One thing that stymies me early on is my failure to build a strong economy early in the game. This not only delays my advance to another age, it also delays the development of new units. When I first land at my campsite I group my three villagers and head for the nearest resource. Once there I build a storage pit or granary to save time hauling the resource back to my TC. At the same time I crank out a new villager, whom I set to work building houses.
I always concentrate on villagers first, grouping them in teams to build new units and gather resources faster. I avoid hunting, since it's a time-consuming affair. I prefer docks and farms.
Yet, after all this preparation the CP still manages to overrun my civ with slingers or clubmen quite early in the game. When I finally quit the game in disgust I see that my opponent's score is often twice my own.
I'm making some basic errors in the early part of the game, and I could use pointers.