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Starter tips
For starters you need to build up cash to buy troops and arm. To do this trade silk back and forth on the same turn, Chinese merchants are cheapest followed by Uighur, Islamic, and Venetian. To build a strong economy I recommend allocating labor at 50-0-0-50, with 50 in grain and construction. Don't be stingy either, if you keep the people happy you'll get more money in spring. When it comes to what units to buy ignore weak projectile units like bowmen, catapults, and cannons. Purchase instead large strong units like lancers, mamelukes, elephants, nomads, mongols, and samurai. Mongols are the best warriors in the game followed by samurai. These two units and nomads offer good defense, fair long range attack, and a brutal close combat ability. There greatest asset probably being there mobility. That is one reason I discourage the use of knights, they are the most expensive units and yet they are mediocre at best. You should hire mercenaries as opposed to recruiting when the rate is low because it is sometimes cheaper but more importantly because when buying large numbers of troops recruiting lowers your population while buying mercenaries does not. More people means more money and more food. It is important to spend lots of time with your family to produce good heirs. You should save at the end of every turn and I have a damn good reason. If after ending your turn you get a message saying you have a daughter simply reset and end the turn over again until you get a son. Son's are ALWAYS superior to daughters. I recommend saving just before making a prince a general. The skills he has will not vary after resetting and trying again but his body points will. Even if you don't plan on a particular son being heir get as many points as possible for him because people with more body-points live longer by about a decade or more. When choosing an heir always choose the heir with the greatest political skill, these heirs will have heirs with good political ability as well. I also recommend when playing solo to play to different characters at once so you only have to conquer half the world. Then just move the capitals next to each other and have one demand submission, have the other submit and the game is over.