Black Forest Fish Boom build order — Age of Empires 2

Age-up click · 100–110 @ 22:00 pop · 25 + 4–5 ships villagers

Black Forest Fish Boom

23 stepsSignature strategyMalayJapaneseCumansBurgundiansCelts

Video guide · GanjiNew and improved BF Fish-boom-buildorder

Notes from Ganji

Only commit when the pond and the wall are safe

This is a high-APM greedy Black Forest pocket build. Confirm the connecting gap is secured before spending into Docks and Fish Traps. If the wall is contested, play the one-Dock version and redirect wood into the defence, siege, monks or Knights.

Three Town Centers and up to five Docks—not five Docks at any cost

Ganji demonstrates the ceiling: three Town Centers, five Docks and three extra boars. Scale Dock two through five only while every new Fishing Ship can receive a Fish Trap immediately. An idle 75-wood ship plus a missing 100-wood trap is worse than delaying the next Dock.

Use the benchmarks as macro diagnostics

A very clean execution can reach roughly 70–75 population at minute 20, 100–110 at minute 22 and 125–145 at minute 24 with Bow Saw, Gillnets and Wheelbarrow included. Missing a mark is not a reason to restart; check idle Town Centers, idle Docks and trap placement first.

The market trick is an advanced optimisation

Ganji notes that a perfect version can mine only 30–40 gold, sell 100 wood and buy the missing gold for Castle Age. The robust learning route below mines the normal amount; use the market optimisation only after the wood and Fishing Ship cycle is stable.

Execution

Build timeline

The first row shows new villagers, transfers and task assignments; the figures below are the totals after the step.

Dark Age

Send the first 6 villagers to sheep under the Town Center

Start+6

Send villagers 7 through 11 to one Lumber Camp

New+5

Villager 12 builds the Dock on the safest useful pond edge, then gathers wood

New+1

Produce Fishing Ships continuously up to 4–5 in Dark Age and add houses before either production building is blocked

Villager 13 lures the first boar

New+1

Send the next 3 villagers to hunt under the Town Center

New+3

Villager 17 lures the second boar; take safe extra boars only after the wall position is controlled

New+1

Send villagers 18 through 21 to hunt; skip berries when three boars and deer cover the Fast Castle food

New+4

Send villagers 22 through 25 to a second Lumber Camp

New+4

Move 2 wood villagers to gold and click Feudal Age at 25 villagers; research Loom only when the wall or lures require it

Transfer2

Transition to Feudal

During the Feudal transition, finish securing the gap without idling the Dock or delaying the age-up

Feudal Age

On reaching Feudal Age, train 2 villagers and send them to wood

New+2

Build a Market with 2 wood villagers and a Blacksmith with 1; keep mining the normal 200 gold while learning the build

27 villagers total

Click Castle Age as soon as both buildings and 800 food / 200 gold are ready; a clean one-pond version lands around 15:40–16:10

27 villagers total

Transition to Castle

After clicking Castle, research Double-Bit Axe and Gillnets; place Fish Traps as shore fish expires and never let the current ships idle.

Move villagers from exhausted hunt to wood, keeping only enough on food and gold to avoid delaying Castle Age

Castle Age

On reaching Castle Age, add 2 Town Centers on separate woodlines and research Bow Saw.

Rally all three Town Centers to wood at first and maintain uninterrupted Villager production

Add Docks 2 through 4 progressively; add the fifth only when every new Fishing Ship can immediately build a Fish Trap

Pair every queued Fishing Ship with 100 wood for its trap; stop ship production before either Town Centers or existing ships become idle

Research Wheelbarrow after three-Town-Center production is stable; avoid farms until Heavy Plow while the fish economy remains healthy.

Practice targets: roughly 70–75 population at 20:00, 100–110 at 22:00 and 125–145 at 24:00

Choose the military and Imperial timing from the civilization and frontline; the fish boom is the economy engine, not the final game plan

Treat the order as a stable economic backbone, not a script that overrides scouting. Idle resources, map generation and the opponent's opening should change the transition.