NOOB QUESTION: kind of army are you supposed to make and when?

Like in general, I guess it's all about counters right? You see horses you go pikemen, you see archers you go for spearmen, you see generic soldiers you go archers. I have no idea how you're supposed to go to castle age tho, especially when your opponent is constantly pressuring you with waves. I swear I try so hard to just mass out farms and get more wood as I do that but I can never get a balance of food to where I can go soldiers and still have leftover food for castle age, same with gold and gold is way less plentiful compared to food. I guess I should just go market every game so I can buy whatever I need to transition? I have no idea how to play lul I make a buncha workers and then get rolled over