I'm kinda trash at this game and I need all your cool and hip strats

So like most of us, I played aoe2 a lot when I was like 12. I've been getting back into it, but unfortunately I'm pretty lost and want to improve, so I have a lot of questions for y'all. I'm pretty decent at sc2 and I thought it would translate. Spoilers, it really doesn't lol. Sc2 has a lot of solid instructional content on youtube and twitch, and while I'm sure that similar aoe2 content is out there, I'm having a bit more trouble finding it. I figured this was the best place to come.

First of all, just from watching streams and pro games, it seems like fast castle is a pretty safe, economical opening which opens up a lot of other options. Alright cool, I can learn how to fast castle, there are plenty of videos on how to fast castle. The issues come after that.

What are some basic and safe unit comps that are decent in a variety of scenarios? I default to paladin arbalest onager, but I'm not actually sure if that's a decent way to go. It sucks up my gold pretty quickly and I'm thinking something a little more gold efficient might be more effective.

All the civs and their respective unique units and bonuses are a little overwhelming. What are some must-have unit comps for specific civs, and in what situations are these comps effective? I know that's a super broad and difficult question to answer, but I'm just looking for real basic, general guidelines.

Unit counters. Skirms counter archers, spearmen counter cavalry, cavalry can counter onagers and trebs if you're decent at micro. That's about as far as my knowledge goes. Are there more important ones I should keep in mind?

What sort of unit combos am I going to see a lot when grinding 1v1s? I'm sure there are some standard popular comps. How do I deal with these? (Again, just very general guidelines are fine)

When should I stop making vils? When I have 80-100ish?

What are some solid well-rounded civs that don't necessarily require a very niche style of play? aka good beginner civs

How much production is optimal? Lets say I'm in castle age, I have 80 vils, and I'm spamming knights and light cav. ABOUT how many stables do I want to shoot for?

attack move vs patrol? Any advantage to either?

Economy balance. Obviously I want to suck up as much gold and stone as possible. Do I want a 1:1 ratio for vils on food and wood? I know it will vary based on what I'm producing, but as a loose guideline.

When you were progressing as a player, is there anything you learned that was like "wow I wish I knew this awhile ago". Any tips that were particularly helpful for you? In the same vein, are there any helpful tutorial videos you know of?

Any advice is much appreciated! I know I'm basically asking "how do you play aoe2" lol, but even answering 1 or 2 of these is going to help me out a ton. Thanks :)