Hippodrome · Age III — Byzantines AoE4
Berries at the mill, gold, Hippodrome (0:00–4:00)
Put the Imperial Hippodrome down at 2:37 with 5 villagers from the sheep (13 villagers in all), then send everyone to wood: Age II at 4:00 with 18 villagers.
- 0:00 — The 6 starting villagers go to the berries, where the Mill goes up; one of them builds the Cistern and the House first.
- 0:20 — The next 2 villagers go to gold, with a Mining Camp.
- 1:00 — Rally on the sheep, under the Town Center.
- 2:37 — Age up: 5 villagers from the sheep build the Imperial Hippodrome.
- 2:40 — Rally on wood; the gold villagers join it once 35 gold is set aside for the Limitanei upgrade.
Horsemen, Longbowmen, then the Horn (4:00–12:24)
Hold with Horsemen and Longbowmen while the economy grows from 18 to 38 villagers, then stop the units around 11:00 to start the Golden Horn Tower: Age III at 12:24.
- 4:00 — Age II: produce Horsemen, build the Mercenary House, the Lumber Camp and a House.
- 4:50 — At 8 villagers on wood, rally on the sheep until 12 or 14 on food, then 4 on gold.
- 5:25 — Barracks.
- 6:00 — Second Cistern.
- 7:30 — Blacksmith: Steeled Arrow and Iron Undermesh.
- 8:00 — Second batch of Longbowmen; 5 villagers take the second berry patch, with an Outpost and a Mill.
- 9:30 — Third berry patch and Wheelbarrow.
- 11:00 — Stop the units and build up the economy for Age III: 2 or 3 villagers on wood, the rest on food and gold.
- — Golden Horn Tower with 8 to 12 villagers, and a Stable. Keep some wood for the Monastery.
Cataphracts, Longbowmen, relics (12:24)
Bring out Cataphracts and Longbowmen, take the relics with the Monastery, and attack as soon as you arrive: the Cisterns’ upgrades land very fast.
- — Monastery with the wood you kept, then Cataphracts and Longbowmen non-stop.
- — Take the relics and look for the fight: this is a key moment to attack.
Tips
- Built against spear openers: play it against every civilization that can open that way, but not against the French, the Golden Horde, Jeanne d’Arc, the Malians, the Rus, the Sengoku and Delhi.
- Variant: Yogii puts the Imperial Hippodrome down at 2:20 with 4 villagers from the sheep and leans on Horsemen: 2 as soon as Age II starts, then Expilatores, with the Mercenary House built by a single villager. No early Blacksmith, unless killed enemy villagers bring in gold.
- In Age III, the Golden Horn Tower, the Monastery and Cataphracts with Longbowmen: take the relics and look for the fight, since the upgrades arrive very fast.
- Take the second berry patch at 8:00 with 5 villagers, an Outpost and a Mill, then the third at 9:30 with the Wheelbarrow: the berries carry the food up to the Castle.
Source: AoE4 Guides