Build Orders

Build Orders are the initial sequence of steps you take during RTS games. They are well calculated and provide optimal growth. They also include steps to prevent your opponent from executing their Build Order properly, possibly giving you an advantage. Build Orders are not everything; you have to adapt to your opponent, but they provide some guidance for new players allowing them to focus on other aspects of the game.

So the best advice is to take consider doing the later steps in the build order differently based on your situation.

How do I read the Build Orders?

I guess it's straightforwards, but see below for some pointers. In compact mode there are no descriptions, in normal mode there is some additional info written there.

Age of Empires 2

1->Wood means Build one Vil and send it to chop Wood.
(17/21) means after this step you should have 17 villagers and 21 total population.
Vil means Villager

The time shown is the optimal time if everything is done instantly. This is impossibly hard to get, even for pro players. Your goal is to get as close to this time as possible.