# Empire Boy — Player's Guide

A tile-based real-time strategy game for the original Game Boy, in the spirit of
Age of Empires II. Gather resources, build a base, raise an army, and raze the
enemy's Town Centre before they raze yours.

This guide is for playing the game: what the buttons do, what everything costs,
and how to survive long enough to flatten the enemy base.

If you're new, skim **The aim of the game**, **Controls**, and **A solid opening
build order** first. The deeper tables are here when you want the exact numbers.

---

## The aim of the game

It's you against one computer opponent on a 32×32 tile map.

- **You win** by destroying the **enemy Town Centre**.
- **You lose** if the AI destroys **your Town Centre**.

To get there, run an economy, grow your population, build military buildings,
train an army, and march it across the map to tear down the enemy base. The
win/lose screen returns you to the title so you can play again.

The game runs in **slow real-time**: time always advances, but unit, build and
training timers are gentle so you have room to drive the cursor between
decisions.

---

## Controls

The whole game is driven by a single tile **cursor** and the four buttons. Most
buttons do double duty depending on what (if anything) you have selected.

| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| **D-pad** | Move the tile cursor. Push at a screen edge and the map scrolls (the world is bigger than the screen). |
| **A** | **Context action.** On your own unit → select it. With a unit selected: on a tile → move there; on a resource → gather it; on an enemy unit/building → attack it. On one of your **production buildings** → open its train menu. With **select-all-military** armed → order the whole army. With a **production building** selected (menu closed) → set its **rally point**. |
| **B** | Cancel / deselect / back out of a menu. **With nothing selected → jump to your next idle villager** (press again to cycle through them). |
| **Start** | With a **villager** selected → open the **Build** menu. With a **production building** selected → open its **Train** menu. **With nothing selected → arm select-all-military** (then press again, or **B**, to disarm). |
| **Select** | **In a match → Pause / unpause** (a `PAUSED` banner shows; the game freezes until you press Select again). On the **title screen** → toggle **Sound On/Off** (see *Sound* below). |

### Website keyboard controls

When playing on the website, the emulator maps your keyboard to the Game Boy
buttons like this:

| Game Boy input | Keyboard |
|---|---|
| **D-pad** | Arrow keys |
| **A** | X |
| **B** | Z |
| **Start** | Enter |
| **Select** | Shift |

Once the emulator has loaded, the page keeps the arrow keys from scrolling the
browser window so they only move the in-game cursor.

### Selecting and ordering units

1. Move the cursor over one of your units and press **A** to select it (a bracket
   frames it).
2. Press **A** on a destination tile to send it there. It routes around
   obstacles (water, mountains, resources, buildings) automatically. If the
   destination is **completely walled off** (no route exists at all), the unit
   walks as far as it can and **presses up against the wall** rather than refusing
   to move — so an army ordered at a sealed-off base advances to the barrier
   instead of standing still.
3. Press **A** on a **resource tile** (forest / berries / gold) to send a
   villager to gather it.
4. Press **A** on an **enemy** unit or building to attack it.
5. Press **B** to deselect.

Only **one unit at a time** can be selected for individual orders — but you can
command your **whole army at once** with select-all-military (below).

### Quality-of-life controls

These shortcuts cut down on cursor trips — handy because you give orders slower
than the AI does, so the game hands you tools to keep up:

- **Pause (Select).** Press **Select** during a match to freeze everything; a
  `PAUSED` banner shows on the bottom bar while the battlefield stays on screen.
  Press **Select** again to resume. Good for catching your breath and reading the
  map mid-battle.
- **Select-all-military (Start, nothing selected).** Press **Start** with no unit
  or building selected to **arm army command**, then press **A**: on an enemy →
  the *whole* army attacks it; on open ground → the whole army **attack-moves**
  there (walks over, engaging any enemy it meets on the way, then carries on).
  Villagers are left out of it, so your economy keeps working. Press **B** or
  **Start** again to disarm. This is the fast way to move your army as one.
- **Jump to idle villager (B, nothing selected).** Press **B** with nothing
  selected to snap the cursor onto your next **idle** villager; press again to
  cycle through any others. If income suddenly stalls, tap **B** to find the
  slackers and put them back to work — then **A** to select and order one.
- **Rally points.** See *Training units* below — set where freshly trained units
  gather so they don't pile up on your buildings.

