Fast Castle · Winery — Byzantines AoE4
Cisterns, then the Grand Winery (0:00–5:05)
Click up with the Grand Winery at 3:20 with 16 villagers, after 4 Cisterns linked by Aqueducts over the sheep, the gold and the stone; reach Age II at 5:05 with 21 villagers, 8 of them on wood, and a Barracks ready.
- 0:00 — Of the 6 starting villagers: 1 builds the House then goes to stone, 2 put a Mining Camp on the stone, 1 a Mining Camp on the gold, 1 the first Cistern before joining the sheep. The last one goes to sheep, with the rally point.
- 1:15 — A villager from the sheep builds the second Cistern and links it to the first with an Aqueduct.
- 2:20 — Third Cistern, by a villager from the sheep, again linked by an Aqueduct.
- 2:40 — With 110 stone banked, the 3 stone villagers move to wood.
- 3:00 — At 200 gold, the gold villager builds a fourth Cistern, linked by an Aqueduct.
- 3:20 — Age up with the Grand Winery, placed next to the berries: 4 villagers from the sheep build it.
- 3:30 — 3 villagers from the sheep to wood, and the rally point goes to wood.
- 4:10 — A villager from the sheep builds the Barracks.
- 4:20 — A gold villager builds a House; the middle Cistern is set to research speed.
- 4:40 — 2 villagers from the Grand Winery build an Outpost.
- 5:00 — First Limitanei from the Barracks.
Mercenaries, forge, Golden Horn Tower (5:05–11:45)
Hold with Limitanei and Javelin Throwers, grow from 21 to 39 villagers, then start the Golden Horn Tower at 10:50 with 12 food villagers: Age III at 11:45.
- 5:05 — Age II. 4 wood villagers build the Lumber Camp and stay to chop there; a villager from the sheep goes to the berries.
- 5:45 — A gold villager builds the Mercenary House then goes to the berries; a wood villager puts up a House.
- 6:30 — At the Mercenary House, take the Silk Road Mercenary Contract and produce Javelin Throwers.
- 7:00 — A wood villager builds the Blacksmith.
- 7:20 — 3 food villagers go to gold; another builds an Outpost then goes to gold; a House by a wood villager.
- 8:10 — 4 food villagers build a Mill on the berries; another puts down a Cistern, linked by an Aqueduct, then goes to the berries.
- 8:50 — 2 more food villagers to gold, with the rally point on gold; Steeled Arrow at the Blacksmith.
- 9:10 — A House by a wood villager, and 3 wood villagers move to food.
- 10:00 — 5 wood villagers to food; Iron Undermesh at the Blacksmith.
- 10:30 — Once 12 villagers are on gold, rally on food.
- 10:50 — 12 food villagers build the Golden Horn Tower.
- 11:00 — 4 food villagers move to wood.
Veterans and ranged damage (11:45)
Upgrade the Limitanei and the mercenaries to veterans, add Balanced Projectiles, and hold 21 villagers on food, 12 on gold, 4 on wood and 2 on stone.
- 11:45 — Age III. Veteran Contract at the Mercenary House, the Limitanei upgrade at the Barracks; new split: 21 on food, 4 on wood, 12 on gold, 2 on stone.
- 12:00 — Balanced Projectiles at the Blacksmith.
Tips
- Valdemar keeps the 3-stone opener for opponents like the French, Jeanne d’Arc or the Malians: it is exposed to early rushes, and against a spear opener he prefers the mill opener.
- One villager builds every Cistern and lays the Aqueducts; repairs go through the wood villagers, so the food, gold and stone gatherers never stop (tip from Readix).
- The first Cistern should cover at least the sheep and the stone, the gold too if possible; the Barracks and the Mercenary House do best inside the area of two Cisterns.
- Variant: Swaggy Professor starts the Grand Winery at 3:08 with 4 food villagers, pulls the 3 stone miners in to help finish it when 800 stone is left in the vein, and puts down the Golden Horn Tower at 10:35.
- Variant: Readix finishes 5 Cisterns at 4:50 and starts the Golden Horn Tower at 8:45 with 8 food villagers, for Age III at 10:00; adding Olive Groves little by little eases the move to farms.
Source: AoE4 Guides