When you first begin, your city will be isolated from the game world. This, along with your ‘new player protection,’ will prevent more established players from dominating you as soon as you join the game.
Eventually, the game will make a road between your city and the closest available city if you yourself do not build a road. Be cautious about building your first road. Make sure you have some city defenses and an army before you build your first road. It will be tempting to build a road and start exploring as soon as you can, but this comes with risks.
Rather than building a road as soon as you are able, consider sending commandos “off road’ to the nearest city, and have your commandos do your exploring. Commandos are one of the few units that can travel off road. They are not fast, but fast comes at a price.
In order to communicate with other players, you need to discover them. But even then, messages can take a while to make it across the perilous game world. Levels of Pony Express and the Ham Radio increase message speed. Communications between members of a league, however, is instantaneous– of they use league chat.
There are many ways to ‘win’ at this game. Conquest of territory is an obvious route. More cities equals more population and resources, so conquering or occupying cities is a viable strategy. However, income can be generated through trade routes, as well. It is not necessary to decide if yours will be a military-orientated or trade orientated empire at the beginning, but be aware that you have many strategies you can pursue.
When you first sign up, even though military action won’t be immediate (unless you are most unfortunate), there are still things you can do to prepare. Become familiar with the dashboard, as this will give you clues as to future capabilities. For example, certain city-ruling paradigms offer better defensive options… and also some offer better offensive options.
The game is generous with new players, giving them complimentary premium+ access. If you have no intention of ever subscribing, using the bonuses that comes with this access would be strongly recommended (such as the ability to queue more buildings and units.)
Running out of gold, fast? Don’t forget you can sell your food on the global market.
Don’t underestimate the strength that comes from a growing population. Realize that things like ‘morale’ and ‘loyalty’ should be monitored carefully. The impacts of a rising or falling morale and loyalty reveal themselves slowly, but inevitably. If you see your morale falling, it is safe to ignore it for a day or so, but be careful. A massively misloyal city could surrender to an attacking enemy without a fight. Your capital city, however, is always immune from being conquered. It can be pillaged, but not conquered. It also has a production bonus. Bear these things in mind when you begin conquering new cities.
Finally, the role playing aspect of the game is encouraged by updating the entries in the profile. You can even change the name of your empire. You can also alert players to your diplomatic views. Use these features to your profit.
Important: the game starts out slowly, by design. New players are allowed to find their ‘sea legs.’ Once you start finding and interacting with other players, remaining active and scanning your cities for threats or incoming armies is critical. You’ve been warned.