**The cursor tells you what A will do.** As you move it around, the cursor
changes shape to match the action waiting under it, so you can read the order
*before* you press **A**:

| Cursor shows | Means **A** will… |
|---|---|
| **Corner brackets** | **Select** the friendly unit/building under it |
| **Diamond** | **Move** the selected unit to this tile |
| **Axe** | **Gather** this resource (forest / berries / gold) |
| **Sword** | **Attack** the enemy unit/building under it |
| **Hammer** | **Place** the building you're positioning |
| **Hollow box** | Nothing here to act on |

### Building (villagers only)

With a villager selected, press **Start** to open the **Build** menu. The
buildables appear together on a menu row at the bottom of the screen (part of the
HUD, not floating over the map), each with its cost shown below. In the **Feudal**
age you can build **House, Barracks, Blacksmith**; advancing to the **Castle** age
(see *Ages & upgrades*) adds the **Archery Range**, **Stables** and **Tower** (a
defensive turret — see *Defending: Towers & garrison*). Press
**Left/Right** to move the highlight and **A** to pick one and enter placement:

- The D-pad drags a **ghost footprint** across the map.
- It reads **OK** over valid, empty grass and **blocked/hatched** over occupied,
  blocked, or off-map cells.
- **A** commits (spends the Wood); **B** cancels.

**Buildings are built by a villager, not summoned.** Committing drops a
**foundation**, and the villager you used walks over and **constructs it over a
short build time** — a small **hammer icon** sits over it while it's going up. A
foundation is **not functional yet**: it can't train units, and a House doesn't
raise your population cap, until it's finished. A few things follow from this:

- You can't realistically build **in the enemy's base** — your villager has to
  walk there and stand exposed for the whole build, so forward building is a real
  commitment, not a free drop.
- Keep the builder alive: if it's killed mid-build the foundation just **pauses**.
  Send another villager onto it (press **A** on the foundation with a villager
  selected) to resume.
- Put more than one villager on a foundation to **build it faster**.

### Repairing & demolishing

- **Repair.** With a villager selected, press **A** on any of your own **damaged**
  buildings to send the villager to **repair** it — its HP climbs back up over time
  for a little Wood, and a **wrench icon** shows while the work is underway. Handy
  for patching up your Town Centre or a battered military building between attacks.
- **Demolish.** Select one of your buildings (press **A** on it) and its HUD menu
  shows a **Demolish** icon alongside any train option; pick it to tear the building
  down (a demolished House gives its **+3 population back**). You can't demolish
  your Town Centre. Useful for clearing a misplaced building or reclaiming the
  space.

### Training units

Press **A** on one of your production buildings to open its train menu directly:

| Building | Trains |
|---|---|
| Town Centre | Villager |
| Barracks | Spearman |
| Archery Range | Archer (Castle age) |
| Stables | Cavalry (Castle age) |

Press **A** to start training (if you can afford it and you're under the
population cap); **B** closes the menu. While a building is training, an
**hourglass icon** shows over it; the unit appears beside the building when its
timer finishes. (Each building's menu also carries a **Demolish** option — see
*Repairing & demolishing* above. The **Town Centre** and **Blacksmith** menus also
offer **research** options — see *Ages & upgrades* below.)

**Queue several at once.** Pressing **A** on a producer that's *already* training
the same unit **stacks another order** behind it (up to **5** waiting), charging
each as you queue it — so you can tap **A** a few times to line up a batch instead
of babysitting the building. The HUD shows what you're training as an
**[icon][count]** tray on the status bar. Pressing **B** on the menu **cancels and
refunds** one queued order (it only closes the menu once the queue is empty;
**Start** always closes). If you hit the population cap, the queue **holds** and
resumes the moment a House (or a death) frees a slot.

