Discovered that killing civilians that are fighting you (like villagers that pop out in a rebellion or when conquering a village) isn't a smear on your rep. It seems that killing villagers inside a village is what damages rep. The jury's out on killing wandering civilians, but I think it is bad for your reputation. (Killing a wandering a civilian will lower your reputation by 1 point -DP)
-- Richard Wesson
Economy is the key to fast expansion. If a natural resource is within linking distance of my starting town, I build 2 factories (each with 8 trained manufacturers) to produce goods. Keep an eye on the stock piles of your natural resource inside the factories. I have found that 3-4 miners' are enough to keep those factories busy. I also build additional factories to manufacture goods from distant mines belonging to me or from markets of my opponents. Never import manufactured goods as the payoff is less. As soon as your mine dries up, press "J" to find the next available resources (providing the available mine is in an area that you have already explored, so it is very important to explore early). By the same token, if you can monitor you opponents with spies, as soon as their mine is dried up, press "J" to reveal the location of the new natural resource. Build your mine before they can.
--Brian Lin
Build inns early! I typically hire people with high leadership skills (any nationality) and put him in the fort controlled by my king because I can increase their loyalty without costing me gold and at the same time increase their ability. I promote those units to generals when they become 50-70% loyal (remember promoting a unit to general increases his loyality by another 20%) and use them to take towns of their nationality.
--Brian Lin
When you select your options, consider giving the AI a lot more gold than you have. I like to make mine moderate and theirs the extra large one. With this glut of gold, the AI seems sluggish and often will not compete with you to get available mines, etc. It mostly builds a lot of side-by-side inns. This will make you consider carefully what you do the first two or three years until you reach a balance but I find that it makes the game more enjoyable.
Another option I usually set is the free roaming Fryhtans. They will sooner or later attack you. But they also attack the AI kingdoms at least as hard so for every fighter you lose, a fighter is being lost in all the other kingdoms. Moreover, if you maintain the highest reputation, you will probably have fewer Fryhtan attacks. Seems as if even the monsters don't like the aggressive kingdoms. A Frythan attack seems to be against a particular structure. So it is possible to simply move your military forces far enough away so that they don't attack and then rebuild the structure.
--Alma Engels
Multi-national villages require extra work to entice them to your kingdom. When all is said and done, you will want each nationality to have a separate village linked to a fort with a General of the same nationality. One possible strategy:
Check your Inns frequently for Generals and Spies of the same nationalities of the village. Place a General inside a fort linked to the village and a Spy of each nationality inside the village. Forts should be constructed as far from the village as possible while still maintaining a link and placed at opposite ends of the village. Buildings, linked to the village to provide jobs, should be placed strategically near each fort while allowing room for a future settlement. While not always possible, try to control which buildings villagers migrate to (left click a villager to remove him from a building, he will return to the village). Ideally, you will want villagers to work in buildings near the fort of their General. Once the village has succumbed to your kingdom, settle villages of each nationality linked to their General's fort and (wherever possible) the original village. Segregate each race into the appropriate village and move worker's links (again wherever possible) to their home village. This newly created multi-national "city" often gives you a great combined arms base.
Once an independent village has been added to your kingdom beware of foreign spies already settled. Keep a close eye on the loyalty level of the village and production level of any building. Do not, under any circumstances, leave your King alone in a fort with a single unit. Train several units and move them into the fort simultaneously.
While still under construction, close the link from a new building to the village. Start training the appropriate unit for the building once construction is about 3/4 complete. Units will start to appear outside your village as the building is finished. Move the trained units (twice as effective as untrained) into the building. Leave one space open if you wish to place a spy in the building.
Use construction workers to erect all buildings. Their skill increases only with use. Train two to three (depending on your initial village size) at the outset of the game. Once they have completed building, place one in your fort, one in a factory and the last in either the mine or tower of Science. If a natural (or unnatural) disaster occurs, wait while the construction units repair the buildings they are assigned to and then assign them one by one to the other damaged buildings. Be prepared, the cost to replace a building far outweighs training a couple of units.
The most effective ways to persuade an independent village to join your kingdom are jobs and goods. Place a market and/or factory near the village. With the proper leadership inside a fort (and a spy if possible), the village's resistance level will drop quickly. A general alone, or with a spy, will take years to lower their resistance unless both are very skilled.
As far as winning over independent villages, you can give them jobs by building a tower of science or war factory. You don't need to have a mine anywhere near by. The good thing about the tower of science is that two towers of science can work cooperatively.
-- Michael Tiller
If a mine's raw stockpile reaches capacity, consider building a market linked to the mine (and to a factory). The market will receive the overflow of raw material and ship it to the factory as needed. Opposing kingdoms may also buy the raw material from the market, alleviating the glut. Remember, other kingdoms cannot send a caravan to one of your mines or factories, but can send it to a market.
Under the "General Strategies" section, I notice you suggest reducing a "glut" of raw materials by building a market and selling to foreign kingdoms. I don't do this myself, because:
When I'm missing a resource, I'll often buy the ore, if available, in preference to the finished goods ($3/$1 split vs. $2/$2, and I get the extra demand generated by happy workers). The computer players often exhaust their mines before I do, and I get a chance to grab the regenerated mines while my old ones are still chugging along. Of course, foreign ore is unreliable, so I try to build the factory near one of my own mines, so I can switch production if necessary.
-- Gary Hladik
Set your tax level immediately in your initial village and each village you absorb. Taxes early in the game are your only source of income. Remember, military units are not taxed. Balance your need for military units and taxes.
Add a general strategy here.