Disclaimer: This article is extremely and vastly incomplete and definitly not anywhere near 100% accurate. Please feel free to add more and remove false or misleading information.
This article is supposed to give you a rough understanding of the games core loop, gameplay and display some core principles and strategy. While this does show a sample game it certainly doesn't mean that this is the only way to play the game, it's just a rough layout of the games events which can be deviated from massively.
Sample Game[]
Beginning (Phase I)[]
In this phase you need to maximize the gathering of resources. You should complete this phase rather fast in order to avoid early rushes destroying you. If the enemy is trying to rush you he will need some time to find your civilization, use that time wisely.
You begin the game with your civic center, 2 ranged units, 2 melee units, 1 cavalry unit and 4 female units. You should send the 4 male units to gather wood, the cavalry to gather food from nearby animals or send it scouting the area and the female units should start gathering food from nearby plants. Once you have depleted the nearby food you should build fields, you can build these either directly at your civic center or a little farther away with a farmhouse to minimize walkway for the farmers. Start building houses to increase your population capacity and get more workers on the field. Now is a good time to start getting stone and metal. You should start upgrading gathering rates and resource capacity from the storehouse and farmhouse as soon as possible. Once you have a stable stream of resources (usually about 15-20 workers per resource so 60-80 people total) you can safely move on to phase 2.
Mid-Game (Phase II)[]
At the start of this phase you should have a good supply of resources. With these you will want to start building military structures like the barracks, stable and temple to train units, a forge for upgrades, as well as walls and towers for defense. If the enemy attacks, your walls and towers should be able to hold them off long enough for you to gather your troops and defend your town, always gather your troops first, having them scattered around and in little groups trying to attack the enemy's army usually doesn't go well. You may also start building outposts in order to know when an enemy is approaching and have more time to gather your military to fight back. In this phase your goal is not to get overrun by the enemy while getting ever more resources. You will want to focus on training as much military as possible, but be sure not to let them idle and send them working to gather resources. Training women to do tasks such as building and gathering resources (except for food) is usually a bad idea since they can't properly defend themselves when the enemy attacks and are less effective gathering wood, stone and metal anyway. You may also want to build a market to trade resources. Food is the easiest to get resource so if you're lacking with wood, stone or metal you can just buy them with food, be sure to not overdo it though since the market will adjust its prices to the point where you're paying 100 of one resource for a single other resources. You will want to move on to phase 3 as soon as possible.
Late-Game (Phase III)[]
In this phase you massively expand your army, get as many upgrades at possible, train ever more powerful military units, get a hero, train siege engines, and prepare for a battle, either defending from the enemy or attack the enemy.
Core Game Principles[]
Minimize walkways[]
Key to a successful civilization is the minimization of walkways for your units. Whenever you send your units to gather resources far away from your civic center it is highly advised to build dropsites, so storehouses for wood, stone and metal and farmhouses for food. In general try to keep your civilization compact and try not to spread out too much. Spreading out can be beneficial because the enemy will need more time to overthrow all your buildings, but gathering your own units in case of emergency will also take longer.
Battle/Military[]
Defending[]
When defending your civilization from another you will want to buy yourself as much time as possible using walls and sentry/stone towers. As soon as you see the enemy approaching with an army (not just a spy) gather all your male units to prepare for battle, it might be wise to get them in a formation. Having your units spread out when defending or attacking is usually a bad idea.
Attacking[]
When attacking a civilization have your battle rams tank for your infantry and cavalry. Have your ranged siege weapons the most behind to be undetected by the defender. Have your infantry and cavalry defend the battle rams and destroy any opposing infantries. If possible have portion of your cavalry bait out the enemy defense before sending the main attack force. Be aware though doing this will leave your Civic Centres vulnerable.