Tips for becoming a boss at online play - No.1

Ok so from now on I'll be posting some tips and builds for online play - probably around 1 post a week (most likely on a Sunday but this is an exception). I'll start off with some basic tips and then move onto more advanced game play and try to include some of the advanced strategies and micro the high level players use. 

Tip No.1

Starting off for tip number 1 I'll post some of the terminology and abbreviations used in AOE 3. Some of these may seem basic but hey I still come across some people that feel the need to post a question mark in the chat whenever I use them :D

TC = Town Center

TP = Trading Post 

FF = Fast Fortress - advancing to the fortress age as quickly as possible normally without training any soldiers. It makes use of the powerful fortress age shipments and is popular for civilizations like Spain and Portugal that have weak colonial play

Semi FF = Semi Fast Fortress - advancing to the fortress age as quickly possible but this time training a small number of soldiers eg 5 Hussar/Uhlan or 10 Musketeers. Although you still want to make use of the fortress age shipments and units, training soldiers in the colonial age allows you to harass and raid the enemy and is popular for civilizations such as France and Germany that get powerful cavalry and/or cavalry from cards etc

FI = Fast Industrial - Similar to the Fast Fortress this time you are trying to hit the Industrial age as quickly as possible. Here, you are trying to make use of the powerful heavy cannons, military upgrades, factories and in some cases church improvements (after sending the card). This is a very risky strategy as it allows your opponent to mass and army and time a push into your base often taking you out before you manage to pull it off. Because of this it is useful of defensive maps or in cases where your opponent is not expecting it and is popular for Spain (extra shipments sometimes combined with revolution), Portugal (Genitors for dragoons and heavy cannons) and Dutch (Church improvements and heavy cannons) 

B/back etc = Basically means retreat and pull your soldiers out of the fight

Most of the other stuff you'll learn once you start playing the game if you haven't already learned