Mud huts very cheaply built but every single one of them still would provide the bounty. It doesn't matter if it's a shack or if it's a castle. They give the same amount of gold either way. Of course the mud huts go down a lot easier than the castles do. So Mongols happy to see that.

You put the outpost right next to the berries and then you wait for the Malians to produce a single cow and then you just snipe the cow with the outpost arrows. Would that do enough damage to the cow? Yes.

It's always nice when you have spearmen up against the Malians because javelin throwers take a good while to take them down, and they work well against Sofas at the front line.

Against Javelin Throwers, you want cavalry like horsemen, but they can be kited easily. Keshik are a good alternative.

Against mass Javelin Throwers, mass spearmen is the right reaction because they don't take any bonus damage. Even better would be mass horsemen, but they are very food intensive.