Age-up click · 20 pop · 19 villagers

Japanese 20-pop MAA into Archers

15 stepsSignature strategyJapanese

Video guide · Morley GamesAOE2 Japanese 20 Population Man at Arms Rush Into Archers Build Order

Notes from Morley Games

One range first

The 20-pop timing is tight. Morley starts with one Archery Range and only adds the second after farms and gold stabilize.

Keep the infantry alive

Use stand-ground or patrol carefully so the Men-at-Arms do not chase beneath the Town Center. Their job is to preserve the opening for the first archers, not die for one hit.

Your timings on this build

Benchmark: Feudal at 8:50 (19 villagers, no Town Center idle)

Execution

Build timeline

Separate window

The first row shows new villagers, transfers and task assignments; the figures below are the totals after the step.

Dark Age

Build 2 houses, then place the first 6 villagers on sheep

Start+6

Send villagers 7 and 8 to wood and build a Lumber Camp

New+2

Villager 9 lures the first boar

New+1

The next villager builds a house and Mill, then the next 4 join it for 5 on berries

New+5

Send the next villager to food under the Town Center and lure the second boar before the first expires

New+1

Send the next 2 villagers to wood

New+2

Villager 18 builds the Barracks, then moves to gold

New+1

Villager 19 builds a house, then joins gold for 2 miners total

New+1

Research Loom and click Feudal at 20 population; force-drop food if necessary

Transition to Feudal

Queue 3 Militia during the transition and send them forward immediately; move the exhausted sheep villagers to a second Lumber Camp

Transfer6

Feudal Age

Send the first 2 Feudal villagers to gold, then rally new villagers to straggler trees and turn them into farms whenever 60 wood is available

New+2

Research Man-at-Arms immediately, then Double-Bit Axe. Keep the infantry on stand-ground or controlled patrol around the enemy resources

Build the first Archery Range as soon as the economy allows; a forward Range shortens reinforcement time but is a higher-risk option

Research Horse Collar, keep seeding farms, and when berries expire send 3 foragers to wood and 2 to gold for 6 gold miners

New+3

Add the second Archery Range only after the economy supports it; mass archers behind the surviving Men-at-Arms

Treat the order as a stable economic backbone, not a script that overrides scouting. Idle resources, map generation and the opponent's opening should change the transition.