Starting Tips For Beginners
(written by Damian)

Tricky one, this one, everybody has their own way of doing things. Assuming that you mean playing against AI:

At the beginning you'll have enough stuff to build (normally):

 

one large residence 2w/cutters 2 stone cutters 1 sawmill

 

 

 

Make sure you mark these spots first before anything, go in to the settlers menu and change the diggers to 15 and the builders to 15 as well.

 

 

 

 

 

In the mean time spread your bowmen around the outsides of your realm looking for useful things like the mountains, wood, stone, rivers, etc...find the mountains and send your geologists there.

Now is time to open-up:

1) build 2 or 3 towers in the direction of the mountains and woods and stones. Keep moving your bowmen further out to broaden your view...

2) build again the same stuff as before 2 w/cutters, 2 stone cotters but this time build as many sawmills as saws you have (normally 3, so 2 more sawmills)

Once this is done we are ready to start the real McCoy

1) near the mountains build a smelter and a tool smith.
2) near the sea build as many fishing huts as you can 3 or 4 at least.
3) another 2 wood cutters will be ideal.
4) find the spots to build your foresters; you'll need 1 per 2 woodcutters to be safe. Place the foresters among the cutters and saw mills and remember to keep these 3 as close as possible. Don't worry if you don't have too many rods for the fishermen by the time you need them, your smith will be working.

 

 

 

Back in the main menu go to the production area and set the fish to feed everyone, stone mines coal mines iron mines gold mines.

 

 

Find your coal and get 2 mines going, find your iron and get 1 mine going find your stones and get 2 or 3 mines going. Get back in the settlers menu and get more diggers and builder, fabricate the tools you need for those 20-25 of each will be good if the map is large. I sometimes have up to 50 or 60. After that is done, build another large residence and find the spots for your farms and grain mill and baker and waterworks. You'll need:

1) 2 farms 2) 1 mill 3) 2 bakers 4) 1 water

Now all that is left is to increase these things as needed ( I mean all the things). By the 20 min mark you'll need to be able to start producing weapons and soldiers...steady... don't forget your gold mines and gold smelters, can't tell how many of these, but I tend to build as many as possible:

All in all, for a good running settlement you will need at least:

10-15 wood cutters 6-10 saw mills 4-8 stone mines + all the stone cutters you can get	8-12 coal mines 3-5 iron mines 4-5 gold mines 3-5 iron smelters 5-10 gold smelters
4-8 weapons smiths 3-6 barracks 1-3 tool smiths (depends really of the amount of terrain you need to bring back from the DLs)	5-8 farms 2 sheep farms 2-3 grain mills 4-8 bakeries 3-5 water works	10-20 fishermen 1-3 hunters if you can

Well, and that is more or less is it.

Some maps will require more of one thing than of the other (just like life itself)

And don't forget you'll need lots and lots of large residences. Keep an eye on your amount of free settlers and destroy residences as necessary to regain some wood and stones. Bear in mind that residences add strength to you realm so if you destroy some of then make sure you build more eye catchers than normal...and keep your borders safe.

Planters ... anyway, I normally put one forester per 2 wood cutters.

700 L3 in 80 mins is not an easy task, it is not impossible either...to me the main problem is to make 400 in the first 60 mins. If I can do that the other 300 are easy (cos this means that things are running smoothly).

But generally speaking, on a flat map anyone should be able to get over 800 or even 1000 L3s & L2s (mix that most people do this days) in 90 mins.

And another thing, if you are going to get mana don't go for 2 or 3 small temples, because it will take ages to get anywhere. My normal set up for this (in multiplayer) is about ten wine makers and 8 small temples. Remember that all of this is providing you have the space and the carriers. Different maps require different approaches.