The Fast Castle into Knights build order is a popular strategy for cavalry civilizations in Age of Empires 2.
By executing this build order, you can boom your economy and produce knights earlier, giving you an advantage in upgrades and numbers.
This is a great build to have in your pocket that will work in many different situations, especially in lower levels.
Build Order
- Initial villagers: 2 houses, sheep.
- 6 villagers on sheep.
- 7th villager: lumber camp near woodline.
- 2 villagers: wood.
- 10th villager: 3rd house and first boar.
- Next 2 villagers: wood.
- 11th villager: berries and mill. 3 villagers on berries.
- 16th villager: second boar.
- 17th villager: 1 house and berries.
- Next 2 villagers: berries.
- 20th villager: new woodline and 2nd lumber camp.
- Next 4 villagers: 2nd lumber camp.
- 25th villager: Mining Camp next to gold.
- 3 villagers on gold.
- Research Feudal Age.
It’s important to note that while this build order is effective against archers, knights, and cavalry are vulnerable to most infantry units.
Once you reach the Feudal Age, take one villager from the woodline and build a Barracks. Produce two more villagers and send them to the gold mine.
Then, take another villager from the woodline and build a stable and blacksmith. When you’re waiting to advance to Castle Age, research the lumber camp and farm technologies to improve your economy.
Once you reach the Castle Age, immediately produce two knights and attack your enemy.
Then, continue producing villagers to boom your economy, getting your blacksmith upgrades, and making more knights.
It’s worth noting that there are many variations and adaptations to this build order, depending on your civilization bonuses and the map you’re playing on.
It’s important to practice and experiment with different strategies to find what works best for you. Although knowing builds is great, knowing how to adapt will certainly increase your success in the game.