So, let’s start with basic resources: (iron ore, wheat, lumber, and stone)

1) Find iron ore on the map, and create an “ore pit” immediately adjacent to it. The maximum number of workers is 6.

2) To create wheat, find a blank spot to create a farm. The maximum number of workers is 3.

3) Find stone on the map, and create a “stone pit” immediately adjacent to it. The maximum number of workers is 6.

4) Locate a “lumberman den” near a lot of trees. The maximum number of workers is 6.

Note: When you assign peasants to build a resource item, they will automatically become workers for that resource after the construction is complete.

In addition to the 4 resource groups, you also need housing. The game hint says “build more houses”, yet the menu item says “shack” instead of “house”.

1) You’ll need more peasants, so build some houses. Each “shack” gives you 4 new peasants.

Note: There is an upper limit on peasants that defaults to 99.

To get to “tech level 2”, you need 100 of each of the 4 basic resources, plus 1000 in gold.

1) You control the amount of gold through taxation (from the town hall). I generally leave it at the default settings, and just wait…

Note: More resources you create, the more gold you get through taxation, so build a lot of resource generators.

2) While you’re waiting on gold to accumulate, you can build 2 of the “barracks”. The “training area” and “shooting yard”. After completion, send peasants into the barracks to convert them into soldiers.

3) You can also build a market that will allow you to buy/sell resources for gold. Handy if you’re running out of one type, but have excess of another. Just sell the excess resource and buy the scarce one. The price fluctuates if you buy/sell a lot (the law of supply and demand).

Note: Taxation alone will take a long time to get to 1000 gold. So I typically sell excess resources. Remember to wait a second or two to sell that resource again (for the price fluctuation to settle down).

Shore up your defenses…

1) Build archers and swordsmen in the “barracks”.

2) Build some towers. However, make sure that you build a tower with future walls in mind. You can’t build a wall where there is anything in the way… a tree for example. So, I always build towers where there is a clear “line of sight” to the next tower.

If trees are causing you trouble, you might consider building walls first, then building towers at each end of the wall. This might not actually be all that helpful, since you can’t build towers either when something is in the way.

Note: Asking a peasant to remove a tree that in the way, is frustrating… he will chop until his “carry load” is reached, and then return to what he was previously doing. So, you’ll end up directing peasants to remove the same tree several times! So, to avoid this annoying feature, just don’t build towers where there are tree in the way of walls

Assign archers to the walls. This will require that you build a “door” at one of the attached towers.

Put a catapult or ballista on the top of a tower. Oddly enough, you can put a siege weapon on a tower before you get to level 2 where you can build them!

Level 2: (100 of each basic resource + 1000 gold)

Level 2 introduces the 4 remaining resource types: (bread, planks, stone blocks, and weapons)

The “resource tree” requires that things be built in a certain order.

1) Build a saw mill to get planks

2) Build a stone cutter to get stone blocks.

3) After sufficient number of planks/blocks have accumulated, you can build a bakers shed and blacksmiths shed (for bread and weapons).

4) This would also be a good time to build a few “small storage” areas. Resource workers spend a lot of their time transporting items back to the town hall. This is inefficient for resource areas that are some distance from the town hall. So, build some storage near any remote resource area.

Note: You don’t have to build these new “resource centers” near their corresponding resource generator (for example, you do not have to build a saw mill near the lumberman den). Instead, they should be near the town hall or “small storage” areas.

Caution: I’m not exactly certain, but I believe that all of the resources are automatically split between the town hall and all of your storage areas. So, a storage area near lumber production will not have more lumber than some other storage that’s near a stone or iron producing area.

Building upgrades

After the “level 2” upgrade, you automatically get 20% more peasants. Upgrading sheds to cottages also gets you more peasants.

There are three types of building upgrades available at level 2 and beyond… the “worker limit/storage” upgrade, the “new items” upgrade, and the defense only upgrade.

1) Worker limit/storage: For example, an upgraded lumberman den not provide you any new items, but it will allow you to assign more peasants (from a max of 6 to a new max of 9) and increase its temporary storage (from 20 to 30).

2) New Items: An example of the “new items” upgrade is the barracks (both the shooting yard and training area). These building will now allow you build new units.

3) Defense only: Some building like the towers, walls, small storage, and the market do not gain anything other than additional defensive capability

Note: All building upgrades increase the “defensive capability” (the “health bar” when you click on a building).

Caution: I find upgrading walls sometimes clumsy… you have to select the entire wall (rather than just one segment of the wall).

Upgrades allow you to get more out of an existing building rather than build a new ones. For example, farms take up a lot of room, so I’d consider upgrading it before building another one (unless you’re on a map with no particular space constraints).

Caution: I’m not certain if there is any merit in some upgrades. For example, upgrading the market might not be worth the resources.

Level 2 new Item summary:

Resource: saw mill, stone cutter, a bakers shed, and blacksmiths shed
Military: stable and siege factory
Units: armored swordsman, mailed archer, knight, catapult, and ballista

Level 3 (100 each of the new resource types + 1000 gold)

You instantly get an additional 20% of peasants.

This level follows the same “rules” as Level 2, however, there are no new building types… all new items are military units

Level 3 new item summary:

Military: Trebuchet, battering ram, siege tower, longbow man, arbalist, foot knight, ladder carrier, grail knight.

1) You can heal a unit by placing them next to a church (marked with a pale blue dot on the map)

2) Foot soldiers and archers are difficult to keep together. Archers will stand their ground, and foot soldiers and knights will run into battle. They only way to get to them to stick together is to put them all in the defensive posture.

3) There doesn't seem to be a way to "unassign" a peasant from a bakers shed, lumber mill, blacksmith, or stone cutter. For example, I was running out of stone on a map, and wanted to reduce the production of stone blocks... couldn't do it. So, I just demolished the stone cutter's shed and rebuilt it and assigned fewer peasants. I did NOT get any peasants back when I demolished the building (but they quickly repawn at the town hall anyway).