I'll just write a few things down. Later on I'll post a complete guide on how to play ara.
1-) It is okay to leave your tc idle when you are having a fwd battle and to spend the food on army!Yes! It is true! Most players might say no
Though as I've plenty of experiences on fwds I can say that if ure going for a tight feud battle with minimal eco; maybe cuz of a bad start or a really early feudal, It is crucial to get your army first! Or what would the point of ure fwd be. However this doesn't mean that you should or could leave the tc idle for 3-4 minutes and not care about it. Ofc not! Just when u really need it and u trust ure army micro.
2-) 2 range + blacksmith + fletching is the new trend. You just to need accept it! Nowadays it is a crucial element in skirm wars or archer rushes. Micro with non-upgraded skirms is possible and could prove to be quite effective as you will have more of a mass and maybe a few mroe farms. However unless the player micros like hell, the other player will slaughter his skirms with ranged hit-and-runs.
3-) Don't be lazy and wall!This is a must. Don't take your enemy's lack of speed for granted. Don't be surprised when you see about 40 arch+ skirm come through ure base and another few of em around the other side of your base! A palisade can win you important time. A tip: Don't expect to wall all the gaps with 1 villager. The chances are that it will get attacked by enemy scout + wolves is higher than it will survive.
4-) Towers!When u go fwd and after you reach a certain stalemate, mine stone with ure fwd vills. The enemy will most obviously try to go around and hit ure base as his will be protected. If that is the case and plus if your map is an open one, 1st palce ure towers in ure base. You can make palisade bunkers around ure wood. Another tip would be to build the necessary houses with ure villagers at home. That way u can make houses into natural barriers. This could also work when both of u go fwd. Just wait till he gathers a few skirms then make a tower to protect ure wood choppers. However start making palisades in important places the second u realize ure enemy is going for a fwd!
5-) Fool your opponent into building a tower!This is simple and quite affective. When u go fwd u'll probably get a chance to build-up a tower behind his wood-choppers. However as he has more vills he can do it a lot quicker than u. So what u could do, is to go and make an outpost with 1 VILLAGER behind his forest. Make sure that he can see it. He will automatically think that it's a tower and he build start building it. After u've enarly completed it just go back. He will keep on building as he will see ure so called "tower" nearly built. When he realizes that it's actually an outpost, it will be too late.
6-) You don't need an army to take down the enemy palisade around your Archery ranges! This is one of those precious little aok bugs:) Archery ranges, barracks, stables all function as a unit themselves. So they can attack palisades. Just click em and right click on the palisade to attack. Soon it will be down!
7-) Build ranges on top of a hill!This might seem obvious but it is crucial. It is %100 harder for an enemy to take over or to wall around you base. Your skirms or archers will simply be slaughtering enemy troops with extra advantage they gain. When your men are on the hill, their attack points are multiplied with 1.25 . The unit which fighting up hill hits 0.75 times its attacking points. So you gain a grave advantage over enemy. The hill advantage could also be used when you spot the enemy scout and you start fighting. You can just run back to the top of the hill and just suddenly turn and gain a few extra hits on your enemy.
8-) Give your scout a number!Very good tip that could save your scouts life. When you start the game u usually build houses and then you assign scout to go left or right to find the first 4 sheep. After you've managed to get all these done, just select ure scout and click ctrl+1. This will assign the NUMBER 1 key to your scout. So for instance if you hear enemy attacking, you usually get an alarm or something, just click 1 and send him over to you base. You don't even need to go and find your scout from the minimap or even select it. Just click 1 and send it back. Numbering your scout can prove useful at the start of the game too. When you're looking for boars and the rest of your sheep, you might forget to send your scout to explore for a few seconds as you'll be busy luring a boar or assigning your villagers. By numbering ure scout, u wont have this issue. Just click 1 and assign it quickly to explore a territory through the minimap. Your screen wont move to your scout, it will stay on your tc which will allow you to lure ure boar or build etc succesfully.
9-) Walling your opponent's gold and stone piles!I know that you're gonna say that it's lame. However it's part of the game, so deal with it!
After having built your 1st lumbercamp, send 1 villager towards where you think your enemy might be. Get loom and along the way build 1-2 houses, possibly near forests. When you find him, look for all of his gold piles and stone piles. Start walling em with palisade and be prudent to not be found. Coming back to those 2 houses... They are to fool the opponent and his scout. Seeing the houses, he will scout around the houses thinking ure tc will be close. When he realizes it, he will have scouted for minutes for no reason
Plus most of his res will be walled. All you have to do is to make army and stay defensive. If you're not sure whether or not to go castle, easy, build a few more ranges and pump some archers. As he wont have gold or enough gold to fight you in castle he will eventually fail
Note: fwd= Foward
