We've identified some general strategies that we feel will help you at the start of the game. You are free to develop your own plan of action, but you should at least glance at the following suggestions. And when in doubt, use Strategy A.

Strategy A--Explore to the Max: This strategy has the player send out most or all of his available units as individual scouts. All units operate with the Explore mission, which has them retreat when they encounter hostile forces. This player will quickly find out a great deal about the regions around his realm. He will capture unoccupied hexagons, befriend uncommitted forces, find out the location and strength of hostile forces, and discover other player realms. While the scouting reports are filtering back, the player can build up one or two strong armies, which he will send out after the juiciest targets reported by the scouts. This can lead to rapid growth if uncommitted forces and communities decide to join your realm.

Strategy B--Combine and Conquer: This strategy calls for the player to combine all his available units into one large army. Pick your initial target (a town or village that you don't own but would like to) from those communities listed on your turn report. Choose your targets carefully, going after the most valuable ones first, but keep in mind that you are not big enough yet to take a city. This strategy lends itself to slow but reasonably sure growth, as all the might of the realm is packed into one knockout punch.

Strategy C--Divide and Conquer: The player who uses this strategy places all his available units into two or three armies, which then head for different targets. This strategy could lead to a much more rapid expansion than strategy B, but it could also lead to some armies failing to capture their targets because the strength of the realm has been spread too thin.

There are obviously more than three strategies that a player could use in the campaign. A player could decide to "turtle down," holing up in his realm while waiting for others to come to him. While this may occasionally turn out to be a viable strategy, it will usually result in the player falling far behind the others around him, with nowhere to go once he does try to come out of his shell.

Players can also choose to blend strategies together. A player could, for instance, combine most of his available units into a large army, while sending several units out to explore as individual scouts.

There are some specific hints we wish to give you as well:

• Explore the area around your initial communities thoroughly before heading off for distant parts.
• Don't attack a community without first knowing what forces are protecting it.
• Try to give your attacking army at least twice the strength in number of units and total hit points as the target community's defenders (most players probably won't be able to conquer a city until after turn 5).
• Form borders and possibly ally with your friendly neighbors so you can concentrate on defeating the hostile computer forces first.
• A secluded realm could give a small gift to a neighbor to indicate good intentions.
• All realms start out secluded (the players cannot get each others' addresses). If you want others to be able to contact you, issue a Proclaim order (see the Order section).
• Never leave a community unprotected. Build a garrison or leave a militia behind at newly conquered communities.