Basic micro and civ tips

So I'm new to the Aoe 2 online scene but I've played a fair bit of single player but I've struggled with my villagers and military units being idle all the time and this often means that both my economy and battle tactics suffer due to idle units and not paying attention to things such as Onager shots . Being a Company of Heroes 2 player keeping tabs on idle units was quite easy thanks to idle markers being shown on top of your units and voice cues which meant that staying on top of everything was much easier . Also being a faster paced game where resources are only gained by map control and not by farming meant that you were encouraged to always be on the offensive .

I've struggled with the slower pace of Aoe 2 where a good chunk of the early game is just base building and exploring unless one is running dark age militia strats. Any tips on how to improve my micro and which civs might be a good pick for a player like me ? Any suggestions are always appreciated .