Settler 1-5:
Eat the food crates. Start production on the first 3 settlers asap (waypoint on hunting). Then four go off and hunt while one eats the wood crates.
Once wood crate is eaten build a house. Then go hunt.
Settlers 6-11:
Hunt.
First Card: 300 food.
Settlers 12-14:
Eat food card. Chop wood. Build a house.
*note if settlers are close enough move them to eat crates as soon as they are availble which is generally before the last three settlers. Sometimes I wait for the last three settlers and take the TC idle time depending on how far my settlers had to walk to get hunting.
Advance with Quartermaster (500 wood).
Economy:
Food: 11
Wood: 3
Colonial Age:
Second Card: 5 Cossacks (or 4).
Settlers 12-14:
2 eat wood crates, 1 goes and builds a forward blockhouse. Then the 2 build a house or two and then chop more wood.
Settlers 15-17:
Chop Wood.
Once the cossacks arrive start raiding villagers. Go for hunting first if possible especially if you are up against a turk.
Build strelets from your blockhouse and spam his base with them.
Third Card: 13 strelets (you can also get 4 cossacks if you need more raiding ability.)
I keep new settlers on wood untill I have 12-14. Then I put three on gold and put more into food.
What do you guys think. It is not much, but it has worked for me. I want it to work better though.
-Benjamin Franklin