Fire Galleys and Archers
Steps 12 · 6 → 35 pop · ~18 min
Recommended Civilizations
Goal: Control the water with Fire Galleys while applying land pressure with Archers, using a Fishing Ship economy to fund a smooth two-front push into Castle Age. Recommended civs: Italians (cheaper Dock techs and Fishing Ships, cheaper Age-ups), Japanese (faster-working, double-HP Fishing Ships), Vikings (cheaper warships), Byzantines (cheap counter-units, strong Fire Ship line), Portuguese (+HP ships, gold discount)
Step Timeline
Follow the villager rail and resource-split columns while you play.
14 
6 Castle 35 vils 24 6 
4 Opening
6 steps · pop 6–21Bld - 6 6000
3 → 2 houses then sheep; queue villagers non-stop at the TC - 10 6400
7 builds Lumber Camp; 7–10 → wood - 12 7401
11 lures 1st boar; 12 builds house by water + Dock + 2nd house - 12 7401
make 4 Fishing Ships from the Dock and send them to deep fish - 15 8601 13–14 → wood; 15 lures 2nd boar
- 21 14601
16–21 → sheep/boar; research Loom; queue Feudal Age
Feudal
5 steps · pop 21–34Bld - 21 14601
Feudal: research Double-Bit Axe; train Fire Galleys from the Dock - 21 14601
build a house + 2 Archery Ranges next to your Barracks; train Archers - 24 14631 22–24 → gold
- 28 18631
25 builds Mill next to berries; 26–28 → berries - 34 24631
29–34 build Farms; research Fletching and Wheelbarrow
Castle
1 steps · pop 35Bld - 35 24641 35 → gold; queue Castle Age with Fire Galleys + Archers pushing
Strategy Notes
- 3 villagers build 2 houses (two on one, one on the other), then to sheep; queue villagers non-stop at the Town Center
- Villager 7 builds a Lumber Camp; villagers 7–10 go to wood
- Villager 11 lures the first boar; villager 12 builds a house by the water plus a Dock and a second house
- Make 4 Fishing Ships from the Dock and send them to the deep fish
- Villagers 13–14 to wood; villager 15 lures the second boar
- Villagers 16–21 on sheep/boar; research Loom, then queue Feudal Age at 21 population
- Feudal: research Double-Bit Axe in the Lumber Camp and train Fire Galleys from the Dock
- Build a house and 2 Archery Ranges next to your Barracks; start training Archers
- Villagers 22–24 to gold
- Villager 25 builds a Mill next to berries; villagers 26–28 collect berries
- Villagers 29–34 build Farms; research Fletching and Wheelbarrow
- Villager 35 to gold and queue Castle Age at 35 population with Fire Galleys and Archers pushing
- Weak against: Dedicated Galley floods that out-mass your Fire Galleys before they tech up; heavy Skirmisher civs that shut down the Archer half on land; opponents who out-boom on a closed map where your navy adds little.
- Strong against: Greedy Fast Castle players who skip Feudal military; pure-water builds caught without Fire Ship counters; land-focused civs forced to split attention between shore and front.