Age of Empires 2 Fast Castle build order

There are a ton of different Fast Castle build orders. We are going to show the basic 'Fast Castle knights' first. Then additional in depth advice will be given. Without further do here is the build order:

• First 3 villagers build houses and then harvest sheep
• 6 sheep.
• 7 build lumber camp
• 7, 8 and 9th villager chop wood.
• 10 villager builds house and lures boar.
• 11 and 12 villager chop wood.
• 13 villager builds mill on berries.
• 13, 14, 15 harvest berries.
• 16 lures boar.
• 17 builds house then harvest berries.
• 18, 19 berries
• 20 builds house and then a lumber camp in another wood line (this is important)
• 21, 22, 23, 24 to wood in new lumber camp.
• 25 builds mining camp.
• 26, 27 gold.
• Research Feudal Age.
• One of villagers in wood builds barracks.
• Villager 28, 29 mine gold.
• One of wood villagers builds blacksmith and stable.
• Research Castle age.
• While going to castle research available technologies at lumber camp and mill.
• 2 Knights at your stable and attack!

Best way to practice Fast Castle?

There are specific mods to practice Fast Castle. You can find them here:

• Steam AOE 2 (2013): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1584182924
• Voobly AOE 2: https://www.voobly.com/gamemods/mod/1115/Interactive-Build-Order-Guide
• AOE 2 Definitive Edition: https://www.ageofempires.com/mods/details/2359/

If you don't like practicing in mods you can just go to multiplayer and check your castle times.

What are good castle times?

You have to check the in-game time, not the real time. Good castle times are around the 15 min mark. You can go faster if you try going up at 25 or less vills but then you will sacrifice either economy or military. 

• Civilizations like Persians, Mayans and Chinese are faster.
• If you're new it's recommended that you research loom after the first vills.
• Britons, Japanese and Mongols allow for 23 (Feudal) and 25 (Castle) up times if you do everything right.
• The build order given here (25+2) is the easiest and most recommended.
• For Castle Drop 28+2 is better.

When to go Fast Castle

When you are the 'Pocket player'. This means your position in the map is away from the opponents (you're in the middle of your allies). You can also go Fast Castle in maps like Black Forest if you wall correctly or in other maps if you're good at defending.

Generally go Fast Castle if you're new to the game. This is the first build order you should learn and master. If you do it right it will ensure you 1650+ elo in steam.

When not to go Fast Castle

Generally when playing 1v1 against ~1700 (steam) elo players. They will generally go Archer Rush, Tower Rush or Scout Rush, which counters Fast Castle unless you are really good at fast castling,defending and walling.

In team play don't go Fast Castle if you're playing an open map and your initial position is near your opponents.

What to do after Fast Castle

There are several options. The most common is making 2 knights, send them to attack and then do more knights to keep attacking. You can also follow one of this options:

• Build 2 Town Centers and boom. Make your economy really strong. This is recommended if you're pocket pick. You can do it while attacking or helping your allies with a few knights.
• Castle drop if you went 28+2. To achieve this you need to modify the build order to collect stone.
• Attack with Cavalry Archers if you're playing a Civilization like Mongols or Huns.
• 2 Stables, lots of knights with Blacksmith upgrades and stomp your opponent.