Read the rules carefully. Some of the most important are repeated in several places, but a rule important to you may be only in one place. Be sure you have found it. If you are in any doubt about the effect that a rule will have, e-mail me.

Work out your country's strategy at the beginning, but be ready to adapt your tactics to the changing world situation.

Watch what other players are doing, however hard they try to disguise their actions by putting misleading articles in the VARNA TIMES.

Put your own misleading articles in the VARNA TIMES. Outright lies will be corrected in the next VARNA TIMES, subtly misleading accounts of real events will not.

Any leader can issue any type of active order, so (for instance) an Admiral could "Scout" his current location, and, since that diplomatic order succeeds automatically, will do it as well as the best Ambassador.

Spend all your Leadership Points in your first budget. Never again will you be able to choose the level of the leaders you hire.

If you are playing a small or medium sized nation, you will need to increase your available MUs before starting to attack, unless you are lucky enough to have a very tiny nation next door. So consider several game-years of diplomacy to prepare for war.

Even some of the big nations that have powerful militia, do not enough MUs to call them up and attack, until they have established other sources of income.

Remember that you can interact with Player Nations by sending messages. It will probably be in everyone's interest not to go to war with player neighbors too soon. Form alliances.

If you want to take any diplomatic actions other than automatic ones, spend liberally on your Diplomatic Budget. Notice that any less than MU 5 has no effect at all on your chances.

Think ahead. You may want to start with diplomatic actions, but you will surely need a General later, unless your nation is the Silk Isles, Promethia or Selamen, when you will need an Admiral. Even these nations will need a General if they intend to conquer anyone.

If you use a Diplomatic Order, your chance is the quality of the leader doing the order, plus your diplomatic bonus, minus the MOD for the task. Beware of the Diplomatic Failure Table.

Work out the CFs of your force before an attack. Work out the CFs of the opposing force. Calculate the total bonus for each side. Attacking with an odds bonus of less than +12 is a good way to lose troops, if not the battle.

If no one else is involved, there are only two things you do not know: the quality of the enemy leader, and what I will roll on the 1d20 for each side's battle. Make allowances for these.

If you plan an attack in the first year, hire as many professional troops as you can in the Budget - they will never be so cheap again. For later attacks, consider making your militia the backbone of your force: they are often more effective than professional troops.

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