Glossary

A play style focused on economy: skip early aggression to build extra Town Centers and out-produce your opponent.

A typical Castle Age "boom" adds 2–3 Town Centers immediately on hitting Castle Age, producing villagers from all of them simultaneously. By 20 minutes, a boomed player has 50–70 villagers compared to ~30 for someone who fought in Feudal Age — an enormous economic lead that translates into a much larger army in Imperial.

Related terms: Fast Castle, FC, BO Boom, 23-pop FC.

The first Lumber Camp wood upgrade. It is cheap and delivers a large increase to your wood-gathering rate, so you should never skip it.

Related terms: Wheelbarrow, Boom.

Short for "Dark Age Rush" — sending 3 Militia from a Barracks built in the Dark Age to the enemy base, before either player reaches Feudal Age. The militia arrive around the 5:30–6:00 mark and harass enemy villagers while you continue your build order.

Drush is rarely a kill blow on its own; the purpose is to slow the opponent's economy by 30–90 seconds, forcing them to pull villagers off resources to defend. The economic lead the drush creates is then snowballed via a Feudal Age push or a Fast Castle.

Common follow-ups: Drush → Fast Castle (advanced), Drush → Archers, Drush → Scouts.

Skipping Feudal Age aggression to reach the Castle Age as fast as possible — typically around 23 villagers. The freed-up time and resources usually flow into a boom, Knights, or a civilization's unique unit.

Related terms: Boom, FC.

Rushing to the Imperial Age as quickly as possible, often with a strong-economy civilization. The goal is to unlock powerful upgrades and units before the opponent can react and answer them.

Related terms: Fast Castle, Boom.

The second of four ages. Reached by researching the age-up from the Town Center, requiring 500 food, a Mill, and a Barracks (or two age-up buildings on most civilizations).

Unlocks the Archery Range, Stable, Blacksmith, walls (palisade and stone), Watch Tower, Market, and many critical military units: Scout Cavalry, Archers, Skirmishers, Spearmen, and the Man-at-Arms upgrade. The Feudal Age is when most early aggression happens — the gap between when one player reaches Feudal and when the other does is the most predictive timing in the game.

Typical Feudal Age click time: 8:30–10:30 depending on build order.

In team games, a player on the edge of the map directly next to an enemy. The flank usually plays archers or a defensive style and is responsible for holding the front line so the pockets can develop.

Related terms: Pocket.

Massing War Galleys early on water maps to seize control of the water, kill enemy Fishing Ships, and deny the enemy Dock. Winning the water fight chokes the opponent's economy and often decides the whole game on hybrid and water maps.

Related terms: Feudal Age, Boom.

Time a Town Center or production building spends not producing anything. Idle TC time — gaps where no villager is queued — is one of the biggest beginner mistakes, since every idle second is a villager you never get.

Related terms: Uptime, Macro, Boom.

Stealing the opponent's sheep or boars in the Dark Age, typically using your scout. The action causes a severe food deficit for the victim — sheep and boars are the highest-yield food sources of the Dark Age, and losing 1–2 of them sets the opponent back ~40–60 seconds in Feudal Age timing.

Laming is legal but considered aggressive and is a regular high-level open-map (Arabia) tactic. The defense is to scout your own resources early and bring sheep close to your Town Center under guard.

Related: Boar steal, sheep steal, hunt push.

Short for macromanagement: keeping your production and economy running smoothly in the background — queuing villagers, building farms, researching upgrades, and pumping out units without idle time. Strong macro is what wins most games below the top level.

Related terms: Micro, Idle Time, Boom.

The Feudal Age upgrade of the Militia and a cost-effective early infantry unit. It is especially strong paired with a forward tower, or as an opening that transitions smoothly into archers.

Related terms: Feudal Age, Drush.

Short for micromanagement: controlling individual units during a fight to get more value out of them — dodging projectiles, sniping key targets, and hit-and-run with ranged units. Good micro lets a smaller army beat a larger one.

Related terms: Macro, Hit-and-run, Counter.

In team games, a player in the center positions who is shielded from the enemy by the flank players. The pocket usually plays cavalry and runs a greedy, fast economy to support and supply allies.

Related terms: Flank, Boom.

An 18-pop Feudal Age opening that masses Scout Cavalry to raid enemy villagers — the default open-map aggression. Scouts are fast and tanky against archers, so they harass eco and force the opponent onto the back foot while you transition.

Related terms: Feudal Age, Drush, Boom.

Building offensive Watch Towers in or near the enemy base during the Feudal Age to damage their economy and force a defensive response. The towers deny key resource piles and pin villagers down while you snowball the lead elsewhere.

Related terms: Feudal Age, Drush, Laming.

A unit that costs no gold — Skirmisher, Spearman/Pikeman, and Light Cavalry/Hussar. Because they only need food and wood, trash units stay sustainable in the late game when both players' gold runs out, and "trash wars" often decide long Imperial Age matches.

Related terms: Counter, Macro.

The in-game time at which you reach the next Age (e.g. a 25:00 Castle Age uptime). Faster uptimes mean you field new units and upgrades earlier than your opponent, so shaving seconds off your build order is one of the highest-value skills to practice.

Related terms: Build order, Fast Castle, Idle Time.

Defensive barriers built from wood (Palisade Wall) or stone (Stone Wall, Fortified Wall in Imperial Age). Walls are essential on most maps to deny opponent access to your villagers and force them to commit siege units to break in.

Palisade Walls are cheap (2 wood each) and available from Dark Age but have low HP and can be destroyed quickly by Battering Rams. Stone Walls unlock in Castle Age, cost 5 stone each, and resist siege significantly better. Fortified Walls are the Imperial Age upgrade, with the highest HP and armor.

Tactical notes:

• Always leave a sally gate in your wall to flee villagers under attack.
• Full walls on Arabia are usually impractical and slow your Feudal timing — partial walls covering the most exposed flank are the norm.
• Wall chokepoints (between trees) before the open spaces — chokepoint walls do most of the defensive work.

A Town Center technology that raises villager carry capacity and move speed, giving a big boost to food and overall resource income. It is generally worth researching around 14–16 farms, once the eco is large enough to pay it back.

Related terms: Boom, Feudal Age.