I recommend that after mound done immediately fort. Then once fort is done put up alter and repair w/like 5 peons. I mean as soon as your forts done get that alter up. Every second you lose is another second you get beat to lust. If your still way behind then you might be doing something wrong with your ealy build. Try getting a mill while going lvl 3 grunts, with 1 rax. Hope this helps.

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Mage Guild

Just a few things to try if your not doing these
a)ALWAYS get a mill before you go keep. The earlier the better.
b)Make sure that once you have enough peons to support all the gold you need, pull a bunch of them to lumberrr
c)Try to not chop lumber until you have a mill complete.
d)if you rush heavy, you will be going keep with a lot of peons and should easily be able to go fort immediately after repairing your mound.

Somewhere after my rush I lose some steam. I'm pumping the peons, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I repair my stables/mound and pump the ogres, but somehow I always get beat to lust

Heh... I've NEVER been told to put a mill up before Keep. :/ Man, that probably has a lot to do with it. It usually goes up right around when I start my Keep, sometimes later. I do all of the repair things, and after I'm done with the mound I do go straight to fort. If I'm lusting, how many peons should I have before going Keep, and how many Barracks? Is rushing heavy really that good of an idea if I'm already losing the race to lust? I can rush pretty well, so that might be something I need to try. Anyway, thx for all the help so far.

The mill has everything to do with it.

If your lusting you will have about 18 peons before you go fort. You want 2 barracks before your mound is done preferably. You don't have to start this second barracks until your stronghold upgrade has started.

As for rushing heavy, I cannot say. You scout with your first few grutns and decide from there. If you find a 2 haller you better be doing something to stop it or you'll die. Sometimes you will find somone with 2 barracks already. Stick up a mill and switch to a power, and you will be ahead.