-This Group Will Train And Test You To The Best Of Our Skills-

How To Play The Game
1- DO NOT battle yet. Collect resources around you:
You collect resources by clicking the resource slot (farms, mines, etc.) outside your city and simply sending as many troops as you can to settle there. The more troops you send, the more they will "load". Once they are finish they will come back and add those resources to your bank.

2- Make troop training a priority:
From the very start TRAIN TROOPS. not just because they will defend you if you are attacked but because the more troops you have the more resources you can get from occupying resources outside your city. The best types of troops for carrying resource loads are Siege troops, followed by infantry. Siege type troops however are significantly slower than infantry. Do not ever stop training, unless you have a strategy in mind (See Advanced strategy entry).

3-RESEARCH
If you want to obtain power fast, what you want to do is research as fast as you can. Researching unlocks more powerful troops (which gives you more power points), and makes construction, researching, resource gathering and production among many other things considerably faster! Research will make you grow much faster if you make it a priority to learn how to best use the research tree.

3.1. Research Speed first:
Use both your research capacity and hero skills to improve construction speed and research speed before you move on to improving troop qualities. Troops should not need to be fighting at an early stage. They should be used mainly for gathering purposes (which means you also might want to use research and skill points to improve loading and gathering speed).

4- USE ALL of available space for construction:
But if there are buildings you are still not allowed to build (such as a prison or altar) do make sure you leave empty spots waiting, unless you want to take a more "growing" approach to the game, as opposed to "attacking". In the latter case build quickly but make sure you have a clear plan in mind.

5- SAVE your gold:
Soon you will wish you had not spent it. Maxing out your gold mine is a steady way to always have some gold back up. If you purchase gold make sure you do it when there's a good sale.

6- Do the Quests:
They are what will make your hero grow faster and therefore all the boosts that come with it. You also will earn materials for crafting weapons and accessories as well as funds to spend in the Alliance store. Never neglecting a quest is key to getting ahead in the game. There will be a point however when you will have a better understanding of your personal strategy and only then you can start to ignore the Quest Bar, or take it off your screen (in settings).

7- Save your Alliance loyalty and funds for critical material:
Many people seem to agree that Advanced Teleport is the most imperative item to have, followed by daily chances and Hero resurrection. If you want you hero to grow faster and to obtain materials easily you may use these funds to purchase "dailies" (daily chance).

7.1. Use your free Teleports right before upgrading your stronghold to level 6:
Once you have used you first stages to gather resources and research as fast as you can it's time to move to either a better location (safer, fuller of resources) or as close as you can to the rest of your alliance mates. You may also be in a Kingdom you don't want to be. Remember your free teleports before you are lvl 5 may take you to any kingdom. Once you are past this level of Stronghold you will be never be able to leave that kingdom, other than short periods of time of war.

8- Craft at the forge:
But make sure you take a careful look at the boosts you will gain and their percentage. Perhaps waiting a little longer until you get better materials or you hero is at the appropriate level will help you obtain better objects. Although this is up to what your priorities are, it is strongly suggested to craft items that will speed up construction and research, mainly accessories (i.e. glass vase, decanter for lower levels, eventually Chalice and Books of war when you are allowed to craft them), and weapons.

9- Upgrade Watchtower to At least level 11:
This way you will know whether your troops are ready to defend without Alliance help.

10. Follow suggested Empire Quests:
They are generally designed so that you are don't neglect critical parts of your city development while strengthening other parts. Some players find this to be the fastest and more reliable way to grow. As said before, you will know the right time to ignore.

11. Make peace with neighbors:
by sending them messages encouraging peace, or asking you alliance leader to pact with neighboring alliances. This will save you precious time to collect resources without losing troops.

12. Gather whatever is closest:
Unless you specifically need a certain resource right away, don't be picky about what you get. Just make sure to collect whatever is nearby your city in that moment. Believe me, others will be there in no time and you will be left with nothing to collect if you don't take what's yours! the higher the level of the tile (i.e. 6) the faster your troops will collect and the more loot you may gather.

13. Interact constantly with your alliance:
Participate in chat discussions and provide reinforcements however small. If the members remember your name, the members will respect you and help when you most need it. This also of course saves you from being kicked out when you seem "inactive" .

14. Upgrade critical buildings:
As fast and as much as you can in this order of importance: Academy, Gymos, Walls, Stronghold and Villas. Everything else go as you are able and whenever required, but remember to fill all of your spots unless there's a building pending. In my 'Advanced Strategy" Entry I will talk about the "Villa Approach" and "Hospital Approach".

15. If your city is scouted:
Don't freak out. Bring your troops home and keep them there for a while until the threat is gone, and given you have enough hospitals to save them all. This will be a good time to asses the state of your wall traps and defenses. If not at their maximum capacity do so immediately. There is also something called "Sleep Rally":

15.2. Sleep Rally:
If you can't take the attack because you are too small or you simply don't want your troops sent to hospital simply start a Rally against any other city (smaller city or your "alt") and set it for 8 hours. Add all of your troops with your hero and they will be protected for that amount of time. If you rally on a city across the wonder they will take a lot longer to march and come back, and that marching time will be added to your 8 hours. Make sure the city you are fake rallying on is very small, abandoned (but with alliance) or it is your alternate account. Remember also that you need to build a Hall of War in order to be able to start a rally.

16. Stay close to the Wonder:
Keep your city located as close to the wonder as you can and as you deem safe. The closer you are to the wonder the better access to higher amounts of resources you have. You also have a better sense of what the strongest players are like at the moment.