Iam not going to get into specifics of villager assignments going to tool/bronze. There are a number of excellent guides (Crappy bronzing) that give 20 pages of detail. I usually arrive in tool at around 11:00 with 21-22 villagers and 5 fishing boats if available. With roughly 12-14 villies on food and the rest on wood, you will only be in tool a short time, basically long enough to build a stable (put 4-6 woodies on it) and one more building (I usually do a range and build the market during the bronze upgrade)
You should hit the bronze upgrade button at around 12:00-12:30 (note this is realistic, not optimum..many players arrive in bronze with Shang at the 12:30 mark)
Now comes the heart of your question...what to do in 100+ pop games. Build lots of villagers/boats. I played a game the other day with a 100 pop limit and i arrived in iron at 22:00 with 51 villagers. With four ranges built, i descended on my less experienced foes with a hoard of fully upgraded HA at the 25:00 mark. Now all the experts will say so what, but at least it is an idea of what you can shoot for with a villager boom.
I was in a 3 vs 3 150 pop game the other day. It was a mediterraean map and I was one of the front line players. I tool rushed the guy next to me, drove him away, went bronze and then tried to go after the enemy in the middle...but got bogged down in a real struggle because he had bronzed with a stonger economy...meanwhile my ally on the other front line dropped...and i was sure we were in trouble when my remaining ally hit with an unbelievable force of Hittie cats, backed by HA....he ran the board. Checking the victory points, I saw he had 700+, I had 300...checking achievements, I saw he had a villager high of 101!....talk about booming. Get to bronze, get government center, build TC's all over, and boom villagers...you will get an unbelievable economy. This is particularly useful if you are the middle, sheltered player in a big med game...or even on other maps if you play fixed positions.
I wish i had remembered to check times.
Anyway...high pop games allow real massive economies.