Tips/Strategy

Introduction
The first part of having a good strategy is knowing how to set up the game with the most advantages. I usually play either Choson or Roman. I love the legion attack, since they are cheap. I play Romans against the Greeks or any other civilization that can beat Choson. When it comes time to choose a map, I usually like the Inland Map so I can build quickly on the opponent's side. The last step is to have a high population limit for lots of legions. I also like to have the Reveal Map setting on -- part of the game is being able to see the map!

General Tips
Once the game is underway, you're in command of your forces. The establishing step is hard. If you're playing a good player, he will move out and try to take the middle of the map or all of the resources. If you're not playing an average player, you should first build away from your area and take all of the opponent's gold that you can.

With a good gold reserve, you will be victorious in a long game. If you happen to lose your Town Center or your gold, you'll need to get it back quickly. As soon as you find gold, start mining. Cut wood and farm and take over as much of the map as you can. The key to winning is surviving the early rush and gobbling resources.

Set up several Town Centers around the map to mine, cut wood, and farm. Take over as much of the map as you can. If you're spread out, your opponent cannot take you out in one rush.

Concerning which improvements to take, I usually research Metallurgy as the only upgrade with the Choson race. If you're playing Roman, you'll want to get the heavy cats in addition to Metallurgy.

Don't worry if you don't win at first. My strategies came from getting beat and improving how I attack and when I attack. Not doing an early rush is sometimes the best plan, since with cheap Legions, for example, you can survive and attack full-blown right after a rush.

The Winning Strategy
This is how you quickly and efficiently win a Death Match:
 

• First, build three to five Town Centers to pump out villagers.

• Build about eight villagers and a Town Center as soon as they are up and running. This way, you're making villagers while you are still building your Town Centers.

• Once you have two villagers made, send three villagers out and start building barracks (mind you, this is for Choson) and, depending on the opponent, a Siege Workshop. Build it where you see gold on the other side or down on the map.

• Start with the other villagers and build your upgrade units -- for example, Government Center for ballistics, Granary for tower upgrade, etc.

• As SOON as you construct your military buildings, start pumping out the military.

• At this time you should have quite a few villagers. Start building houses with two villagers until you've got enough houses to reach your pop. limit.

• Take the other villagers and start building Town Centers in all of the major places that have gold. Immediately start mining, etc.

• You should now take a couple villagers and find your enemy.

• If they are not towered in and they don't have many military units when you find them, tower them in. (Make sure you have Ballistas or are getting Ballista Towers. Guard Towers are useless, unless you're Roman, of course.)

• At this time you should have many military units. Attack the town you've found. If they have elephants, make sure to use your Helepolis to get them quickly and easily.

• If they retreat or resign, you have spare resources. If this is a two-versus-two game, finish the other guy off with an organized attack.

• If they attack first, make sure you can hold them off and not let them get into your town. If they do, it will be a long night.