Placement is everything. Take the time to find a strategic location for your stronghold. Keep an eye on the terrain. Mountains and hills are good for mining and towers, but are bad for farming. Green is best for farming, and placing farms adjacent to water doubles their output. When the game begins, do not worry about enemies massing before you place your main castle. Enemies do not start their own construction and expansion until after you place the castle. After that point, quickly find good locations for your keeps. Remember, enemies are expanding now.
Create a balanced party. The most powerful strongholds have fighters for combat, mages for attacking hard-to-hit monsters, clerics for healing, and thieves for spying. They might also include some of each of the various races -- elves who reap extra benefits from trees and attack as archers and spell casters; dwarves who are better at locating minerals and attack as fighters; and halflings who farm better and see farther than humans.
Make good use of pyramids. When building something, set build to maximum. They will finish much sooner. When the block is filled, or when construction has finished, reset the pyramids to recruit or train, or a combination of both. Remember: a pyramid set on 0% building results in no construction in that area. The same applies to training and recruiting.
Pay attention to trees. Units in new blocks will not claim or chop down trees automatically. You must decide what to do with them. Claiming a few trees generates immediate income and food at no expense. Chopping trees down will clear new land for development. Either way, don't just leave them there. Unclaimed trees take up space your people could use more profitably.
Mine every rock you can. Mines are a good way to generate income, and you can start one at no cost. Keep an eye on them; mines eventually run dry. When this happens, replace them with other buildings.
Fill in swamps. They do not benefit your stronghold in any way, and they take up valuable land and take some time to remove. Fill swamps in as soon as possible, and use the land for buildings.
Keep an eye on expanding units. As your stronghold grows, units will push out into unexplored territory. They will immediately start housing construction. When this happens, check their leaders. Maybe they have enough housing already. If that is true, get them started on farms or other buildings they might need.
Watch out for stagnating party members. For units to recruit new members, they must have surplus housing and food. Populations will not grow if there is nothing to feed new people or nowhere for additional people to live. Units will build housing themselves, but you must tell them to start farms.
Build markets. Marketplaces not only increase the production of your farms, but also allow your leaders access to the common fund. The more markets you build the better your economy will run. You may build a maximum of ten markets.
Plan for winter. Farm production of food and gold drops to 25% of normal during the winter months. People will starve if they run out of food, so be sure that their houses, keeps, and granaries can store enough to get them through the winter. The granaries should fill during autumn, when the harvest comes in, and farm production goes up to 125% of normal.
Upgrade buildings. Upgraded buildings bring great benefits. Larger houses and keeps hold more people, store more food. Upgraded farms produce more food per unit area; bigger granaries will help the people get through winter.
Build beneficial buildings. The various training halls help your units become more powerful. Weapons forges repair damaged swords and create magic weapons. Inns house many people and bring income to the stronghold. Walls keep enemies out; bridges let units cross water to attack. Refer to the building card for descriptions of all the beneficial buildings.
Plan for wide buildings. Some buildings require two squares. If you intend to construct a wide building (such as an inn or a social hall), be sure to leave enough space for the building.
Build towers. Thieves see fifteen blocks out into the wilderness, but towers have a viewing range of at least twenty. Build towers on hills or mountains to increase this range. When your people can see an enemy stronghold, it appears as a small red square on the map.
Unattended buildings will degrade. To keep buildings in top condition at least one unit must be on the screen with the buildings at all times. Buildings also degrade if combat occurs on the screen. If a building is in less than perfect condition when you click on it, "repair" will replace "upgrade" in the menu to the right. Repair a building to restore its condition to 8.
Leaders own buildings, units do not. A leader reaps the benefits from a building, and also must pay the maintenance cost. But the leader does not have to have one of his own units on the screen to keep a building in top condition; any units can do that - as long as the owner- leader has the money. So a building may degrade, even though units are on the screen if the owner of the building runs out of money.
Attack with armies. Battles are won by overwhelming your enemies. Superior numbers can overcome more powerful monsters. When you go on the offensive, attract a big party of units to a block, and when they have all arrived and have defeated all nearby enemies, move on. Try to avoid sending an army on a long, non-stop trip. If the destination is far away, units may adventure away from the pack, thereby thinning your fighting force.
Defend bridges. If you build a bridge to cross water, be sure to station a unit there for maintenance, and a few more for defense of the structure.
Watch your income. It is easy to get caught up in building and expanding, then suddenly find out you are out of money, and your buildings are deteriorating. Build enough farms to generate a steady income. Have elves claim and upgrade trees. They are as good as farms, but cost nothing to build. Keep an eye on mines; they run dry over time, and the income they generate dries up as well. Build inns when you can. Don't build large, expensive-to-maintain buildings too quickly. It is possible to have a negative income; the maintenance cost of buildings might exceed the leader's income. If this happens, destroy or change ownership of some of the expensive buildings, change ownership of income-producing buildings (such as mines) to the leader who needs the money, or claim trees and mine rocks. Trees and rocks are free, and generate money quickly.