= Generic Start =

Learn the essential Age of Empires IV early game strategy. Focus on food production, villager creation, and scouting for a strong foundation.

Alright, let's get you set up for a solid start in Age of Empires IV. The absolute first thing you need to nail is food production. Seriously, your villagers are hungry, and if you don't feed them, you're going to fall behind fast. The goal is to keep churning out villagers and building houses without ever running out of food or space.

Here's the golden rule: Always keep making Villagers. Don't get sidetracked by anything else early on.

When the game kicks off, especially in multiplayer, you'll notice your mouse cursor won't move for a few seconds. This is just the game syncing up. Use this time wisely! Take a quick look around your starting Town Center (TC). See any berry bushes? Awesome. See water? Even better, especially if you can spot fish near the shore – that's prime real estate for food. Also, check for those 'straggler trees' right next to your TC. The more you have, the better your initial wood situation will be.

While you're waiting for the game to start, wiggle your mouse back and forth. This way, you'll be ready to go the instant control is given.

As soon as you can move your mouse, hit 'H' to jump to your TC, then 'C' to start building a new Villager. Got that done? Great. Now, grab two of your starting Villagers and have them build a house. The hotkey for that is 'B' then 'E'. Try to build this house somewhat close to your TC, but be careful not to place it directly on top of a straggler tree, as building on a tree deletes it, and you want to preserve those.

It's usually best to pick the two Villagers closest to the center of the map to build the house. Once they're on their way, grab the third Villager (the one closest to the edge of the map) and use waypoints to send him towards the edge of your screen, behind your TC. Your mission for this Villager is to scout for water, specifically looking for that shoreline where you can find fish. Fishing from the shore is the fastest way to get food in the early game. While this is happening, quickly hit 'F11' (for time elapsed) and 'F4' (for player scores). All of this initial setup should take you less than 5 seconds.

By the time your scout is moving and your first house is halfway done, grab one of the Villagers building the house and send them out to explore. It's a good idea to have your scouts move in a consistent direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise, to cover the area systematically. Once that Villager is moving, the other builder will likely finish the house. Send them exploring too, following the same general direction. Right after that, your fourth Villager should pop out of the TC. Immediately hit 'HC' to queue up the next Villager. Now's a great time to select all your Villagers (a big drag-select works well) and assign them to a control group, say Ctrl-1. Send your newly created Villager out to explore as well. If you found a coastline, send this Villager along it in the opposite direction of your first scout.

Here’s what you’re prioritizing when scouting:

• Shore fish: Ideally, find at least two fishing spots within a short distance of where you'll build a Storage Pit.
• Berry patches: Your next best option for a quick food source.
• Elephants: Good for food and potentially meat for hunting.
• Gazelle: Another source of early food.

You'll almost always find either shore fish or berries. If you find a good cluster of shore fish near a forest, or even elephants or other resources, you're in for a fantastic start. Immediately build a Storage Pit right on the shore near those fish. Use your control group (Ctrl-1) to quickly bring all your Villagers over to help construct it, and get a few of them fishing right away. When Villager #5 is born, hit 'HC' again to keep the Villager production going and have them help with food.

Quick Note for Shang Players: If you're playing as Shang and find shore fish very early, you can afford to keep one of your initial Villagers scouting instead of having them help with food. Shang also allows for a more wood-focused start from the get-go if you choose.

If you don't find any shore fish, focus on locating those berry patches. It's super important to scout the *entire area* around your berries before you build a Granary. Don't just plop it down next to the first bush you see. Instead, walk your scout Villager completely past the patch, so they're standing on the other side. Why? Two big reasons: First, you want to find the absolute best spot to build your Granary, one that gives your Villagers the easiest access to the most berry bushes. Second, sometimes there's another berry patch nearby. If you find one on the far side of the first patch, you can often build your Granary right in between them, giving you access to a massive amount of food (1800-2100) from a single building. This is a huge advantage, and you'll miss out if you don't explore thoroughly around your berry locations. We've all had those rough starts with terrible resource spawns, so make sure you learn to capitalize on the good ones too!