**Rally points.** By default a trained unit just stands beside its building. To
send new units somewhere automatically, select the production building, press
**B** to close its train menu (the building stays selected), then press **A** on
any walkable tile to set that building's **rally point**. From then on, every unit
it trains walks straight to that tile — handy for gathering an army at a forward
muster point, or routing new villagers toward a fresh resource patch.

### Defending: Towers & garrison

Two ways to turtle once you reach the **Castle** age:

- **Defensive Tower.** Build a **Tower** (a Castle-age building) anywhere you want
  to cover — it **auto-fires at the nearest enemy unit in range**, no orders needed,
  so it guards a chokepoint, a resource patch, or your base while your army is away.
  It's tough (lots of HP) but, like any building, it has to be **built by a villager**
  first. It only shoots **enemies** — your own units pass safely.
- **Garrison your Town Centre.** Under a raid, pull villagers to safety **inside the
  Town Centre**: press **A** on your TC to open its menu and choose **Garrison** —
  the nearest idle villager walks in and shelters (it leaves the field but **still
  counts toward your population**). A Town Centre with anyone garrisoned **fires
  arrows** at nearby enemies, just like a Tower, turning it into a defensive
  strongpoint. Choose **Ungarrison** from the same menu to send the sheltered
  villagers back out (they reappear beside the TC). Classic "garrison under attack,
  then get back to work" play.

### Seeing what things cost

Whenever a **Build** or **Train** menu is open, the HUD grows two rows upward: an
**options row** showing every choice's icon at once, and a **cost row** below it
showing the highlighted option's price. Each cost number sits directly under its
matching resource in the stockpile bar, so you can read **what you have** (top)
against **what it costs** (below) at a glance. Only the resources an option
actually needs are shown. Any option you **can't afford** (or that's blocked by
the population cap, or a building already busy training) has its **icon dimmed to
grey** — and because all the build options show together, you can see at a glance
exactly which buildings are within reach before committing.

### Reading the HUD

A status bar runs along the **bottom** of the screen showing, left to right:

```
Food   Wood   Gold   Population / Cap
```

---

## The economy

Resources are gathered by **villagers** from a tile **next to** the resource
(they never stand on it). A villager walks to the resource, mines until it's
carrying a full load (**carry capacity 10**), hauls it back to a drop-off (your
Town Centre — it can deposit at any edge of the footprint), then repeats.

| Resource | Source tile | Speed | Mainly buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Food** | Berries | Fastest | Villagers, Spearmen, Cavalry, population |
| **Wood** | Forest | Medium | Houses and all military buildings, Archers |
| **Gold** | Gold ore | Slowest | Archers, Cavalry |

**Distance is the real rate limiter** — the further a resource is from your drop-off,
the slower the effective income. Keep gatherers near home and expand outward.

### Resources run out

Resource tiles are **finite**. Each holds a number of loads (one villager carry =
one load):

- **Forest** → **5 loads**, then becomes a walkable **stump** (eventually grass).
- **Berries** → **7 loads**, then **grass**.
- **Gold ore** → **8 loads**, then **grass/rock** (rich enough to support the age
  advance plus Archers/Cavalry without adding extra resource clutter to the map).

A 2×2 starter Berry cluster therefore holds roughly **28 loads** (about 280 Food);
same-size Forest clusters hold **20 loads** (about 200 Wood). Enough to open with,
but not forever. When a villager's tile
runs dry it automatically re-targets the **nearest live resource of the same
type** nearby; if none is close, it goes idle (check your villagers if income
suddenly stalls). So the map gradually opens up over a match and you're pushed to
expand — you can't camp one forest forever.

---

## Population

| | Value |
|---|---|
| Starting population cap | **4** (granted by the Town Centre) |
| Per House | **+3** |
| Maximum cap | **16** |

Every unit — villager or soldier — costs **1 population**. When you hit the cap,
training is blocked until you build another House (or a unit dies). Build houses
early so your training never stalls.

