I say that you pls should try to counter my Argument if you disagree with them (explain WHY you disagree with them) and the thing you do is totally ignoring it again in the first half.
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You mention a Castle drop being good, which I mentioned as 1 of the 3 only cases to justify an early Castle, so you dont even argue against what i sayed.
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The second thing you said about a defensive Castle protecting your Eco:
As explained before this might work in lower Elos, but if you invest 650 Stone (worth 700 Wood) into a early Castle which does nothing except standing there (Castles cant move to pressure) then you are behind if your Enemy didnt do the same.
If your Castle dont protects 100% of your Eco (which it only can if your Eco is pretty small Eco) then the Enemy can still raid you, which means if he invested these 700 Res in Military he will have the stronger Military and can raid your Eco and fight your Military, because he is stronger.
If he invested it into Economy then he will simply outboom you and you cant punish him for it, because your military isnt bigger then his Military, because the Resources he invested into Eco werent invested by you into Military to punish his boom, but into a Castle which cant punish his boom.
700 Res can buy 1 Tc and 5,4 Farms, and around 5 Farms can provide the food for constant Vil production out of 1 Tc, which means he will be able to invest the exact same resources you do in Military from now on, but gets 1 more Vil produced all the time, which snowballs in an stronger Eco which then will result in even more Eco, Military and Techs.
No matter if the Enemy invests the Res into Eco or Army, he will be exactly as strong in one aspect as you are, and stronger in the other (also he can invest them into both a bit, to be a bit stronger in both regards). And you wont be able to punish him for his decision, because you made a defensive Castle, which were the Res you needed to invest either in Eco or Army to keep up with your Enemy.
And a tipp: When your Economy is set up (most time around 2-3 TCs fully producing depending on the Eco - Military Balance) then you should transition 3-5 Vils to Stone. This way you will have enough Stone for a Castle around the end of Castle Age or while on the way to Imp.
Thats when you need them to get Conscription, protect neutral Resources you got control over with your superior Army, and to build Trebs.
(ofc all of this applies to s standard Game. If you get f.E. Arambai rushed on Arena, then you should make a defensive Castle, but then the Enemy is All in himself, which means his Economy is pretty bad as well.)