If playing alone, it’s better to opt for elves, hence we are gonna choose them when signing up.
Upon registration you are STRICTLY to follow the advice of your Counselor and to accomplish all issued quests, except for the quest “Producing buildings and Cottages upgrade”. Other than that any other additional buildings must not be build. The construction of Main Buildings (MB) level 4 and 5 is to be comleted instantly by means of the Local service “Finish all constructions and upgrades of all buildings in the domain”.

From the very beginning, right after the signing up the Gate science is to be studied as soon as possible, which combining with the 5th level of MB will let you open the Gate and therefore construct buildings in adjacent villages. Therefore the sciences must be studied in the following order:

Construction 1 – Markt 1 – Markt 2 (for the stone quest) – Fortification 1 – Cache 1 – Resurrection 1 – Merchantry 1 – Villages 1 – Gate.

If holding on to this order, the MB lvl 5 upgrade will be dome before the Gate science is studied. This problem however will be easily solved in 3-4 hours by means of the quest “Science studying acceleration!” which appears right after the MB has been upgraded to lvl. 5. This quest and all the following quests requiring Black Gems must be accomplished. Upon accomplishing a quest a button “accept reward” will appear next to the quest description. The rewards are to be accepted only of needed.
In the case of Science studying acceleration the reward needs to be accepted to accelerate the science studies. Upon opening the gate stone quarries are to be build on the stone deposits (if present) and alchemist labs on all the other depositless cells in the villages as long as there are enough resources for constructions (quest reward supplying various resources can be taken in this case).

Be advised to keep some resources to construct the spy guild and 2 dwarf caves which are to be build right after the respective science have been studied. After the villages are full with buildings, about 15 alchemist labs are to be constructed in the city itself. Make sure there are always enough people to be converted builders and workers. For that Cottages need to be built in the city.
It`s strongly advisable to build first level buildings as long as there is enough space. They are a way cheaper and faster to build than the second level upgrades. All constructions taking more than 1 hour are to be finished by means of Black Gems. While constructing buildings in the villages, sciences are to be studied in the following order :

Espionage -1, Carrier -1, Tower 1 – Magic Tower 1 – Diplomacy 1 – Sanctuary 1 – Temple 1, Clan – 1.

After that our target is the Colonization 2, therefore Mapping of the appropriate level needs to be studied and after that the colonization itself. Now our biggest goal is to build new cities as soon as possible. Upon studying the Mapping science the Expeditionary Corps can be built. The more buildings of this kind you have, the faster will you explore the lands, the more ruins and outer domains will you find and therefore pillage which assures us an even faster development.

After training first spies and carriers we will be able to pillage the neighbors. Spy only players with 1 star and look for those who appear to be no longer active in the game. A sign for this is red science button, meaning no science is currently being studied. Another sign is many idle people and open gate. Check whether there are any defensive buildings like a tower or fortification in the city. Make sure NO army in cities garrison, neither in the allied slot, especially NO allied Ancients (the presence of the later is marked with a shield sign near the city picture on the kingdom map). If the city is clear and no army is present, attack it by means of Robbery mission. If there are not enough idle population in your domain, you can attack with Slaves Capture mission.
As advancing in the game read the Encyclopedia to get a better understanding of what is happening here. As advancing you will be getting various quests with an army as reward, save them for later. As advancing in Colonization science studies train Settlers for BG (otherwise it will take 3 days). Building in new cities are to build just like in the first one – alchemists labs in the villages and mining buildings on deposits cells. After Colonization 2 has been studied we will proceed to Heroes managing, so all the requirements for studying this very science have to be completed. After Colonization 2 has been studied you will also get the quest “Temple healer summon”. Accomplish it and accept all the army rewards you have. After that try to destroy your first ruin.