AoE2 is about advancing through Dark, Feudal, Castle and Imperial Ages with clean build orders and strategic unit compositions. Civilisations specialise in archers, cavalry, infantry or unique units.

Openings & Build Orders

Feudal scouts, archers and men‑at‑arms into archers are staple openers on open maps. Fast Castle into knights or unique units excels on closed maps. Practise a few build orders to hit Feudal/ Castle ages on time with enough eco to produce units.

Civ Types

Archer civs like Mayans excel in Feudal/Castle age with cheap archers. Cavalry civs such as Franks field strong knights and paladins. Infantry and trash civs like Goths dominate late game with cheap spam. Know your civ’s bonuses and play to its strengths.

Map Meta

On Arabia, aggression and walling decide games; Scout → Archer builds are common. Arena favours Fast Castle into monks or unique units. Hybrid maps require water control before land battles. Adapt your strategy to resources and map layout.