Fast Imperial · Cataphracts — Macedonian Dynasty AoE4
Deer, miners, Hippodrome (0:00–4:15)
Start the age-up at 2:45 with 14 villagers (6 on food, 4 on gold, 4 builders on the Imperial Hippodrome); the age arrives at 4:15 with 18 villagers.
- 0:00 — The 6 villagers on sheep, but on deer as soon as the Scout finds them; research Survival Techniques. Rally: the first 4 new villagers to gold.
- 0:20 — The first new villager builds a House, then a Mining Camp on the gold.
- 1:20 — The next 3 villagers go to gold: 4 miners in all. After that, rally on food until the age-up.
- 2:45 — Age up with the Imperial Hippodrome: 4 food villagers build it, then 2 return to food and 2 go to gold. Rally on wood until 3 on wood.
- 3:40 — Rally back on food; a Varangian Warcamp goes down while you wait.
Pick, Arsenal, Golden Horn Tower (4:15–8:10)
Stay on the economy: 6 miners and Specialized Pick, then the Golden Horn Tower started at 6:50 by 8 food villagers, to reach Age III at 8:10 with 30 villagers.
- 4:15 — Age II: the 4 Hippodrome builders go back to work, 2 on food and 2 on gold.
- 4:40 — Research Specialized Pick.
- 5:30 — A Varangian Arsenal near the gold; if the opponent is pushing, an Outpost and Palisades instead.
- 6:50 — Age up with the Golden Horn Tower, near gold or stone: 8 food villagers build it, then go back to gold.
Market, then Palatine School (8:10–12:10)
Get to 14 miners, buy the missing food at the Market with the extra gold, then start the Palatine School at 11:15 with 14 food villagers.
- 8:10 — Age III: the 8 builders go to gold (14 miners in all). A Market to buy food with the extra gold and speed up the next age-up.
- 8:40 — The Varangian Warcamp switches to Riddari; Scale Barding to armor them.
- 10:15 — Research Shaft Mining.
- 11:15 — Age up with the Palatine School: 14 food villagers, or more, build it.
- 11:55 — Research Wheelbarrow while the Palatine School finishes.
Elite Cataphracts non-stop (12:10)
Mine only gold and stone, let the Market buy the rest, and train Elite Cataphracts in batches of 3: two batches right away, then continuously with the silver.
- 12:10 — Age IV: leave only 6 or 7 villagers on food and 3 on wood; new villagers go to gold and stone. The silver is enough to queue 2 batches of 3 Elite Cataphracts right away.
- 13:45 — Research Cupellation, the last mining upgrade.
Tips
- The video shows some Town Center idle time; these numbers assume non-stop villager production, so the ages come sooner than in the video if the Town Center never stops.
- Against an aggressive Age II opponent like the French, JampiX delays the gold and builds a Varangian Arsenal first to make Atgeirmaðr.
- JampiX wastes the opponent’s time with the free Hippodrome Scout and the free Hippodrome units, and defends the base with free Crossbowmen.
- VortiX’s variant: Age III at 9:00 and the Palatine School at 11:30, for an army of Elite Cataphracts, Crossbowmen and Handcannoneers.
- In Age IV, take the relics and the sacred sites, and heal the Elite Cataphracts with Monks.
Source: AoE4 Guides