Tips for 15xx players

Use Aztecs, Mayans or Mongols.

The Scout (or Eagle Warrior) with extended line of sight is always a great bonus. Even more so when you are new to the game and trying to keep track of your units and everything that is going on. The longer line of sight also makes your beginning so much easier, since finding your starting-resources is rarely a problem with one of these civs. Which one you pick (Aztecs, Mayans or Mongols) doesn't really matter that much, it depends on your personal preference and as long as you're a rookie you may not even be able to tell the difference Mongols might be easier, however, since they have Stables and mostly all basic units.

Make an initial strategy or goal, no matter what it is. Playing without a goal or without a strategy is pretty pointless. I believe a good initial strategy would be to advance to Feudal age with around 25 villagers and then going for a normal Archer flush. If you don't know what an Archer or a flush is, i suggest you look around this MFO site Build your Archery Ranges in between you and your enemy, or close to his town. If he reaches Feudal age much faster than you, place Archery Ranges in your own town instead, for defense. Don't hurry to Castle age however, since i believe this to be a common rookie mistake. You won't get far within AoK if reaching Castle fast is your general strategy. Stay in Feudal age and fight for at least a couple of minutes and take it easy.. don't get over-stressed if your enemy reaches Castle age first. It's no big deal if you can keep attacking him with Archers or defend yourself with Spearmen. As you practice, you will become faster, i am certain.

Always try to use the hotkeys.

It doesn't really matter if you ALWAYS succeed in using hotkeys, or if you do it lightning-fast. As long as you have the ambition to use them, and you learn as you're playing, you're on the right path. It doesn't matter either if you change the hotkeys or not, since i believe the original hotkeys-settings to work perfectly (at least to begin with).

One key you should change, however, is the "idle villager" button. Assign that to spacebar, and hit it constantly! Idling villagers, idling military units and stocking unnessecary amounts of recourses are all traditional rookie-mistakes. Try to make sure you have no idling villagers (using spacebar of course).

Don't idle with military or recources. Having 10 Archers in a group, doing nothing, is very pointless. Do something with them at all times. Whether it's harassing Villagers or killing enemy Archers. Set them on patrol (using the Z key) if they have no good targets at the moment, setting them on patrol will at least protect a general area and kill any Villagers that enter their sight. Don't stock up on unnesecary resources either, spend your resources at all times unless you're waiting for Feudal age or Castle age. If you actually are waiting for Feudal age, make sure you do it well. Don't "make another villager" or "just another militia" if you've been saving food for Feudal age upgrade for 2 minutes. Resources are no good when they are numbers in the top-left corner. They are however useful when you make them military units, Villagers or economy upgrades. Therefor: if you have resources and not saving food for Feudal age, spend them!

Balancing resources is always hard.

You will notice in your first couple of games and even after having played a throng of games, that your resources will basically always be unbalanced. You may have 2000 wood and 20 food, or the opposite. Having 2000 gold and no other resources, is of course a waste. Therefor, watch your own games, watch your resources closely, and try to figure out what resource you normally have too much of and which one you are generally lacking. Adapt your economy management as well as you can, and balance your resources the way you use them.

Watch recorded games and imitate small tricks and ways of controlling units. Watching Arch_Koven_ play might not help you that much if you have played 10 or 100 games online, you won't do as well as he does anyway. But you WILL get the spirit of the game, the way you SHOULD do things and eventually you will be able to perform well, even if you won't beat 2100+ rated players. Dont over-imitate though, don't be afraid of using your personal playing-style, since copying someone else's strategy 100 percent will not get you very far either.

Practicing and getting experience by yourself is honestly the only valid way of getting better. Once you know the basics of the game, and having watched a few recordings of good players in action, all you have to do is practice and work on your strategies until you can perform them in a way which works for you. Eventually, practicing playing against the computer at HIGH gaming speed, will increase your speed and multitasking skills.

That's all the advice i have for the moment.. i hope it was at least a little bit helpful for someone