In Age of Empires II the choices you make early in the game have a large impact on your long-term survival. That's why it is critical to get your units to work immediately to ensure that your civilization does not become yet another historical footnote.

First, have the town center immediately begin generating villagers. Next, make sure you get everyone right to work. You start with the game with three villagers and a scout cavalry (the Chinese start with six villagers, but have less stockpiled food). Have the first villager begin construction on a house so that you can support a larger number of villagers. Set one off to begin chopping wood at the nearest tree. Have the third construct a mill next to the nearby forage bushes. This will allow you to gather food much more quickly and also to fulfill one of the prerequisites for advancement to the next age. Once the mill is completed, order the villager to begin gathering food. Set newly created villagers to work gathering food as well. When you have about six to eight villagers gathering food, set the next several to wood-gathering. You want to build up to about fifteen to twenty villagers, roughly split between food and wood gathering.

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