Okay everyone, here is a definitive guide for team game etiquette, strategy, and position game play. Everyone who's played team games by matching with random teammates has horror stories of awful teammates who ruined it for the whole team, but I think a lot of people just need explanation of team game strategy

I am by no means a pro player, but I am decent, so feel free to add or offer advice, and if enough people agree, I'll add it to the main post. I only ask that:

1. critiques of mine or other's advice throughout this thread are not based on minimal semantics... if their is a more reasonable interpretation of advice I or someone gives, don't spend time arguing against something someone didn't mean to say.
2. keep it on the broad view/ general terms. This is a guide to team games generally, not necessarily a place for discussing specific civ match-ups or incredibly esoteric situations

*This is based on the proven, most effective ways to compose and execute a team game, but I realize their are strats the deviate. While units or player positions could slightly vary, most of the advice still applies or is easily translatable to other units (i.e Eagle Warrior/Camels/Elephants instead of knights)

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I. Team Make Up and Positions

• Typically, you want a mix of archers and cavalry civs, or even more generally, a mix of melee and archers civs. For 3v3, two archers civs that are on each flank (the outer-most positions) and the cavalry civ in the pocket (center position). For 4v4, two archers civs that are on each flank and two cavalry civ in the pockets.
  • The "archer civs" don't necessarily need to be civs that stick with archers the whole game, just civs that can do archers well in feudal and early castle. For example, Aztecs, Malians, and Celts are all good flank civs that can go archers and then tech into something else later

Reasoning:

• First, archers are simply slower than cavalry, so having the archer civ in the pocket means really long distances to walk before reaching the enemy. This slows down the attack and slows down your ability to assist your teammate. Cavalry are much better at moving quickly to go assist the flank in either defense or attack. This is very important in 3v3s where the pocket may need to run back and forth to assist both flanks.
• You typically want to cavalry civ more protected in pocket position, so they can get to castle age faster. The power spike from a small number of scouts to a small number of knights is much larger than an equal amount of archers upgrading to xbow. I'm not saying the xbow power spike isn't large, it is just much greater when you already have a mass of archers.

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II. Unit Composition

• As already discussed, the most tried and true composition is archers/scouts and xbow/knights. But it's important to note that ideal composition for a team is only gold units until late-game. Not skirms and knights... not spears and knights... not xbows and pikeman. Of course their are exceptions, but the idea is that you and your teammates' army should be working in synergy with high damage output units.

Reasoning:

• Basically, it comes down to high damage output and effective armies with a simple eco setup. If your eco is only setup for knights, it is much easier and efficient. You also only have to tech into one type of unit and one type of upgrades, meaning more resources can go towards creating a larger mass.
• Your teammate is able to deal with any counter units. Pikes threatening your knights? Simple to deal with if your teammate is there with xbow. Mangonel coming for your xbow? Knights should deal with that easily. Same goes for all the typically counters (monks, skirms, camels, etc.)

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III. Team & Battle Tactics

• KEEP YOUR ARMIES TOGETHER!!! I cannot stress this enough. As mentioned above, you're armies should be working in synergy, and a key part of this is sticking together. This especially applies to archers. Remember when I said archers aren't great in the pocket position? Part of the reason is because marching xbows across the map is dangerous business without knights to escort.
• In an actual skirmish, knights should be in front while xbows attack from the back. Knights need to use their large HP and armor to "tank" for archers and act as a barrier against any melee units trying to get to the archers.
  • This means, cavalry players, your job is to sacrifice yourself for the archers... you can handle it, even if it means losing lots of knights in the process (of course there are exceptions if the inevitable trade-off would be too unfavorable)

Reasoning:

• Archers need mass to do damage and have weak melee armor, which means the mele-unt player (again usually cavalry) needs to protect the archers from enemy melee-unit jumping on top of the. So, keep them protected by keeping them with the knights (or whatever similar unit).
• And again, archers need mass. If comes down to losing 10 knights to save 20 xbows, ALMOST ALWAYS TAKE THAT TRADE, because when your archer flank builds 20 more xbows and gets to imp with that army, you suddenly have 40 arbalest, which can handle just about anything.
• Just as a mentioned above, losing knights, while not ideal, is not as much of a set back. Just a few knights can have a meaningful impact on the game, for example, by raiding or moving them in a position to "pick off" reinforcement archers walking across the map. The same is not as true small numbers of archers.

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IV. Pocket Player Eco and Macro Strategy

Feudal Age

• You really shouldn't go FC unless it's cool with your flank/s. At the lower level, this may be okay, but any mildly competent opponents will punish you and your teammates for skipping feudal. Yes, you can come in and save the day with knights later, but it's generally at the expense of your flank's eco, which is just selfish, and inevitably, not in your best interest to win.
• Just to be clear, if your flank is seriously damaged and way behind because they wre 2v1'd while you went FC, the loss is the fault of the pocket player, not the flank (unless the flank seriously screwed up). At the end of the day, the opposing team's pocket player utilized teamwork and aggression to win, while you did not.
• Instead, do some variation of a scout build. This could even be a slightly higher-pop feudal time (22-23 pop feudal-click) to make sure have a strong eco, so long as you are quick to make scouts when you age up.
  • Harass - Once you are up, go straight to the opposing flank (the one closest to you in 4v4 games, or whichever side you and your teammates choose in a 3v3). Try to do early harassment of the opponents eco. If you do it better than your opponents, then your flank will have better archer production and safer eco, and I promise it will snowball into your favor later.
  • Once you've done harassment, fall back as soon as your scouts are in danger of being lost (either by spears or opposing pocket's scouts). Then you have a few options:

1. Fall back - Fall back with your teammate and defend, knowing that your eco and military numbers are slightly ahead.
2. Continue pressure on the flank - If they are still on the back foot and you can continue to pick off archers and vils, by all means extend that lead.
3. Go attack the pocket - If the opposing pocket player is nothing like the amazing teammate you are and decided to stay home and FC instead of helping his teammate, go punish him for not reading this guide. This can be incredibly effective, as causing eco damage to an FC player doesn't just slow them down, it can put them way behind everyone else in the game.

