Khmer Fast Castle Knights and Scorpions
Steps 12 · 6 → 23 pop · ~14 min
Recommended Civilizations
Goal: Exploit Khmer's no-building-prerequisite bonus to skip Feudal structures entirely and slam into Castle Age (~13:30) with an aggressive Knight-and-Scorpion push.
Step Timeline
Follow the villager rail and resource-split columns while you play.
Opening
7 steps · pop 6–20- 6
6 → sheep under TC - 9
+3 → wood, build Lumber Camp - 11 +2 → first boar
- 13
+1 (12) → build House + Mill on berries; +1 (13) → berries - 14 +1 → second boar
- 18 +4 → berries; add a House (no second Mill needed)
- 20
+1 (19) → wood; +1 (20) → build a Farm
Feudal
2 steps · pop 23 10:55- 23
+3 → gold (Mining Camp); research Loom 10:55 ↳ Click Feudal at 23 pop with 4 wood / 16 food / 3 gold
- 23
Feudal: seed 3 Farms with hunt villagers, then click Castle instantly — Khmer build NO Feudal buildings ↳ Khmer need no building to age up; garrison villagers in houses and keep your Scout on defense
Castle
3 steps · pop 23- 23
4 hunt/straggler villagers → woodline; 2 more hunt/straggler villagers → gold; research Double-Bit Axe ↳ Tower the gold or wood only if pressured; when berries run out, send them to stragglers and make Farms
- 23
Castle: build Stable + Blacksmith, research +1 cavalry armor, and pump Knights immediately - 23
With map control, send a vil forward for a Siege Workshop and mix Scorpions with Knights
Strategy Notes
- Khmer's signature trick: villagers never need to walk to a building to advance, so you click Castle the instant Feudal finishes without spending wood on a Barracks or Stable. That saved time and resources is the whole point of this build.
- Defend the dangerous Feudal-to-Castle window with hidden houses and your Scout — you have no military yet, so position your Town Center and walls to deny easy villager kills.
- The moment you reach Castle, build a Stable and Blacksmith together, take +1 cavalry armor, and start non-stop Knights; a forward Siege Workshop lets Scorpions clear massed archers and add map pressure.
- Scorpions are the Khmer power spike here — their bonus damage shreds infantry and archer clumps while Knights punish anything that tries to close in.
- Weak against: Camel and Pikeman compositions that hard-counter cavalry; an opponent who walls perfectly and matches your Castle timing with Crossbows plus Pikes.
- Follow-up: Add Town Centers behind the push if it stalls, then transition toward Elite Battle Elephants or a relic-backed Monk play in the late game.