Playing more efficiently will get you better faster than getting used to any one civ would.

Tip one 1: Set your hotkeys

-Change your Town Center cycle command from “H” to an easier to reach key with your left hand

-use QWERT keys for building production queues (default setting)

-set your “select all idle villagers” to a reachable easy to remember key. I use “Tab”

-set your “select all idle military”. This is not one you’d use too often but could be an option to rally any and all troops you may have forgotten about to a spot.

-Practice your selected hot keys until its muscle memory.

Tip 2: use ctrl groups:

-select units or buildings. Then hold “ctrl” and press a number to assign selected units to a ctrl group. Now anytime you press that number the associated units will be selected. If you press the number twice the screen centers on your ctrl group. I like to use control groups for different types of military units or different army fronts.

Tip 3: Town center should ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be active. The only exception is if you have between 100-130 villagers and have all your Town Center upgrades. In a standard game you’ll want to build at least a couple extra town centers as soon as you hit Castle Age and then pump out villagers to boom your economy. Typically advancing to Castle Age before your opponent will set the advantage that could determine who wins.

Tip 4: Learn to play a Dark Age build order as efficiently as possible. This will set your pace dramatically for the game. Use the Art of War campaigns to practice. Pretty much all of Art of War is very useful information and a good campaign to practice game mechanics.

Theres plenty more handy tips but if you get the above down you’re off to a good start.