I have been playing this and owning online players lol, except my only loss on my first game.
Probably because of my experience with computer RTS games.
Basically my strategy:
Start off by building Swordsmen, and Horsemen.
If on maps where there are many forests/camp is close, build Archers instead of Swordsmen.
Build 3 farms and 1 camp, then proceed with 2 more farms, then build according to situation
Research Econs 1 and 2 asap. You dont need Econs 3, because it gives farm alot more value, but by then, you should already have more than enough farms to support.
Then research the Horse 1.
Horse 1 is by far the best because of Fire ability.
And later on, Horse 2 gives Charge, another ridiculously overpowered ability.
Basically Horsemen are the best units, most mobility, can reach far away places to capture quickly. Can retreat easily.
Worse unit is Swordsmen, because they pretty much suck. And their researched abilities are nothing good, avalanche is great damage, but too situational to use effectively.
However, having 1 early on for building stuff and tanking is great.
Archers are awesome, because once you researched Horse 1, you get Arrow Storm, which when coupled with Fire is ridiculously powerful.
I am able to use 2 units to defend and stall while my economy build up.
Pikemen provides the best defense and when coupled with Archers can stall very effectively, even without research.
Basically, 1 pikemen and 2 archers units can stall 4-5 units for a very long time.
Towers are awesome too, and on some maps, they literally mean victory if you get down the first tower controlling the middle ground.
Catapults are the most effective counter to tower, without catapult, dont bother attacking towers, you risk losing a lot of units and time doing so.
Other Tips:
Always scout with your first horsemen, use it to interrupt buildings and harass.
You dont necessarily have to kill anything with it. Just interrupt buildings.
Your starting 3 or 4 units are extremely important and costly. Try to save them and do not lose them.
Units can heal at forts, slowly, but worth it.
How to build:
Now most of the maps have multiple ways to expand and multiple ways to attack.
So how do you build?
Aside from the starting build, you must recognise 2 other important buildings.
1) Tower, when to build these?
The answer is simple, wherever enemy will go through or be forced to go through.
Remember that 1 Tower is the equivalent of 2 Archer units with more range.
However, they cannot move, which means they are useless if they have nothing to shoot at.
You build these at the front line or guarding an important walkway.
Do not spam these, because Catapults can make quick work of them and they are expensive.
2) Fort, where to build these?
Typically, you do not need to build Towers beside Forts, because Fort can produce units to defend anyway.
You build Forts at places you intend to make a second army with.
By attacking at 2 or 3 places at once, you can easily overwhelm your opponent.
Lastly, ALWAYS keep expanding. ALWAYS.
For example, if you see 3 units attacking your farm, and your only unit available is an archer, dont defend it.
Farm takes time to destroy, and they are cheap anyway, defend at the next farm/building behind that farm.
You only need to buy time to assemble a force to defend. Let your economy overpower him.
