Double Stable Scouts
Steps 12 · 6 → 20 pop · ~9 min
Recommended Civilizations
Land in Feudal at 18 pop around 8:50, then ramp into two stables so a steady stream of Scout Cavalry overwhelms the opponent's economy.
Step Timeline
Follow the villager rail and resource-split columns while you play.
Opening
6 steps · pop 6–16- 6
6 → sheep under the TC - 8
+2 → wood on the first woodline; build a lumber camp - 9 +1 → lure and kill the boar
- 10
+1 → build a house, then a mill on the berries - 10 Lure deer with the scout once all sheep are found
↳ Recommended — no new villager; keep the TC producing
- 16 +6 → hunt under the TC
Feudal
6 steps · pop 18–20 8:50- 18
+2 → wood; research Loom, then click up to Feudal 8:50 ↳ Land at 18 pop with a 4-wood / 14-food split
- 18 Feudal: move 5 hunters → wood and drop a 2nd lumber camp
- 18
Pull 4 vils off the TC food → berries; send 1 vil to a barracks - 18
Build a stable with 2 vils; start Scout Cavalry the moment it finishes ↳ Research Double-Bit Axe and Horse Collar; wall with the builders and seed farms
- 18 Pump scouts non-stop; at ~15 farms add the 2nd stable to produce from both
↳ Add 1–4 Spearmen only versus enemy scouts; skip them versus archers
- 20
+2 → gold; research Bloodlines and pick up Blacksmith armor/attack ↳ Research Wheelbarrow once you reach ~20 farms
Strategy Notes
- This is the higher-commitment cousin of the single-stable opening: the second stable doubles your scout output, so the build only pays off if you keep both queues full and your TC busy at the same time. Floating resources here means you bought the extra stable for nothing.
- Use the first wave of scouts to find the enemy economy and harass exposed villagers, then time the second stable to land just as your farm transition gives you the food to sustain double production.
- Bloodlines and Blacksmith upgrades are the spikes that win these fights — fold them in once 7–8 scouts are already out so you never stall military for tech.
- Read your scout before adding spears: against an enemy scout opening, a handful of Spearmen plus your own scouts win the trade, but against archers skip them and lean on numbers and walls instead.
- Civ notes: Franks lack Bloodlines, so lean on Husbandry for speed and raw numbers; Huns skip houses entirely, freeing wood to start the stables earlier; Magyars get cheaper scouts and a free attack upgrade that makes the mass hit harder.
- Default Castle Age follow-up is a smooth transition into Knights from the same two stables; keep the gold flowing and add a third TC or more farms once the raiding has bought you map control.