• Whatever, plan you go with, only make the minimum amount of scouts and get the minimum amount of upgrades necessary. By this I mean, if you are just falling back to defend, only produce and upgrade enough to match your opponent. If you are continuing attack, only make enough to give yourself the edge or kill villagers... 4 scouts is easily enough to kill unguarded vils if the opponent isn't making military.
• Your goal is still to get to Castle Age before your opponent! Nothing delays this like produce 8 scouts with forging, armor, and bloodlines, only to run in to walls.

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Early Castle Age

• Lets assume pocket gets to Castle Age before their flank teammates, because with a protected eco, that should be the case.
• Don't boom unless it's cool with your teammates. I am going to say that again for the Goth players in the back... DON'T BOOM UNLESS IT'S COOL WITH YOUR TEAMMATES. No one cares how sick your eco is if both your flanks are getting steamrolled. And I promise, no matter how much you can spam later, it is rarely going to overcome the complete loss of a player. From a population standpoint, you just have very slim odds of winning a 4v3 or a 3v2 match-up.
• To be clear for the second time, if your flank is seriously damaged and way behind because they were 2v1'd while you went boomed, the loss is the fault of the pocket player, not the flank.
• Instead, if you are pocket and going FC or just generally getting to castle age before your teammates, start by making an extra production building (usually totaling 3 stables), pump out some knights (~6), and get chain barding armor (very important for survivability and "tankability" of your units).
  • If you actually stayed in Feudal for a bit to help your teammates, you may also have enough for 1 more TC, but the priority is military then economy
  • This doesn't mean ignore your eco if you can't afford another TC. You should still produce vils and get the bow-saw upgrade. This will help you get the resources to eventually make your additional TCs

Reasoning:

• knights are a huge power spike. If the other pocket gets them and you don't, the potential eco harassment to you or your teammates significantly outweighs any gain in eco you might get from booming.
• Conversely, you may have the opportunity to do some serious damage to the opponent, which will comparatively put your eco far ahead. TCs take a little while to pay off because of their build time and resource investment, so just killing a few villagers significantly stunts an opponents boom, so long as you are still creating vils from your 1 TC.

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V. Flank Player Eco and Macro Strategy

Feudal Age

• You really shouldn't go FC as flank, except for very, very, very rare situations (none of which I can think of right now).
• Again, preferably you should be an archer civ, so go with an archer build-order (23 pop straight archers or 25ish pop drush-archers).
• The name of the game for you is numbers, and this will apply both in feudal and throughout most of the game. Don't move out of your base without 6 archers with fletching, don't "trickle" archers one-by-one across the map, don't take a fight unless you're confident you are going to win. You will likely be against another archer player on the flank, so every time you lose all your archers and they survive with 4, their archer mass is that much bigger than yours moving forward and that much better at wiping up your next army.
• Try to move out with your pocket player's scouts. This 1) protects you if the other pocket made scouts as well, 2) forces the opponents archers to retreat while you pick off unit if the opponent pocket left them high and dry, 3) helps you break through walls if your opponent turtles-up
• Of course you want to get to castle age, but you usually shouldn't do so at the expense of unit production. As the flank you are prone to being attacked, so archers behind walls is the best way to defend. Plus, as mentioned many time, you are making the same unit that will be upgraded in castle, so investment in Feudal Age is smart.
• If any opponent gets to castle age before you, GO HOME AND HIDE. Archers are utterly demolished by even small numbers of xbows or knights. It's almost never worth it to leave you archers exposed.

Early Castle Age

• Lets assume you had an extended feudal age, because as flank you generally should. You should have a pretty health eco to build TCs and upgrade your units compared to the pocket player.
• Just like the pocket player don't just boom unless it's cool with your teammates. You should prioritize these upgrades: crossbow, bodkin arrow, and bow saw. Then see evaluate your plan with your teammate and decide whether to:

1. Prioritize aggression - in which case you'll temporarily forego making your 2nd and 3rd TCs, and instead build a third archery range, build a University and get the ballistics upgrade, and get the thumb ring and archer armor upgrades when possible. (all the while creating vils and more archers)
2. Prioritize economy - build your 2nd and 3rd TCs. (all the while creating vils and more archers)

• The good news is that typically your eco is stronger than the pocket players' ecos overall (unless they went very fast FC and are booming untouched). So while you were later to Castle Age, the archer player is usually quicker to Imperial Age.

VI. Macro Strategy for All Players

Mid-Late Castle Age

• You are moving to 3 TCs while producing and upgrading knights
• Stay with your teammate's archers and follow the battle tactics discussed above
• This part of the game can become a numbers race, i.e. who can produce the most units, so don't fall behind. Keep track of the enemies position and army size if possible.
• If you win a fight or catch the enemy out of position, take favorable trades.
• If the opponent is turtles-up, abuse their base. If you can, take out production buildings. Again, this is often a numbers race, so crippling their unit production can be a great way to pull ahead.

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VII. General Etiquette & Considerations

• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Team work makes the dream work... but for real, teams that communicate well win. It's as simply as that.
• It's a team game, that doesn't mean an opportunity for you to play solo Farmville while your teammates get thrashed.
• Unless your teammates are down with it, don't go straight for units that produced from the castle. Later in the game, of course you can transition and that can be very powerful. But overall, straight castle unit mean no military help for your teammates until you get to Castle Age, make a castle, and mass a useful number of units from your likely fragile economy.