent advice FOR BEGINNERS, how cringe to even contest that.

[@neildutoit5177]

@@justalonesoul5825 For beginners is worst of all. Telling a beginner aoe player to memorize build orders is like telling a beginner chess player to memorize opening books. Beginners should obviously just play and experiment and have fun and if they want to put effort into improving quickly that effort should go into tactics and execution not rote learning. Studying minor details on that level is something only worth it for pros at best.

[@mysteriousstranger9496]

You sound like a character from Sesame Street. Great videos, thanks. Please put a low-pass filter on your dialogue though. There is a constant heavy rumble from your input that is very annoying.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Will experiment with the next recording. I use Audacity and do a noise reduction to remove background noise.

[@mysteriousstranger9496]

@@SurvivalistAoE Right yeah, that will only removed broadband noise though. Like hiss and hum. What you have in your recordings won't be picked up. Also, what I meant to type was 'high-pass filter', not low-pass. I just checked for you and Audacity does have a built in high-pass filter in the effects menu. Just set it to 100hz and you should be good.

[@markusdegenhardt8678]

I like the tipps in general but the elo ranges that were given are absolutely wrong. Im coaching a few low elo friends of mine myself and i can tell you that even 900 elo is often too adapted to die to such a strategy. Players at this elo are often capable of heavily presuring your walls or defending behind their own so that a knight spam wont work. If you want to reach 1000 elo you have to learn much more than this one strategy.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

This is just the foundation. You still have to adapt a bit depending on how the game goes.

[@markusdegenhardt8678]

@@SurvivalistAoE yes, what i ment to point out was that the sentence you just wrote was missing in the video. And i dont want noobs to be confused. So i figured to mention that.

[@connormako1987]

I’ve gotta disagree. I think the best way to learn is to start with the fastest possible build order so 17 pop frank scouts as this will be the most consistent way to play with the least amount of variables. New players are going to get overwhelmed easily so this keeps the game as small and simple as possible. Age up fast attack with scouts. If that doesn’t work then gg. If it does you can follow up with knights and that should be gg and you can slowly branch out from there. This will force you to learn how to macro and control army at the same time while minimizing cognitive load.

[@skipper472]

17 pop is too difficult to keep producing scouts if you don't push deer. You will only have enough food for 2-3 scouts... the simplest mistake you make with your scouts and it is gg

[@connormako1987]

@@skipper472 you only need 2-3 for a rush though. And again this keeps the game small and simple.

[@SurvivalistAoE]

Lower level players really don't have the unit control required to make scouts strong. Early scouts are good at intermediate/higher level because people can run around and not die to spears. The eco management side is easy for scouts, but the unit control can be a bit tricky.

[@connormako1987]

@@SurvivalistAoE I think it is a necessary skill that should be learned early as possible regardless of difficulty. Besides, if you learn a 17/18 pop build, other 900-1200 players won’t have anything to counter it by the time you get there so you can get all the value you need before any real threat appears.

[@tlfearofthedarkhun387]

What the video specifically aims for is for anyone to go up to 900-1000 from lower elo ranges like 500, your comment is starting to talk more about lower-intermediate play (1000-1200), it is indeed true that someone can encounter scout rush, tower rush, drush, maa rush, persian douche, fast castle around 1000-1200 (poorly or decently executed), and at this point this is not the only build order and gameplan, knowledge you should rely on, basically 1000-1200 is the threshold for 1300 which is intermediate. (Talking about arabia only.)