---

## Units

You start each match with **3 villagers**. All four unit types share a
**counter triangle** so no single unit dominates:

**Spearman beats Cavalry → Cavalry beats Archer → Archer beats Spearman** (the
Archer out-ranges the Spearman).

| Unit | Role | HP | Attack | Range | Armor | Speed | Trained at | Cost | Train time |
|---|---|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|---|---|:--:|
| **Villager** | Gather & build | 25 | 3 | 1 | 0 | Medium | Town Centre | **50 Food** | 12 s |
| **Spearman** | Melee infantry | 45 | 6 | 1 | 1 | Medium | Barracks | **60 Food** | 14 s |
| **Archer** | Ranged | 30 | 5 | 4 | 0 | Medium | Archery Range | **40 Wood + 30 Gold** | 16 s |
| **Cavalry** | Fast melee | 70 | 8 | 1 | 1 | **Fast** | Stables | **70 Food + 40 Gold** | 20 s |

**Counter bonuses (extra damage):**
- **Spearman: +5 vs Cavalry** — brace spears to break a charge.
- **Cavalry: +4 vs Archer** — fast enough to close on archers and ride them down.
- **Archer (range 4)** punishes Spearmen who can only hit at range 1 — but is
  fragile (30 HP, no armor) once anything reaches it.

**Combat model:** damage per hit = `max(1, attacker Attack + counter bonus −
defender Armor)`. Armor never makes a unit fully immune (minimum 1 damage). A
unit attacks once its target is within range and its cooldown has elapsed; an
idle unit that gets hit **retaliates** automatically. Hit sparks and HP bars show
the fight on screen.

> **Soldiers fight by default.** An idle **military** unit (Spearman, Archer,
> Cavalry) automatically attacks the nearest enemy unit or building that comes
> within a short radius — so a garrison left at your base defends itself without
> you babysitting it (and the enemy's does the same). **Villagers never pick
> fights** (they keep gathering). Any order you give **overrides** auto-engagement:
> a unit you've told to move or gather ignores nearby enemies until that order
> finishes, so you always stay in control — move a soldier away and it won't turn
> back to brawl.

> **Friend or foe:** your units and the enemy's are drawn through different
> shading so you can tell them apart at a glance, and each civilization's
> military units have a distinct silhouette.

---

## Buildings

You start with one **Town Centre** (pre-placed). Everything else you build with a
villager. Buildings are tough — razing a base is a real commitment, not a
drive-by.

| Building | Footprint | Wood cost | HP | Age | Purpose |
|---|---|:--:|:--:|:--:|---|
| **Town Centre** | 2×2 | — (pre-placed) | 400 | — | Drop-off for resources; trains Villagers; researches the **Castle age**; **garrisons villagers & fires arrows when manned**; **its destruction wins/loses the game** |
| **House** | 1×1 | **30** | 150 | Feudal | **+3 population cap** |
| **Barracks** | 2×1 | **160** | 250 | Feudal | Trains Spearmen |
| **Blacksmith** | 1×1 | **120** | 200 | Feudal | Researches permanent **attack / armor** upgrades (no units) |
| **Archery Range** | 1×2 | **175** | 200 | **Castle** | Trains Archers |
| **Stables** | 2×2 | **190** | 300 | **Castle** | Trains Cavalry |
| **Tower** | 1×1 | **120** | 350 | **Castle** | **Auto-fires** at the nearest enemy unit in range (no units) |

You can only build on plain, unit-free **grass**. The **Archery Range**,
**Stables** and **Tower** appear in the Build menu only once you've reached the
**Castle age**.

> **No turn-one rush.** You start with **150 Wood** — enough for an early House
> (30 Wood) but *not* any military building (the cheapest, the Barracks, is 160).
> You must gather Wood before you can field an army, and so must the AI.

---

## Ages & upgrades

Both sides start in the **Feudal age** and can advance once to the **Castle age** —
the strategic spine of a match, in the spirit of Age of Empires II.

