Civilizations

Siege and Elephant

Best build: Fast Castle

Flexible eco civ that skips building requirements, farms without drop sites, then wins with Scorpions, elephants, and Cavalier.

Strengths: Farming without drop-off, Scorpion range and Double Crossbow, Fast Battle Elephants, Unpredictable Feudal and Castle openings

Beginner difficulty: moderate. The bonuses forgive messy build orders, but the army is expensive and melts to pikes, monks, and Onagers if you autopilot elephants.

Open the Khmer guide

Cavalry

Best build: Farms into Knights

Simple cavalry civilization. Free mill techs, tanky mounted units, cheaper Castles, and Paladins later.

Strengths: Knight play from Castle Age, Paladin, Cheap Castles, Throwing Axemen

Beginner difficulty: easier. The plan is readable: forage, farm, Knights. You still need pikes vs enemy cavalry and a BBC plan vs siege.

Open the Franks guide

Foot Archer

Best build: Feudal Archers

Win with range. Shepherds speed Dark Age, cheaper Town Centers from Castle Age, and foot archers that shoot farther than yours.

Strengths: Foot archer range, Longbowmen, Cheap extra Town Centers, Yeomen

Beginner difficulty: easier. The win condition is obvious. The hard part is adding spears in time when Knights show up.

Open the Britons guide

Defensive

Best build: Hold, then cheap Imperial

Cheap trash, tough buildings, a cheaper Imperial Age, and Cataphracts if the game goes long.

Strengths: Cheap spears, Skirmishers, and camels, Building HP, Cataphracts vs infantry, Cheap Imperial Age

Beginner difficulty: moderate. Easy to not die. Harder to end the game if you only make trash and never pick a win condition.

Open the Byzantines guide

Cavalry Archer

Best build: Hunt into Scouts

Hunt fast, Scout rush, then Cavalry Archers and Mangudai with mobile siege.

Strengths: Hunting, Scout line HP, Cavalry Archer fire rate, Mangudai vs siege, Siege Onager and Drill

Beginner difficulty: harder. You need micro on Scouts and Cavalry Archers. Sitting still wastes the civ.

Open the Mongols guide

Infantry and Siege

Best build: Men-at-Arms into siege

Wood advantage, fast infantry, and siege that fires faster with more HP. Scorpions and Siege Onagers are both real.

Strengths: Lumberjacks, Siege fire rate, Furor Celtica HP, Siege Onager, Woad raids

Beginner difficulty: moderate. Wood and siege are straightforward. Infantry speed helps raids. You still need to not eat Knight charges with unsupported siege.

Open the Celts guide