Article: The sheep should have run out by now,so you can start to explore the other places including the enemy and your allies. You should now have at least 4 people on wood by now. Blacksmiths cost 150 wood each, and markets cost 175 wood each. The thing is that markets are slower to build, and blacksmiths has a lot of upgrades for the military later on that you can use. They are good upgrades for the economy. Build a farm after you build the market. Farms cost 60 wood and cost 60 wood to reseed. It is better once you hunt deer somewhere farther away from the town center. Each deer stocks up to 140 food, and there should be at least 4 of 'em there. You don't need stone in the Feudal Age, so get gold. Have 2 villagers go on gold. You need 100 more gold to advance to the Castle Age. The Feudal Age should only take about 7 or 8 minutes. You need 800 food, 200 gold, and a blacksmith and a market to advance to the Castle Age. If you have extra wood, build a barracks farther to the enemy. On top of a cliff is best because infantry can't get up there by climbing.  Then you can advance to the Castle Age. Keep exploring with your scout. By now, you should have at least 50% of the map explored (unless you are playing with a normal, large, or giant map).
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Create more villagers and add 2 to wood and 1 or 2 to forage bushes. Build a blacksmith and/or market. Research Horse Collar (in the mill) and Double-Bit Axe (in the lumber camp). Create 2 more villagers. Build a mining camp near gold, not stone. By now, you should haveAt least 15 villagersA scoutAt least 650 foodMillLumber campMining campAt least 100 woodAt least 200 gold200 stoneBlacksmithMarketLoom, Horse Collar, and Double-bit Axe researched  Wait until you have 800 food.