### Advancing to the Castle age

Select your **Town Centre** (press **A** on it) and its menu offers, alongside the
Villager, an **Advance to Castle Age** option (a castle-keep icon). It costs
**300 Food + 100 Gold** and takes a good while to research (the Town Centre can't
train Villagers while it's researching), so it's a real mid-game investment. When
it completes:

- **The elite roster unlocks.** You can now build the **Archery Range** and
  **Stables**, and so field **Archers** and **Cavalry** — they're **Castle-age
  units**, unavailable in Feudal.
- **The higher Blacksmith upgrades unlock** (tiers 2–3, below).
- **A one-time army boost:** every one of your units gets **+1 attack**, applied
  instantly and permanently.

Aging is a commitment — it ties up your Town Centre and a chunk of resources — but
without it you're stuck with Villagers and Spearmen while a Castle-age opponent
fields cavalry and archers. **The AI ages up too**, so don't fall behind.

### Blacksmith upgrades

The **Blacksmith** (120 Wood, a Feudal building) researches **permanent stat
upgrades** for *all* your units, present and future. Select it to open its research
menu — it offers two lines:

| Line | Effect per tier | Cost (tier 1 / 2 / 3) |
|---|---|---|
| **Attack** | **+1 attack** to every unit | 60 / 120 / 180 Food (+ 0 / 40 / 80 Gold) |
| **Armor** | **+1 armor** to every unit | 60 / 120 / 180 Wood (+ 0 / 40 / 80 Gold) |

Each line has **three tiers** (a cumulative +1, +2, +3). **Tier 1 is available in
Feudal**; **tiers 2 and 3 require the Castle age.** A tier can't be researched
twice, and like training, research runs on the building's timer (an **hourglass**
shows while it works). These bonuses feed straight into the combat formula — a
Spearman with +2 attack researched hits for **8** instead of 6 — and they **stack
with the Castle age's +1 attack** and your civ bonuses. A Blacksmith economy is how
you make a small army punch above its numbers.

---

## Civilizations

There are three civilizations. Each is the **same units and buildings** with
different numbers — one economic strength, one military strength, and one
deliberate weakness — so each is strong in a different phase and none is strictly
best.

| Civ | Identity | Economy bonus | Military bonus | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Picts** | Turtle / economy | Gather **Wood +20%** | Buildings **+25% HP** (hard to raze) | **Cavalry costs +25% Gold** |
| **Lombards** | Infantry / pressure | Barracks costs **−25% Wood** | Spearmen tougher & **train faster**; **+1 starting Spearman** | **Archers −1 range** (fire at 3, not 4) |
| **Alans** | Cavalry / mobility | Villagers **move faster** & gather **Food +15%** | Cavalry **+20% HP** (60 instead of 50) & faster | Buildings **−15% HP** (fragile base) |

Bonuses are small percentages — they tilt a match, not decide it. All of the
bonuses above are live.

> **Choosing a civ:** after the title screen a **civ-select screen** lists the
> three civilizations. Use **Up/Down** to move the marker and press **A** to pick
> yours; the AI is automatically assigned a civ that
> counters your choice (Picts → Alans → Lombards → Picts), so picking a
> different civ — yours *and* the opponent's — visibly changes the match.

---

## Choosing a map

After you pick your civilization, a **map-select screen** lets you choose the
battlefield. Use **Up/Down** to move the marker and press **A** to start the
match on the highlighted map:

| Option | What you get |
|---|---|
| **Classic** | The fixed, hand-designed map — the same symmetric layout every time, good for learning the game or a repeatable fight. |
| **Arena** | A different, but still fixed, generated map — plays the same on every pick, so you can master it too. |
| **Random** | A **fresh map every match**, generated on the spot. |

Every map — fixed or random — is **perfectly fair**: it's built with 180°
rotational symmetry, so whatever terrain, forests, gold and obstacles your side
has, the enemy has an identical mirror image. Random maps are also checked to be
**fully connected** (both bases and every resource patch are always reachable)
and to give each side a **starter kit** of forest, berries and gold near its base
— so you'll never get a dead start or a base walled off from the fight.

