The Fast Castle into Boom, one of the best beginner build orders that can be recommended on closed maps where early aggression is fruitless. Using our build order, you will be able to pull off a fast castle time of 15 minutes with any civilization (regardless of economic bonuses) and immediately place two additional town-centers. This build also allows for a player to opt for an additional town-center to increase villager production.
OBJECTIVE 1 – ADVANCE TO THE FEUDAL AGE WITH 25 VILLAGERS
- As with all build orders, build two houses (one house with 1 villager, and one with the other 2) and queue villagers.
- Send the first three villagers produced and your starting 3 villagers to collect sheep.
- Send your next four villagers to collect wood. Build a lumber camp with the first villager.
- Send your next villager to lure the boar. Your villagers should be completing the fourth sheep as you bring the boar underneath the town center.
- Send a villager to build a house and then mill the berries. Send your next two villagers to berries.
- Use a wood villager to build a house, preferably in a way that adds to your wall.
- Send your next villager to lure the second boar.
- Send the next two villagers to collect boar.
- Send 3 villagers to build a mill and collect deer. (HINT – for an even faster uptime, learn to push deer and then even less wood is needed on building the mill, therefore you can get away with the same build but three on wood at the start.)
- Send your next three villagers to collect wood at a new woodline.
- As your boar finishes, send 3 additional villagers to collect from another deer at the mill. Also Shift-Click so that the remaining boar villages move to sheep.
- Send the next villager to collect sheep.
- Send the next two villagers to build a mining camp and collect gold.
- Send the last villager to berries.
- If you are playing on an open map, research loom.
- Research Feudal.
- Build a house with one of the berry villagers, and then task them back to berries.
- With four of the sheep villagers, build farms. Also send one to berries.
- When the deer has been collected, three of the villagers will be sent to berries, while the other three will be sent to sheep.
- Upon collecting all the sheep, send the remaining villagers to straggler trees.
OBJECTIVE 2 – ADVANCE TO THE CASTLE AGE WITH 27 VILLAGERS
- Queue up 2 villagers and send them to straggler trees.
- Use two straggler tree villagers to build a market.
- Use the other straggler tree villager to build a blacksmith.
- Research Castle Age.
- Send the building villagers to collect wood near a lumber camp.
- Send a gold miner to collect wood also.
- Research double-bit axe.
- Locate two spaces for your town centers that are ideal. Look for a spot that is on gold or wood (preferably both), and another that must be on wood.
- The foragers will finish just before you reach Castle Age so send these to where you would like one of the town center placed.
OBJECTIVE 3 – MAINTAIN PRODUCTION FROM 3 TOWN CENTERS AND REACH 45 POPULATION
- Place your two town centers. Use your berry villagers to place one and use about four villagers on a woodline to build another.
- Research Wheelbarrow from your original town center.
- Research Bow Saw and Horse-Collar.
- Send new villagers to collect wood. Your main town center should send new villagers to straggler trees and these villagers should make a new farm at each time you reach 60 wood.
- Build farms around your additional town centers. You want to have 18 farms to maintain food for villager production, however you will have some leeway due to additional food to sustain production before this amount of farming is in effect. If you come under trouble producing from all three, use the market to buy food.
- Ensure you have a villager building houses as it can become much easier to be housed when focussing on booming.
- At about 19:30, you should have 45 population. 22 of these villagers are likely on wood, 20 on farms, a villager building houses and a villager on gold.
OBJECTIVE 4 (OPTIONAL) – BUY STONE FROM THE MARKET AND PLACE AN ADDITIONAL TOWN CENTER
- At 45 population, you should have the economy to be able to sustain production of villagers.
- Use the market to buy stone. Sell either wood or food, but ensure that there is 275 wood remaining for the town center.
- Place the fourth town center.
- Ensure you add an additional mandatory 6 farms to cover the costs of villager production.
- Send new villagers to wood and build farms at 60 wood.
- Continue with your boom.
If, after building an additional (fourth) town center, all has gone according to plan, you should be able to have 65 population by around 22 minutes game time. From this position, you should be able to find a strong army composition and out-produce your opponent.