Britons

When playing Britons you should build up your attack force based around archers with other sword infantry to defend them. Their special unit the longbowman is the best archer in the game and has the longest range. Their archers also get +1 range in the castle age and another +1 in the imperial age leading to a total of +2 range. The other bonus's and neglectable. Attack forces in the late game should compose of mainly Longbowman and Arbalests with Champions to guard them. Their cavalry is weak with no Paladins and their Siege is exceptionally weak, weaker than any other races. So its suggested you just stick to your Archers and Infantry. For defense they have all defense's except the Bombard Tower, so the best option is probably just walls with Keeps and Longbowmen behind the walls. 

Byzantines

Are a privileged race, its special unit the Cataphract is excellent against infantry, their buildings have more Hit Points as they go through the ages, Monks heal 3x quicker, Camels, Skirmishers and Pikemen are 25% cheaper and upgrading to imperial is 33% cheaper. When it comes to their standard units they have the best of all worlds. They have all the Cavalry, all the Archers and all the Infantry they only lack the Heavy Scorpion and Siege Onager from the Siege Warfare. And if youre on a water map they also contain all the ships. Their defense if awsome as they control power to build all defense weapons also. So it really comes down to what type of things you like when youre playing Byzantines, you can pick and choose as you go along. 

Celts

Not missing too much, they lack Camels, Arbalests and Hand Cannoneers and the Bombardment Cannon. They are also missing out on Crop Rotation and Two Man Saw, so they will be shorter on wood than other races, so try to build more items that require Gold and Food instead of Wood. For defense they lack the range of bombard towers, but still have adequate defense to get by. They get the Woad Raider as their special unit. But the Woad Raider isnt that usuful as a special unit as its weaker than the Champion and other races infantry special units. 

Chinese

Early in the game the Chinese get a big speed bonus by starting with 3 more villagers. This lets them get a real quick attack up and ready to make a attack attempt in the feudal age to weaken enemy players severely. They can also build less houses to boot as the town centers support 10 population, Upgrading technologies is cheap for the Chinese as they get -10% Cost in Feudal age, another -15% off in Castle age and finally another -20% Cost in the Imperial age. As farms produce +45 food they will also have a small amount more wood than other races at the start. Although since they are missing Crop Circle Rotation in the end game they will have less wood. But by then wood isnt as much of a problem. The Chinese have all the defense towers as well as all of the infantry, their archers are only missing hand cannoneers and they are just missing the Paladin from the Cavalry, their missing the more powerful Siege Onager and Bombardment Cannon from the Siege Weapons as well. So they are actually missing quite a few of the major units. Although their Archers and Infantry should make up for that. Their special unit the Chu Ko Nu is also the best Archer in the game.

Franks

The home of the throwing axe men. Nothing overly special about this unit. Other than the fact that they are cool in the sense that they throw axes. Knights get +2 line of sight and +20% hit points, castles cost -25%, so you should be able to build plenty of castles and throwing axe men. Farm upgrades are free, so you should enjoy the plenty of not having to waste resources upgrading. As for their standard units, they have paladins, but they are missing alot of other weapons. To name the major ones, Camels, Arbalests, and Siege Onagers. But overall no real misses. As almost no army have Siege Onagers, Arbalests are only a bonus to real archery fans, and archers are not that great anyway. Build plenty of paladins, pikemen, onagers and heavy scorpions and champions if you need to.

Goths

The Huskarl, one of the below average unique units, it gets attack bonuses vs. archers. Barracks are 20% faster, Infantry cost -10% feudal age, -15% castle age and -25% in the imperial age. Infantry get +1 attack vs. buildings. So be sure to pump out plenty of Champions and Pikemen, and you can cram +10 units into you civilization as when you reach Imperial age your population limit is +10, so if your playing Goths you really want to be playing with a 75 unit limit. Villager also get +5 attack vs. Wild Boars. As you should have guessed by now the Goths specialty is infantry, they have all the infantry in the game and some great upgrades for them. They lack camels, paladins and arbalests, that's about all. Other than the cavalry the Goths are a decent army. Although they are the only army to lack walls of any kind other than palisade. So be sure to always be on the offensive from the feudal age with an early rush.

Japanese

The Japanese special unit the samurai is another useless special unit, or at least below average, although he does get attack bonuses vs. other special units. The Japanese are a mixed bag, but ultimately are the kings of the sea. Their galleys have +50% line of sight. Fishing Ships have 2x Hit points and +2P armor. The Japanese work rate is faster all round, with +5% in the dark age, +10% in the feudal age, +15% in castle age and then +20% in the imperial age. Mill, Lumber and Mining Camps cost 50% less. Infantry attack 10% faster in feudal age, 15% faster in castle and 25% faster in imperial. The Japanese really are kings of the sea as they can build every boat as well as every boat upgrade except shipwright. The only more sea worthy race are the Byzantines and they prefer their wide variety of units. Other races come close but are never any more sea worthy. Their infantry and archers are all complete, with arbalests and champions as well as all upgrades. But the Japanese lack Paladins and Camels, so their Cavalry is weak. Their siege is about average, but they do have the major siege unit heavy scorpion.

Mongols

The Mongols Scout and Light Cavalry get +2 line of sight. Their Cavalry archers fire 20% faster and light cavalry get +30% hit points. Hunters work 50% faster, but that'll only benefit you if you go hunting animals. Their special unit the mangudai as you've probably guessed is a cavalry unit, but more to the point it is a archery unit. Which gets bonuses vs. siege. So if you are looking for anti siege the mangudai is a good choice. As you would expect the Mongols are best at Archery and Cavalry. But they actually lack Paladins. So maybe they are not so great at cavalry. They do have all the archers and infantry you need for a basic army and a wide variety of siege to back them up including the siege onager. They have a good variety of defense too, but miss out on the Keep and Bombard Tower so they are not really a defensive civilization. They have all the ships but dont have the dry dock technology.