### Choosing a difficulty level

After you pick your map, you select how tough the AI opponent should be. Use
**Up/Down** to move the marker and press **A** to choose:

| Difficulty | What to expect |
|---|---|
| **Training** | **Sandbox mode** — the AI gathers, builds, and even ages up, but **never trains military** or attacks. Practice economy, building, and unit controls without pressure. |
| **Easy** | A **gentle opponent** — it starts with standard resources, opens passively (no early rush), and makes only small, late attacks. Good for learning the basics. |
| **Normal** | The **balanced experience** — the AI gathers all resources, grows its economy, counters your army, and escalates its attacks over time. |
| **Hard** | A **serious challenge** — it thinks faster, sends bigger and earlier waves, and starts with **extra resources** (more Food, Wood and Gold). You'll need sharp economy and smart army composition to win. |

The AI also **varies its strategy** from match to match: it might **Rush** (early
Barracks and Spearman pressure), **Boom** (economy-first, then overwhelm with a
big late army), or **Fast-Castle** (bank Gold to age up quickly and field Archers
and Cavalry). Harder difficulties favor the more aggressive openings; Easy never
rushes. This keeps every match feeling different even at the same difficulty.

---

## Sound

The game has **sound effects** (no music yet). Each key action plays its own
short, recognizable blip:

- **Select** a unit/building, and **order** a move/gather/attack
- **Combat hits**, a **building placed**, a **unit finishing training**, and a
  **villager depositing** a resource load
- A triumphant **rising** chime on **victory** and a low **falling** one on
  **defeat**

The effects you hear are for **your own** empire — the AI's distant economy
across the map stays quiet so the audio reflects what *you* are doing.

**Sound On/Off:** on the **title screen**, press **Select** to toggle sound. The
line at the bottom reads `SOUND ON` / `SOUND OFF`; the setting sticks for the
matches that follow.

---

## Title screen & end-of-match stats

The **title screen** is a full illustrated scene: the **EMPIRE BOY** banner over
a castle on a hill (its keep flies a fluttering flag), with a champion from **each
civilization** (Picts, Lombards, Alans) standing along the
foreground — under the subtitle **THE AGE OF WAR** and `PRESS START`. Press
**Start** to begin (you'll pick your civ, then your map, on the next screens).

When a match ends, the **VICTORY** or **DEFEAT** screen reports how it went:

- **Time** — how long the match lasted
- **Trained / Lost / Killed** — units you trained, units you lost, enemy units
  you destroyed
- **Built / Razed** — buildings you put up, and enemy buildings you tore down
- **Gathered** — total resources your villagers brought home

Press **Start** to return to the title and play again.

---

## Build orders & strategy

### Know your opponent

The AI plays a genuine macro game with **variable difficulty and strategy**. Its
behavior depends on
the **difficulty level** you choose (Training/Easy/Normal/Hard) and the **strategy**
it rolls for that match (Rush/Boom/Fast-Castle):

**Base AI behavior (Normal):**
- It opens with a **House**, then a **Barracks**, and its first attack — a group
  of **three Spearmen** — marches on your Town Centre at roughly **1m40s** in.
  That's your defensive deadline.
- It **grows its economy**: it trains extra villagers (up to ~5) and gathers all
  three resources, **Gold included**. You can still out-expand it (it's bounded,
  and the map is big), but you have to actually *play* your economy.
- It **counters your army.** The AI watches what you field and builds the unit
  that beats it — mass Cavalry and it makes Spearmen; mass Archers and it makes
  Cavalry; mass Spearmen and it switches to Archers. Spamming one unit type won't
  work; **mix your army**.
- It **advances to the Castle age** when its economy can carry it, then fields
  **Archers and Cavalry** of its own and gains the +1 attack bump. If you sit in
  Feudal too long it will out-tier you — plan your own age-up.
- Its **attacks escalate** — each wave is bigger than the last, and it keeps
  adding Houses, so a passive player *will* be ground down. Don't dawdle: stay
  ahead on economy and keep your defence current.

**Difficulty differences:**
- **Training:** The AI does everything above **except train military or attack** — perfect for practicing economy and controls.
- **Easy:** Same economy but **slower tempo** and **no early rush** — the first wave comes later and smaller, giving you breathing room.
- **Hard:** **Faster thinking**, **bigger waves**, and **extra starting resources** — you'll need sharp play to keep up.

