Holy Roman EmpireMeinwerk Palace, not opting for the eco of the Aachen Chapel. Those upgrades help a lot militarily, especially up against the English on water, and looking to secure something on land is going to give him a bit of tempo early on.
Longbows have bonus range, but the bonus movement speed on the HRE means if you're ever out of position you're prey.
The castle age Men-at-Arms of the Holy Roman Empire are going to be able to track you down rather quickly, and with Riveted Chain Mail giving that plus two, longbows are going to be shooting marshmallows in no time.
The English farms are buffed by 30% (with Enclosures), so they get 3/4 of what HRE gets. But once you scale past a point, HRE's Aachen buff becomes limited – you can only buff about 30‑35 farms with Aachen, while English can buff 80 farms with 30%.
In this matchup, the play for English might have been Pro Scouts yourself: go for the King, go for your few Horsemen and get into Pro Scouts. It's feasible, I've seen a few English players do it.
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