Theory of timings and counter-civs

[Asateo]

For some time now I've been expanding my gameplay to more then one/two civs, however I'm stuck at what is a good age-up time for different civs / villager pop(and how to adept it get that last vil or some tc idle time to age up faster), colonial and even Fortress. I usually just pop villagers untill age-up without tc idle time. Which is oke, but I have not much to compare it with (save some recs).
So when I read this:

Become acquainted with the theory of timings and become familiar with the general time frame most civs are on.

http://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=11620&p=244954#p244867

I thought it time to ask some better players about it.

Also, which are counter civs, which civ is "generally" a good civ vs another.

I'll update this post to give a general overview if there is a concensus.

[fei123456]

"timing" is not "age up time", it's a push at a certain point, e.g xbow pike(700w 600w 8xbow or 700w 4cdb 8xbow), uhlan skirm (3sw 700w 700g 8skirm) etc
the opposite word is "constant pressure", such as 4 kanya 7aenna 6aenna 6toma, and attack again and again from the very beginning

[Kaiserklein]

"timing" is not "age up time", it's a push at a certain point, e.g xbow pike(700w 600w 8xbow or 700w 4cdb 8xbow), uhlan skirm (3sw 700w 700g 8skirm) etc
the opposite word is "constant pressure", such as 4 kanya 7aenna 6aenna 6toma, and attack again and again from the very beginning

Schedule plz

[Asateo]

Aha thx I didn't get that :)

So timing would mean to get getting resources and 'coordinating' how the making of units will come together?

[macacoalbino]

Yeah, when performing a timing oriented build, you are trying to get the most military value you can at a given moment in the game.
The objective is to use that military powerspike to explore a weakness in the opponents build and snowball your way to victory from there

[Asateo]

So, this could be why when I lose a match and I see ppl at some point have stopped making vils (which I usually don't do). They did that to do a timing and get the greatest army at this time.

[macacoalbino]

Well, not really, because villagers pay themselves very quickly and most timings dont end the game on the spot, they just deal enough damage to put you ahead in the eco/map control game. Keeping vill production is really important and i would only adivse it if you feel like its a do or die situation

[Kaiserklein]

Well if you're really fighting for the last hunts, training a couple extra vils doesn't bring you so much. You don't need eco, just map. So it's probs better to invest into army at that point, and just push the opponent away from the hunts, and then doesn't matter if you're down by a couple vils as long as you're the one gathering food.