Ok. You're in the game, you know what all the troops do, you even know how to mouth off to your opponent . But how to combine these into something useful? This is what the next section is for...

The game can be generally split into three roughly equal parts, usually about 40-50 turns each.

In the first third, you have to make most of your major choices.

You have two major paths open to you :-

1) Early attack
2) Techs/build-up

The first is somewhat more risky. The way you carry it out is up to you, but it'll invariably involve ignoring a lot of techs (except for the essential ones like taxes) and instead spending your cash on a lot of basic-level troops and and extra barracks. At the very least, you'll have a numerical advantage - if you get the tactical part right as well, you can actually force your opponent out of his castle surprisingly early, or at least trap him and keep his income down until you can.

The problem? If it fails, you've had it. Everyone else will be ahead of you, so you'll likely become a target. That's assuming the guy you tried to kill doesn't kill you off first...!

The second path is generally safer, but has no immediate reward. Rather than pouring into troops, you first develop the economic techs (taxes, resource upgrades and the like) to give yourself the best possible income, and use this to lever yourself into the other, more expensive techs and/or a decent army.

Problems - a guy taking the first route can flatten you immediately if you don't at least give yourself a basic defence. It also requires you to NAP up with your neighbours for the near future, to prevent this happening - anyone not replying after a few days can generally be said to be coming after you, but don't take this as a hard and fast rule - he may be thinking about it
Your opponents might also get second castles while you're stuck in your first. Having said that, you have a ready, undamaged army, while he has whatever's left from his most recent campaign

Which to choose? Depends on your situation. If you're surrounded by higher-end opponents, build-up is more realistic (like L20+ players in a 1-40 game). If the potential targets, once captured would only expose you to many more opponents, also consider building instead.

If, on the other hand, the players are lower level (or you're feeling daring! ) and/or in a position that if when captured won't leave you open to any/much more danger than you're already in, consider going in for the kill. You'd be amazed how handy an extra castle comes in, despite what some would say

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So, you got through the first part of the game. Some of your rivals are dead and buried; there are clear leaders, and the strength of your near rivals is known. This middle third is usually when the winner of the game is decided - although most final positions will still be very variable.

One thing you have to do, somehow, is get yourself in on the winning team. By the final third, it's usually too late - although, as always, there are exceptions to the rule
But how do you know who/what will comprise the winning team? A little experience and reputation helps here. Mull over a few of the potential scenarios and decide how they would play out. More importantly, predict who is likely to align themselves with whom. Clan-mates, for example, will almost always support each other at least, even if they don't go for a full-blown alliance. The weaker players will be taking deals that ensure their survival; the eventual dominant player will likely take another strong player as a fighting partner, and if you know that certain players have met before, their past history will tell you if they're likely to break out fighting or bond together. Also keep your ear out on the 'grape-vine' for any gossip that might be useful. Most rumour at least has an element of truth!

The next round of conflicts will likely be starting round about now - based on the relationships that will largely stand for the rest of the game. If you were a builder earlier on, you're REALLY going to have to consider getting some territory now; if a conqueror, you'll need to consolidate your claims and secure a good ally to help hold onto them.

Politics is one of the crucial factors at this point in the game. If you can forge a group that has no real contenders, it's a fairly sure bet you'll at least make it to the end-game (final third) and maybe even win it. Either way - there's a good rank in it for you!

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End-game...by this stage, it's often fairly obvious who's going to win (and it's usually not me... ). The bad news is that if you're in on the winning coalition and you're not going to end the game by voting or waiting for the end, you'll have to fight the winner - however futile the gesture for you both.

It does help if you quietly work on your strength leading up to the end-game so that if it does come to blows for wnating the top spots, you have a good chance for them. And at this stage your odds of success are largely based on the way the scenario has set itself up rather than on your skill

But there's definitely one thing you should keep in mind at both end-game and the middle third - the winner isn't the guy who was 'most honourable', has the most kills or took the most castles. Massive kills are easily blunted by huge losses. Honour is useless if it means the guy sits in a corner all day, wagging his righteous finger and actually doing nothing
If you can keep the kills/deaths figures in your favour, you'll at least gain a couple of places, and even more if it's a big game like the 40 player matches...
The importance of this ratio isn't so great until this stage of the game, because up until now you've been making a good situation for yourself. This is the time when you are to cash it in....
So, even if you can't win by end-game, your best chances probably lie in either keeping a good score or improving it. One good fight eventually lost can be better than two win at huge expense if the one fight is fought in such a way that you extort huge losses out of your opponent and make EVERY troop count. If it goes well enough, you might actually over-take him in the rankings...but don't hold your breath

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And that, by and large, is it
I'm not saying all your games will be like this, but you should see at least aspects of this coming through. And when you recognise them, you'll be able to exploit them for what they are
Being able to spot the big alliance forging is a major talent

this is untrue its possible to upgrade with 3rd barrack upgrade ur troops before turn 15 to the troop type u want training giuld and attack early u just need to know how to do it with market place u just have to be really active and know how to allocate ur resources and find those resources piles early and resources biulding especially now with the extra 2 comandeers

Even with all that, you're unlikely to have a major fighing force until late in the first third - effectively stepping into the second third.

And counting out that again - for 99% of players, the above is the rule, this is the exception. I heard a guy had scouts coming through his walls while he was getting his first marksmen (no names this time ), which bears out the idea of the game being in at least an early and middle period strike phases. Approximately, of course

Bumped for newbies.

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*Bump* for our Newbies

I hate speed BUMPs