If you hit 13 minutes with no troops then please realize that it is you and not the civ your are playing or what your opponent is doing. That means you will have this problem with everything you try. Now, some tips:
(note: if you are new to AOE games then these tips have been holy creeds since the dawn of time. ignore them at your won peril)
1. NEVER have an idle TC. Unless you are shooting for some specific strategy, always be either producing villagers or researching ages. This is even more important with Ports as your multiple TCs early on is your ONLY advantage. Ignore it and you lose.
2. SCOUT early and often. About 20 seconds after hitting Age 2 run a scout/explorer/dog whatever through the enemy town. Look for what politician he aged up with, what his villies are gathering, what shipment he sent, and what he is building. You must do this to be able to respond appropriately. Ports can both turtle and boom but not really rush.
A corollary to this is to also use F6 to look at your opponents deck right after you choose your first card to see what they have in there.
3. COUNTER effectively. Once you have scouted and know what unit types your enemy is producing, make the counter. This is the other great advantage of the Ports - they have the best counters in the game. Cav are countered by Dragoons/Halbs. Infantry are countered by Organ Guns/Cassadores. Culverins counter falconets.
4. Get to Age 4. Without falconets you will not have enough punch to walk into a defended town. Once you hit age 4, either get your factories up and crank out heavy cannons or mortars.
[img]http://www.mastersgames.de/esostats/Stryfe,0,2.png[/img]