Welcome New Players.

[Senior Tactician]

Well, cosmic wizard is a holdover from the paper and pencil days, as was I.  The first thing I did was read the Maelstrom rules, every single order, every single rule, several times.  Then I thought about how the new orders created new synergies and possible tactics.  I took Ricks advice and first choose play kingdoms that were somewhat versatile, then I picked kingdoms specific to the tactics I wanted to try out, found out what worked and what doesn't.

Some things that work for me:
1. Multiple (all 4, or 5, just because) small teleporting invisible armies (or even divisions, I've even tried brigades of trolls), omg, that's just good fun right there.
2. Orcs.  Orcs work.  Any kingdom where you can recruit orcs, you should recruit orcs.  When you're done recruiting orcs, recruit more orcs.
3. Water towns for your capitol, if you get lucky your hidden city is on the water.  People will seldom put in the time and effort to attack you there.  And even if they do try, they are very defensible.
4. It helps to have a way to capture a legendary castle if the game starts lasting too long.  Fear troops, high level wizards, something.
5. Make sure you are always increasing your income, either by capturing your neighbors, or building your own PCs.  A turn spent not somehow increasing your income is a turn wasted.  But don't spend a whole lot of effort increasing the value of a PC that is easily captured.  Bounty is nice, but it breeds envy in your neighbors, I use it sparingly.

Some little stuff: plan out your gold an extra turn in advance, so no surprises.  Keep in mind the order numbers, for instance, one thing I sometimes do when in a region with a hidden city is put 480 on standing order on turn 1, because there is no need to enamor on turn 1.  But when turn 2 comes around and you have to enamor, thats order 470, so your standing order 480 will just be put on hold that turn, but will kick in again on turn 3.  Saves an order on turn 3.  If you start with 10 influence, its a big deal.

I have come to really appreciate taxing and then attacking your own city very early in the game.  This can give you elite brigades in 2 turns.  Especially important for recruiting hill giants and mammoths.  Not to mention makes your troops a LOT tougher.

[Ry Vor]

I've never heard players propagandizing the Orcs, but I like it. 

I'm not sure I would recommend that king order strategy. The standard is Enamor on T1, maybe customize on T1 for Influence, send 3 emissaries to your city. If you do not have a major city in your capital region, probably best to increase Influence turn 1, enamor turn 2 when your patrolling groups will have found some PC;s that you move your nobles to, to then act in a friendly region on turn 3.

That may sound a little like chess, where the first move is moving the king's (or maybe queen's) pawn out two, but then there are thousands of possibilities over the next few turns. 

Obviously in Alamaze, there is a lot more going on than in a two player chess game, but a chess player probably gets to understanding Alamaze faster.  

There are lots of strategies, and generally pick a kingdom which matches your style.  If you want to crush, you pick a military kingdom like the Red Dragons or Tyrant, and you don't want to delay.  The wizard kingdoms, you kind of hope those kingdoms don't mess with you.  The finesse kingdoms are powerful but difficult. 

Then you have the regions to consider.  Our Champion of Alamaze often picks regions others think are the least desirable.

[The Painted Man]

I agree with orcs. Was just telling another player that he should consider companions and, if possible, look for orcs if all else is equal. They are great. I used to love goblins the most, but they are only good against other groups and tend to die quick against PCs. Trolls also amazing.

I also agree with choosing a kingdom that matches your strengths. I am not good at military kingdoms. Not at all. The only thing I’m worse with is confed games. That said, a new player is not going to know his strengths per se, until after a few games. As there is a bit of a gentleman’s agreement to not plow into a new player, I’d say either choose one that just sounds fun or appeals to your fantasy novel reading days... or a kingdom like DA where they are really flexible and decent at just about everything. Added fun: they have orcs. But they take a minute to get to full potential (which may not be a bad thing because you will likely have it).

Build economics as Senior Tactician indicates. Everything costs money, and the further into the game you get the more expensive they get with larger armies, higher level agents, etc. if you have the industrious trait, consider standing orders to improve gold and food. Pays for itself before turn 10, but requires budgeting.

