This is an open map UNSAFE GOLD/STONE spawn maps strat. Also very good in UNSAFE gold/stone HYBRID MAPS with NO deep fish.
open 5 villagers on sheep
1 vil builds HoW then mining (DO NOT STOMP YOUR STRAGGLER TREE WE NEED THEM ALL)
first villager trained from TC builds a house then goes to mining gold
all future villagers from this point will go to sheep.
once you have 225f and 125g click up the fast feudal age up and pull 5 food villagers onto stragglers;
once you hit feudal grab both gold villagers and build a stable and que immediately Desert Raiders; 2 villagers on gold will just be enough to keep producing the gold requirement needed to spam Desert Raiders.
You want to deny the unsafe resources; and you want to use MELEE attack whenever it is advantages which really is all the time if you’re not outnumbered/vs spears/nor under enemy defensive fire. Lastly, Desert Raiders CANNOT kill 2 archers in bow mode; BUT a Desert Raider CAN kill 2 archers in melee mode! Lastly the point to making a stable instead of an archer range is if forever reason the enemy is getting too many archers you can mix in a few horsemen to counter and soak for your desert raiders.
I pulled off a 2:44 feudal age up and was on top of enemy BEHIND THE BASE gold mine at 4:22. Only civs with units that early are English, French, Mongols, Ottoman, and only the English LONGBOW is the singular threat in the above example. everything else you can kite or outright kill.
Lastly archers are wood expensive; so if you can deny enemy wood; the enemy will struggle to sustain a consistent archer mass to counter your raider/horseman comp.