Guide

==== This is a guide ranging from the beginning of the game to the end of the Ancient Era. ====
== Pre-Reincarnation ==
The game is incredibly similar to classic Civilization V. Therefore, knowing the gameplay of the Civilization series will help you. Note that this game is not historically accurate.
=== Setup Phase ===
First, you have to select your nation! Each nation has their bonuses, but typically the best ones are the Chinese and the Arabians (Some decent ones for the early game especially include the Aztecs, Incans, and Indonesians). You should choose Relax difficulty, or Normal for a challenge run. If you're new to 4X games, I recommend playing on Peaceful mode, to learn the game.
* Never ever choose Hardcore mode for your first run, unless you want to be swarmed by non-stop Barbarian attacks (or you want to try a REAL "challenge run").
=== Prehistoric Era ===
==== The Beginning ====
First things first, you should pause the game as soon as you can, to avoid wasting time, and go to the Options to set your preferred settings. Auto-pause is especially useful, and can improve your efficiency throughout the game (there's also a Dark Mode if you want that). After setting your Options, allocate your first citizen to be a Hunter-gatherer to boost your Food production. Then, in the Science tab, select the technology called Language. After all of this you can unpause.
When you've researched Language, you can research Dog Domestication and Tanning, in any order. (Pottery is the least important technology in the first column; health does basically nothing in the early game, so you can skip it for now). When you have researched Tanning, the Longhouse unlocks, and you can build it right away. After a few seconds, the Longhouse will be complete, and you will now keep 15% of your accumulated Food when the city gains a new citizen.
==== Gold & Buildings ====
For your 4th technology, you should research Trade (costs 35 Science). It is important to do so first because all the other techs in the same column unlock buildings, which require Gold. Remember to allocate your citizens to Merchants to get Gold! For buildings, I would recommend the order Chest -> Barracks -> Shrine.
Here is my recommended order for the technologies in the Prehistoric Era:
Language(1) 	Trade(4) 	Art(11)
Dog Domestication(2-3)	Spirituality(8)	Exploration(12)
Tanning(2-3) 	Mining(6) 	Agriculture(10)
Pottery(5) 	Tools(7) 	Archery(9)
==== Wonders ====
In your first run you can typically build all the wonders, however it is challenging at the start due to a lack of Production to speed up building the wonders. As long as you build the Chest first, and get any amount of Gold from 248-496 before researching Archery (Unlocking 2 wonders which both cost 248 Gold), you should be fine. 
Tips:
* Build the Temple of Artemis before the Statue of Zeus, as it gives your builders extra Production.
* Don't be afraid to let your food supplies drain to get the first 2 wonders, it's definitely worth it! Just remember not to let your food hit 0 (if this is difficult, you can always pause and unpause the game to time it better).
=== Ancient Era ===
After researching your 12th technology, you are ready move into the Ancient Era.
The first and most important research you want is Writing, not only will it allow you to build a Treasury, increasing your storage capacity for gold, but most importantly it will also unlock Scientists, which can increase your Science dramatically.
==== Barbarians ====
Once you reach the Ancient Era, the Barbarians will start to attack your cities, if you are playing on Normal or Hardcore difficulty. However, they will only try to take your Gold, and will not capture your cities, so don't panic.
==== AI Players ====
In the Ancient Era the AI players will also start to attack your empire, on Relax difficulty this is rare, but it is quite common on Normal and Hardcore. If the AI attacking you has a Town Hall, they will be able to recruit governors, which can capture your cities. You will know if the AI player has a Town Hall in their city due to the city icon changing (the city gains a green roofed tower).
==== Expanding your Territory ====
You will need to research State in order to capture another city. After which you will need to recruit a Governor. To capture a city, you will need to attack it with a Governor WHILE IT IS EMPTY (you can check if the city is empty via the battle reports, if you launched other attacks recently), so remember to attack it with other troops (e.g. Warriors or Archers etc.) first! You can pause and unpause the game to send attacks within close spans of each other to clear the enemy city, and send the Governor as your last attack. If the city isn't empty at the end, you can always pause and send your Governor back! 
If your attack was successful, your Governor will automatically be consumed to capture the city, which will still have all the population and buildings that were in it. Attacking Barbarian cities to capture them is a must in this game, as it makes you more powerful than the other (AI) players (most Barbarian cities also come with a 20% boost to a random resource). 
WARNING: After capturing another city, all of your cities will lose some happiness, as the number of cities you have directly affects how unhappy your citizens are! Also, capturing a city that is extremely far away can just end up in it immediately revolting due to unhappiness, as the further away from your capital (your first city, unless you relocate it) it is, the less happy it is, and this can get out of hand VERY quickly! 
==== Destroying Cities ====
This is the same as capturing a city, but unlike capturing your Governor will not be consumed, and the city you attacking will be completely destroyed, instead of you conquering it. This is useful if you want to get rid of the AI players, because they don't have bonuses on their cities, and conquering all of them would be require you to build A LOT of Governors (which get more expensive every time you recruit one).
==== Trade Routes ====
Trade Routes are the one of the most powerful options you have to progress your Empire, as they increase your Gold, Culture, and sometimes Science income. In order to create Trade Routes, you will need to research Navigation to unlock Caravans. A Caravan is a unit which can create a Trade Route with another Empire (it costs 400 gold to recruit). Once used, Caravans will be consumed, and create a line between your city and the targeted city, symbolizing the Trade Route you created. You can cancel the trade route as you wish, but the Caravan will not be refunded, so think twice before canceling. 
* The Trade Route will also automatically be cancelled when you declare war on the Empire you have the Trade Route with (or if they declare war on you). 
* You can cancel Trade Routes that AI players make with you, if you so wish. 
* The amount of Gold and Culture the Trade Route will give you is shown before you make it.
 
Here is my recommended order for technologies in the Ancient Era:
Writing(1) 	Armies (6-7) 	Wheel (9)
State(2) 	Horse Riding (8) 	Masonry (11-12)
Herding (3-4) 	Bronze Working (5) 	Justice (10)
Navigation(3-4)	Crop Rotation (6-7)	Calendar (11-12)
== Miscellaneous Tips ==
* Auto-Scouting has a maximum range, but you can go beyond this if you send the Scouts manually, BE WARNED, however, as going beyond the maximum Auto-Scout range gives your Scouts a chance to be "ambushed by marauders" and be lost PERMANENTLY! (They only cost 40 gold)
* Sometimes allocating some Artists is better for Food/Production/Gold/Science output than their respective professions, if your happiness is too low.
* If you don't mind Spoilers, the Help menu is always there to, well, help! Maybe not everything is there, but a decent chunk of stuff you might ask yourself can be answered in the Help menu.
* While it is a Bug/Glitch, if you don't mind exploiting it, you can cancel a Gold Transfer as soon as you start it, and instead of arriving back where you sent it from, the Gold will instantly be sent to the destination (this might be patched out later if the developer ever becomes active).
Category:Guide