Then go lay into someone at 100%. Halfway doesn’t work well. Use castles for some sort of defense. The rest should be offense.

[Senior Tactician]

Sometimes I pick a kingdom based on how enjoyable I think it might be to roleplay the diplomacy.  Tyrant and halfling so far were my favorite   I aspire to attain Painteds level of entertainment.

[The Painted Man]

Sometimes I pick a kingdom based on how enjoyable I think it might be to roleplay the diplomacy.  Tyrant and halfling so far were my favorite   I aspire to attain Painteds level of entertainment.

I aim to amuse myself. If I giggle whilst typing, mission accomplished. Halflings are amazing, but one of the few I would not suggest for a new player.

[Ry Vor]

Sometimes I pick a kingdom based on how enjoyable I think it might be to roleplay the diplomacy.  Tyrant and halfling so far were my favorite   I aspire to attain Painteds level of entertainment.

I aim to amuse myself. If I giggle whilst typing, mission accomplished. Halflings are amazing, but one of the few I would not suggest for a new player.

I get it, I do the same on a small group I email - enjoy chuckling while typing.  Meanwhile, thanks for those providing advice to potential new players.  

Now, new people - become players!

[Acererak]

I think the most critical thing for a new player- and not clearly discussed in the advice so far is how to secure your region early on. Understanding how to quickly take the major city if you have one, and how to scout as effectively as possible.

So a few things in those strategies:
- Use all your groups and make as many patrols as you can to get the 25 pts movement and focus on hitting plains squares to cover as much ground as possible. Yes. Force march all of them. It's more important to get 1 more square each early than it is to stay at 100% morale.
- Use any level 4 agents you start with to scout for pcs in tough terrain like mountains, marsh, forests that are hard to hit with your groups
- Take the 1 pt upgrade from lvl 2 to lvl 4 agent so you can do another pc scout on turn 2
- If you have a major city move both your count and duke in on the same turn and enamor the region. If not, raise your influence both by order and with 2 pts of your customization then you can enamor on turn 2 instead when you are moving in emmies to discovered pcs
- If you're lucky enough to have it (I believe Ranger and Druid along with Wiz kingdoms) use an eagle familiar on the clusters of mountains or other terrain on turn 1
- Use your ships and a patrol to scout any sea area. I believe all kingdoms have a max 5 pt move in sea so you can cover a lot of ground quick and the pcs in the water are super valuable

Now, as soon as you have checked EVERY SQUARE for pcs and moved in and gotten control, start looking for encounters with your agents in EVERY SQUARE in your region that doesn't have a pc.

I think this early game stuff is the most critical for any player and while all long term players know and do them, new players should know them.

[Senior Tactician]

Very nice Acererak, this is stuff a lot of people take for granted, but is vitally important.  Although I would add artifacts are optional, I seldom spend any time on them, unless I have the heroic trait, then I only do it for the leader gains.

Other things you might consider doing in the first 5 turns, depending on your kingdom and style of play:

Wizard kingdom: get one wizard to level 5 for bounty, or even 6 or 7 for dome of invulnerability in case of aggressive neighbors.  Or, maybe get all wizards to level 3 for hidden ore.  Both tactics are viable for some non-wizard kingdoms as well.

Kingdoms adept at kidnapping:  agent training on standing order, sooner you can get your agent to max level, sooner the fun begins.  Heroic adds +15% to kidnap, so even non-agent focused kingdoms can specialize in kidnap, like dwarves.

Devout kingdoms, or kingdoms with multiple armies: multiple high priestesses for PC location or Summon Angels or healing troops.

Military:  USE your troops as much as possible.  Promoting brigades increases group power and durability a LOT.  You cannot promote an elite brigade on a village, not sure about a town.  Maybe a fortified town, not sure.

[Broody]

Hello there,
I'm a new player just joining my 2nd game of alamaze, and the game is amazing and the community is very helpful.
I've played pbmail games, but this is the best yet !

[VballMichael]

Welcome aboard. Fun game and lots of potential mentors. I see you are signed up for a game. Once that game fills, we can direct you to an experienced player who did not join your game and he can help you (if you want) with your first few turns.