Europa 1400: The Guild

• I'd recommend starting the game out on an easier difficultly setting, and starting out as an alchemist. Alchemists can make stamina potions (+2 AP once a round), and since they can gather and grow materials, they aren't dependent on materials appearing in the market, you can just have an apprentice gather goods.

• Always have as many employees as possible, and always upgrade them to journeyman ASAP. The increase in productivity should cover the increase in cost pretty quickly.

• Try to up your AP count as much as possible. AP lets you do stuff, but a big one is using it to train your stats. In the early game, I'd recommend focusing on handicraft and negotiation, since establishing a business and earning money makes it much easier to accomplish your other goals, whatever they may be.

• Getting a government position depends on getting an appointment. Getting an appointment depends on the relationship you have to the person making the appointment. Highest relationship = The appointment. You can hold the right mouse button down over their relationship bar to see how they feel about the other candidates. Many items improve relationships, and you can also host parties if you have a dining room.

• Don't skimp on spending for parties, you cheapskate.

• If you have children, you can give them the solider, drawing board, or top items. These increase their stats, and are pretty handy (though not vital) for establishing a decent character when your current character dies.

• Start on Very Easy until you can get your legs. It is very complicated but the game will "click". I know this was covered in the rules, but SERIOUSLY. Also the alchemist thing. SERIOUSLY.

• Don't even worry about government positions until you are more established. Your wealth determines your title, higher titles make everything a little easier. Focus on running your business. If you start as an alchemist, have one worker constantly gathering materials, one worker making stamina potions, and one worker switching between the two tasks as needed.

• Anticipate when you will level up your job class. Stay in your job until it is maxed, a maxed job gives you +1 AP PER MAXED JOB and these are all inherited. As your descendants take over they will have more and more AP to spend. This greatly expands the actions they can take.

• It is good to upgrade attributes first. Negotiation and Handicraft are the best the upgrade in the early game, and they come default with the townhouse. Stealth, Combat, and Rhetoric are all upgraded in purchased rooms, Backroom, dining room and library respectively.

• When you are starting out, just focus on your own business and the success of your dynasty. Don't worry about the other scrubs, you're on very easy mode, right?

• You can get away without guarding your wagon for a few years, but once you start having some serious goods in each sale, just spend the money on them. You will want to start training combat at this time as well.

• When you are settled into a groove and making decent profit on your business sales, you may want to start pursuing government appointments. Your reputation is governed globally, by group, and individually. It is generally a good idea to boost your global reputation as much as you can when you are ready. You can do this by upgrading your house, mostly. You can improve your reputation with specific groups via items just as the silver ring (IIRC it boosts your standing with lower level government employees), and you can improve your individual standing by inviting people to banging parties, giving them certain items, and other actions.

• Improve your business asap, some of the improvements greatly boost productivity. Upgrade your business as soon as you can as well. Usually the new items you can make are helpful, but you can get more employees which is GREAT. Make sure you click on the "turn page" button to make sure you always have the max number of employees and aren't just starting at one page for centuries, like I hear some people may have done for far longer than they should have

• A good second business to pick up is either the tavern or the church. Both have options for steadier income sources through entertaining/preaching.