JK_daddy:
The key with minoan, what I absolutely had to solve, was getting to bronze in time to make compies as early as assy could make CAs.
The fastboom was the solution I found.
Goals in Stone Age
1. build a house. Just one, not two.
2. Build a wood pit near a forest.
3. Build 2 docks, preferably blocking the only pass into your lands to help deter tool rushes, don't worry abouto checking for fish. Just get the FBs out.
4. Train 12 villies, 11 of them on wood and one building houses a bit in advance of your needs.
5. Train lots and lots of FBs, should come to about 18 of them before tool. Keep them uncluttered, 3-4 per sea fish spot or 2 per shorefish spot is usually about good.Goals while tooling
1. Build a granary and a barracks, but don't use them.
2. Continue training FBs, about 8 of them I think.
3. Build a 2nd wood pit, and split your woodies evenly between both of them.
4. Add a 3rd dock if the fish are/become rare around your 1st dock, or if your FBs are too cluttered.Goals in Tool Age
1. Make 3 more villies, and put them on gold.
1. Build a market and an archery, 2-3 villies each, simultaneously if possible.
2. Research woodworking.
3. Continue training FBs.Goals in Bronze Age
1. Research improved bow, composite bow. This is the top priority, even if your FBs are being shot up and you have to run your villies away from an invading army, research this at all costs.
2. Build at least 5 more archeries, and start pumping impies from them as soon as possible. Build more archeries as wood becomes available, get up to maybe 3 packs of 6 archeries. I like to clump them into 6-packs, 2-3 tiles between clumps, so the compies can group but don't get too cluttered to walk around.
3. Research artisanship, to give range to your archers and cut more of that precious material, wood.
4. Add 2-6 stables near your archeries, so you can make a pack of cavs if STs show up, since they're the only thing that can give compies much grief in bronze.
5. Build a Government Center, research architecture, build more TCs, train more villies and spread them to various resources. Might be a good time to put some of your new villies on those berries now.
6. If at 50 max pop, delete FBs as the fish get depleted so you can replace them with more villies. If above 50 pop, try not to forget to keep training more of both.Ok, you'll want to start with the 3-minute drill. Build a house, a wood pit, a dock, a house, and another dock by 3:00. Keep practicing this until you get it down to no later than 3:30.
Then, the 7-minute drill. Click on tool upgrade at 7 mins, with all the stone age goals done.
Then, the 9-minute drill. Add the stuff you have to do while tooling. When you reach tool, evaluate and start over, till you get it right.
Then practice up to bronze age, again evaluating and restarting till you get it just right.
Finally, practice up to a horde of 40 compies or so.
Remember, nothing you do afterwards can fix a slowdown before tool, so practice that part till you're mumbling about docks and fishing boats and 12 villies in your sleep. Name your stone age villies after the zodiac symbols and the minutes to tool after the 7 days of the week if you have to if you have to. This is the part you have to set in stone, so you don't hesitate for one moment.