I don't think one can pass 1670 without using hotkeys. Hotkeys speed up everything plus they keep you organized. For example, I assign all military buildings of one type to certain hotkey. When I need to produce certain unit I just press, say, "9+Q+Q+Q" and get NumberOfAcademies*3 hoplites. On maps like Midgard, when I build on both sodes, I assign buildings of certain type and side of the lake to the certain hotkey, so my units don't run around the lake.
"H+ shift + v" is a must in the start of any game. Idle villie and idle military unit hotkey is useful, combined with baners, especially idle villie. It's handy to use hotkeys for groups of similar units to direct those 9 Slingers on Toxotes (using shift+click on next Tox to get them one after one).
I would recommend to try some combinations and setup hotkeys the way you like it - default mapping is not very convinient.
I also find camera rotation being very useful sometimes when placing storehouse or checking relic.
By the way, try Ctrl+Down in the beginning of the game - it removes all these frames from the screen - makes all of your monitor work for you. I feel uncomfortable with all these useless frames on the screen.
Holy Punk.
[This message has been edited by Holy_Punk (edited 08-13-2003 @ 04:06 AM).]