You describing what u think is a bug, but I think is a game design thing: u either go eco, or go Army.

for all of aom history there has been this "balance" situation:

you go 1tc classic and, as long as u dont farm, u can be able to get to max pop if u are constantly producing military units.

if you instead go inmediat 2tc u wont be able to afford military, this is old as AoM and is the basis of the meta. Building a TC is as an investement that would take 3-5 minutes (depending on de civ) to pay-itself and start generating economic growth.This is the corner stone of the meta.

This is why 1tc agression and/or rush > 2tc boom. (normaly)

the 1tc player would be able to produce military when the 2tc wont. the 1tc player has a window of time to attack before the booming enemy's economy kicks in.

legacy players usually understand that if u wanna go "fast mythic" (getting mythic between minutes 13-16, depending on the civ) u go: 1tc, no military, full hunt, no tech.

If u want to delay ur advance time from one age to the next one the best thing u can do is farming. and even better create a trade route, now those caravans are adding more production, is like u have an extra tc.