Once you become confident on Black Forest, move to Arabia, where you will have to deal with the threat of Feudal Rushes

Oasis is a good intermidiate point, because your enemy can only attack from 2 sides.

Great tips

Also, after you master the art of fast castling, practice booming.

And my suggestion is to stray away from other people's made strategies. We all know the flush, and we all know it's signs. if you create your own strategy that compiles your civ, your skills, and your personality that is unique only to you...you can suprise your enemy with something he/she doesn't expect.

As you get more experienced, the amount of time before you attack decreases.

By following many of these advices, you will stay on lower "skill" longer. Why you say ? Because if you do those you learn "mistakes" which you will have problems removing later.

For once they should never play vs the comp for "training" like that. What they do is write down some common flush/fast castle etc strats and train on em offline (ie singleplayer) until they can get almost perfect times. Then its time to get online.

No and no...

Im not incorrect, you told em to play the computer till they manage to beat it @ moderate level...

Now what I said was that they should train on some already made "strategies" until they could manage to do em. I never said anything on that they had to beat a comp on any level, all they need to do is try it again and again. They dont even need to attack the enemy, when they have reached feudal they can restart and do it again.

Thats two different things, by your versions they might learn some bad mistakes, as they dont follow any good buildup and makes theyr own. Which can be all from going feudal with 8 vills etc.

And please dont tell me that a habit is easy to change please. If you make up a habit in this game, that is just as hard to change as a "habit" in rl.

•When you first get the game , don’t play on MSN Gaming Zone until you have some experience under your belt. Play the William Wallace Campaign, learn the ropes, then practice against the computer on single player. I wouldn’t start playing on the zone until you can win a 1v1 against the computer on moderate difficulty, which shouldn’t take very long if you’re devoted and you practice. The reason? Too often, people buy the game and almost immediately get onto the zone to play. With smurfs and decent rookies playing in newb and beginner games, it is easy to get trampled virtually every game if you’re a true newbie. This can destroy confidence, cause extreme frustration, and make you tired of the game because you arent’ winning. Practice up on some winning strategies against the computer on easy difficulty until you have a decent feel for the game. Then dive into rookie games on the zone.

•Don’t start playing Arabia regularly until you’re proficient and confident on Black Forest. Black Forest is a good map for beginners because it is relatively easy to wall and you’re almost guaranteed homeland security until the Castle or Imperial Age, when playing other rookies. Practice and learn unit combinations and Castle/Imperial Age strategies on Black Forest. Learn when to attack, with what units to attack, and when to advance through the ages. Study, and memorize the brown insert you get with the game. It lists civilization bonus’ and unit counters. This information is your savior when learning the game. If you’re getting attacked by a group of Woad Raiders, grab the insert and look up the counter to Woadies: Archers, scorpions and cavalry archers. Once you become confident on Black Forest, move to Arabia, where you will have to deal with the threat of Feudal Rushes.

•Don’t stop making villagers. Newbies often make the mistake of ceasing the creation of villagers once they get to around 50, because that seems like enough. On a population 200 game, you should always make a bare minimum of 80 villagers. The optimal number for a rookie is 90-100, and once you become an inter, it balloons to around 120 or so. This all depends on the game, but always make more villagers then you think you need. Don’t make them all from one Town Center. Once you reach the Castle Age, make two to three more town centers and pump villagers from each, focusing on gathering as much gold and food as you can to supply your army. Also, build more than one of each military building. In order to amass a strong army in a hurry, you’ll need several barracks’, several stables, and more than one castle.

•Don’t try and learn the Flush (Feudal Rush) until you’re ready. As TrixR4Kidz has stated in an earlier thread of this topic, don’t work on the flush until you can master the Fast Castle. On Rookie Arabia games, most players will either wait till the Castle Age or Imperial to attack. If you can Fast Castle in 18-20 minutes, make a few knights and raid your opponent, you will be talented at the rookie level. Learn to flush once you’ve mastered the Fast Castle. Fast Castles on Black Forest can be effective if your opponent doesn’t have terrific defenses.

•Don’t advance through the ages too quickly. A Feudal Time of 12-15 minutes is fine for a newbie if you have at least 20-30 villagers in the Dark Age. A Castle time of 20-25 minutes is fine for a newbie with 28-45 villagers. It is better for a rookie to advance to the Castle Age in 24 minutes with a good economy than in 20 minutes with an unstable one.

Okay. I Never above mentioned that they should try their own strategies and they shouldn't read up on internet strategies. Of course I think all newbies who want to get better need to read up on net strategies early on in their playing days, so they develop good habits. I never said they shouldn't; thus, you're using arguments for your case that are non-existent. I do think you should play out a whole game though; learn and practice fighting in real time, and how to react to enemy units on the fly.

What, according to my "tips for newbies" will cause them to make mistakes? I never said they should go to Feudal with 8 villies, that would contradict my point that they are to read up on strats on the net, practice them vs. the computer, then move onto the zone.

Where did this come from? I never suggested habits are easy to change. I've had to break plenty of bad habits in AoK, and it's not easy. But I don't think my "tips for newbies" is teaching bad habits.

And what is the use of playing vs a computer ai