Persians

The Persians are a deadly bread, they contain the deadly arsenal of the only rival to the paladin. The War Elephant. The beast which costs 200 food and 75 gold. The same amount of gold as a paladin, but this beast deals more damage and has got about 4 times us much armor. That's the Persians special unit for you. Now onto their fundamentals, their knights get +2 attack against archers. They start off with +50 wood and food. Town Center and Dock have 2x the Hit Points. Their work rate is +10% faster at feudal age, +15% at Castle and +20% at imperial. So they get some substantial specialties. The Persians are deadly with their array of powerhouses. They have the Paladin, as well as camels to counter paladins. They are missing the arbalest, but so what. Use crossbowmen and elite skirmishers instead for your long range infantry. With a few hand cannoneers too. They enjoy the power of the heavy scorpion as well as the onager, shame they don't have siege onager. So all in all they are a powerful land race. But when water comes into the mix, the Persians are ready to kill kill kill. They come complete with every ship. When you use the Persians you should be looking to use every opportunity to your advantage. here is food for thought. Push Push Push, build small bases near the enemy and storm them in the castle age with 10 elephants. After than attack with your archers or infantry, which should do great against those pike men he is now building. Reinforcement of the fact that Persians are for attacking lies in the fact that they cannot build fortifies walls, keeps or bombard towers.

Saracens

Their unique unit the Mameluke gets attack bonuses vs. cavalry and is also a cavalry unit it's self. Saracen foot archers get +1 attack vs. buildings, market trade cost only 5%, transport ships get 2X Hit points and 2x carry capacity. Their galleys attack 20% faster and cavalry archers get +3 attack vs. buildings. From this you get the impression that the Saracens are great in the water and at archery. Lets see if this promise holds true with their standard units. They are missing Shipwright and the Fast Fire Ship, so they are still formidable in the water. As for archery they have all the archers and all the upgrades, this holds true with the standard infantry as well. As for cavalry they are missing the cavalier and paladin, but they still have camels. For siege they only miss the heavy scorpion. So overall they are a mixed bag. They have all defense structures except for the bombard tower.

Teutons

The Teutons are a very defensive civilization, but are at the same time a very strong aggressive civilization. Their town centers have +2 attack/+5 range. This means you wont be able to rush a Teuton player. Their monks heal from twice as far away, farms cost 33% less, towers garrison twice as many units and fire twice as many arrows. Murder Holes are free and units are more resistant to conversion. The Teutonic Knight is their unique unit, and its also the most powerful infantry unit in the game. The Teutons have all the defense emplacements, they also have a variety of power units, ranging from the Paladin to the Champion and the awesome teutonic knight. Watch out for quick units though as Teutonic units are slow. They pack alot of punch, but don't expect to be retreating. For defense you can wall yourself in, use castles, towers and bombard towers as well trebuchets. This should make your base near impenetrable. For offense a huge force or teutonic knights and siege weapons will give you a force to be reckoned with. You can also add Paladins to help combat those nasty archers. But be careful, as without Light Cavalry the teutons have little to stop cavalry archers. 

Turks

The Turks are the most advanced race in the game, they can build gun powder units as early as castle age with the use of the janissaries from the castle, being the masters of arms. Or gunpowder in this case, the Turks can train gun powder units 20% faster, gunpowder units get +50% hit points and researching gunpowder technologies is 50% less. Chemistry is free, light cavalry upgrade is free and gold miners work 15% faster. As you now know the Janissary is the Turks special unit, armed with its gunpowder based weapon it is mighty indeed. And with no minimum range on their weapons they can still blow someone to pieces at close range. They are quite good at defense the Turks, as they can build all the defense emplacements and can also put Janissaries behind walls for added damage. As you would expect the Turks are only mediocre until the end of the game when they get the only good unit to come from the archery for them the Hand Cannoneer. They are only missing the Paladin from the Cavalry, so they should build camels to counter paladins. This is key as the Turks are the only race without Pikemen, so they need the camels to counter cavalry. Their infantry in complete as is the case with most races. Their siege includes the heavy scorpion and bombard cannon, but they miss the onager's. In the sea they only miss out on the fast fire ship. 

Vikings

Are blessed with 2 special units, the only race in the game with 2 special units. The longboat and the berserk. The longboat is only marginally better than a War Galley, but its still better as it has slightly further attack range and fire's more arrows. As for the berserk its real only advantage is it heals itself over time. But apart from that its a pretty weak special infantry unit. Vikings are really a rather weak race, they do get decent bonuses though. Docks cost 33% less, infantry get +10% hit points in the feudal age, +15% in the castle age and +20% in the imperial age. The wheelbarrow and hand cart upgrades are free. Their range of standard units is where the Vikings are let down, they miss the keep and bombard tower for defense, they miss all the camels and paladins. They miss out of heavy cavalry archers and hand cannoneers, but they do get arbalests. They get all infantry, and only miss out on the siege onager and bombard cannon. So you'll need to focus on infantry and siege with a few arbalests in their. They are weak in the ocean as they lack any kind of fire ship.

More to come, including individual unit breakdowns, general and advanced strategies for build order, attack and defensive play and much more. These additions to this strategy guide will come shortly.