I followed directions. "Build 12-15 vils - put one on gold." (That was a lesson in itself. Amazing how over time one little vil picking away can give you lots of gold.)
I Tooled. and then got Market, Stable, Archery.
Even got to Bronz and built those 3 Academies.
But two things got in the way for me. I kept running out of food on this map that had NO water (hillside.) I am used to building a dock right off and letting those fishing boats provide me with just about all the food I need. (Anyone else do that?) So I was under a strain, running low on food and trying berries here and there and a few eles.
But the biggest problem was, after all the hoppers and ST's and cav's I created, when I sent them forward I just did not manage them well I guess. Because my ST's got destroyed in hand to hand combat, and my hoppers did a good bit of damage but not enough - and my cav's got killed.
I kept trying to create more stuff at the Academy, Stable, Seige Workshop - but no matter what I rolled out, I just couldn't bring this off.
Then the enemy sent over their Greek Hoppers and tore up my village.
I looked at the score. Dreadful.
So I quit. By that time my neck and shoulder were hurting anyway.
And I just hate to tell you all, I was playing on "Easiest" and Reveal Map.
Hopeless.
Maybe I need to develop a strategy just for me. For sure it will be on a map with water.
Sara