Re: Next Steps help?
Oh, a bit of simple advice, learning from my mistakes, if you will.
Don't go half-assed in multiplayer. With all the options available, it may be tempting to have Black Servants with Rods of the Leper King and Bane Venom Charms leading Shades, while summoning Wights or Bane Lords as well. But in reality, you're better off going just for as many wights as possible, or as many Black Servants leading Shades (Rod of Leper King=undead leadership), or Black Servants with Bane Venom Charms.
There's danger in not diversifying, but gems are a scarce enough resource that doing too many things will cripple you.
In singleplayer, you can afford to play around. However, I recommend a). practice expanding as fast as possible- there's several threads on the subject and b). play around only once you've won the war, or at least starved them of\f most of their income/sieged all their fortresses.
Alternatively, for singleplayer experimentation (hardcore mode is more fun for a _full_ game, but no-save is a bit tougher on the learning) make a 'save' of your game by either a). Copying mid_nation.trn to mid_nation.bak.# where # is the turn number or b). Zipping up the games save folder.
The location of the save folder varies on operating system, but a file search for .trn should turn it up, pun not intended.
For multiplayer:
Join a newbie game. They start up frequently, though you may need to ask someone to organize it. Llamabeast often organizes some, but he's away from the net right now. You'll make a mistake, but don't worry about it, have fun.
People can be trustworthy, but you'll be happier in mp if you go the trust, but verify route, instead of assuming a NAP is inviolate. Leave a few scouts in allied territory, and realize that you get out of a NAP what you put in it. Try to look at it from the other players perspective, considering their wars, trade possibilities, cost/gain they'd get by breaking that pact. Kept to a proper level, paranoia can be fun and satisfying- it also keeps you prepared for worst case scenarios.
Before engaging in war, load up that other nation in a temporary game (I usually name my disposables 'a'). Take a quick glance over them. They'll have picked up some indies along the way, but its helpful nonetheless. Check if they have assassins, weaknesses like cold-blooded, ethereal troops, etc. Don't spend too much time on this, but make sure you know roughly what troops they have and where they can recruit them. Late Atlantis, for instance, is severely hampered by the loss of their capital and has sailing, while Shinuyama has no capital-only troops and stealthy mages and assassins.
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