**Strategy variety:** The AI also rolls a random **opening strategy** each match:
- **Rush:** Early Barracks, fast Spearman pressure to disrupt your economy.
- **Boom:** Economy-first, building up villagers and resources before hitting you with a large late-game army.
- **Fast-Castle:** Banks Gold to age up quickly, then fields Archers and Cavalry to counter your Feudal forces.

Your edge is **uncontested expansion** (you can push out and grab map resources
faster than it will) and **reading its counters**. Parking three villagers and
waiting will not carry a match.

### A solid opening build order

1. **Villagers to work immediately.** Select each of your 3 starting villagers and
   send them to gather — a good split is **2 on Berries (Food)** and **1 on Forest
   (Wood)**. Food is your most flexible resource (villagers, Spearmen, Cavalry,
   population), so lean on it early.
2. **House first** (30 Wood) as soon as you have the Wood, to lift your population
   cap from 4 to 7. Don't let training stall at the cap.
3. **Pump 2–3 more Villagers** from the Town Centre (50 Food each). The AI grows
   its own economy too, so this is about **out-expanding** it — get more
   workers onto the map's resources than it does. Build a **second House** to make
   room. Remember a building is raised by a villager and takes time, so start it
   early rather than at the moment you need it.
4. **Bank Wood for a military building.** The cheapest is the **Barracks** (160
   Wood) → Spearmen. You start with 150 Wood, so you need only a little gathering
   before you can place one.
5. **Defend the first wave.** Keep 2–3 Spearmen home and meet the AI's trio at
   your base — your Town Centre is tough, and braced defenders beat an attacker
   who arrives piecemeal. When you need to respond fast, **Pause (Select)** to
   read the battle, and use **select-all-military (Start, then A)** to send your
   whole garrison onto the attackers in one go.
6. **Age up and upgrade.** Once your economy is humming, drop a **Blacksmith** and
   start **attack/armor research**, and research the **Castle age** at your Town
   Centre to unlock Archers + Cavalry and the +1 attack bump. A Castle-age,
   Blacksmith-upgraded army beats an equal number of raw Feudal units — and the AI
   will age up too, so don't skip it.
7. **Then push out.** Once your economy is ahead, mass a mixed army and march it
   across the map to **raze the enemy Town Centre**. The AI's base is its weak
   point — focus the Town Centre and ignore distractions.

### Using the counter triangle

**Spearman → Cavalry → Archer → Spearman.** Once you reach the **Castle age** and
can field the Gold-gated Archers and Cavalry:

- **Spearmen** are your bread-and-butter melee and **shred Cavalry** (+5 bonus).
- **Archers** out-range Spearmen — keep them behind your line and they'll whittle
  enemy infantry from 4 tiles away, but protect them: anything that reaches them
  kills them fast.
- **Cavalry** are fast raiders that **run down Archers** (+4 bonus) and harass
  villagers, but they lose head-on to braced Spearmen.

Mix your army to answer what the enemy fields rather than spamming one unit.

### Picking a civilization

Each civ rewards a different plan — match your build order to your pick:

- **Picts** — *turtle & economy.* +20% Wood and +25% building HP. Lean on
  the tough buildings to absorb the AI's pushes while you out-economy it; great if
  you like to defend, boom, then roll out a big late army.
- **Lombards** — *infantry pressure.* Cheaper Barracks, tougher and faster
  Spearmen, and you **start with a free Spearman**. Get the Barracks up quickly
  and apply Spearman pressure earlier than anyone else.
- **Alans** — *mobility & tempo.* Faster villagers and +15% Food make for a
  snappy economy; their Cavalry are elite. Use the gather speed to power an early
  villager boom — but mind your **fragile buildings** (−15% HP), so don't get
  caught undefended.

Remember the AI is assigned the **counter** to your pick (Picts → Alans →
Lombards → Picts), so each match plays a little differently.

Good luck, commander.