Jebus cross template.

It sounds good, and everyone strives for that. But what if some of the mentioned factors come into play? - the middle paths are long, getting to the Guardian Orb (GO) takes time, the castle is poorly located after the initial split, and the GO itself is challenging, and the resource spawn isn't great in the end. Everything depends on the quality of the starting resource spawn, its accessibility, and the player's chain-reaction tactics. The GO is secondary, but still important.

Even on the middle paths, if the GO is inconvenient and the path to it is long, reaching level 2 by the end of the week – 125-127 – won't be a problem at all, and if you also have oil, it's even better :D As I already wrote, the exit isn't the ultimate goal – you can exit and get beaten up :D Sometimes it's even more beneficial to stay on the resource spawn for a bit longer, take 1 or 2 more resources, do some mass upgrades to your army, and then exit – provided you can't make a quick exit to the center, or the center has already been taken:mad
P.S. – this is all just a nice theory, but in practice, anything is possible. So, watch replays and streams of stronger players than you, ask questions, and get answers, and most importantly, play yourself.