Step-by-step guide for new Illy-players

This guide is still under construction

Welcome to the forum of The Old Republic and the Illyriad Trade Union!

You can get more information about The Old Republic here.
You can get more information about The Illyriad Trade Union here.

The idea of this step-by-step guide is to help new players to learn about the game Illyriad. It is an important part of the training program the Old Republic offers to members. Feel free to post comments and questions.

How to use this guide?
For new players it is hard to get a basic orientation in Illyriad. At the beginning it is hard to know what is important and what is not (so) important (now). I will try to provide information in a step-by-step guide and provide links for further information. You will not need to read the entire guide at once. If you are a new player, just read 1. General information about Illy and 2. What you need to know at the beginning. You can try Illy a little and return later to read the rest. To create this guide will be a process. You are welcome to participate and make this guide as short, simple, well-structured and complete as possible.

Structure of this guide
1. General information about Illy
2. What you need to know at the beginning
3. Other important advices
4. City relocation/founding of a new city
5. FAQ

Please do not copy this guide to another page/forum! You may provide links to this page. I partly oriented on already existing guides. I always provide links to those and other guides.

General information about Illy:

You should be aware, that Illy is a never ending game. If you only want to play it for some weeks, you should better choose another game. The good part is that you do not need to check out your account every day (though the more often you are online, particularly at the beginning, the more you will grow). The ork Kurdruk recommends to Relax, and enjoy the gradual ascent of your empire! Many new players ask "when will I be attacked?" and "isn't this a bit slow?" Well, you probably won't be attacked. And yes, it's a slow journey - which means you won't get overwhelmed by it later. Enjoy it! You should Check In Regularly Illyriad doesn't require a lot of time to play. But it does help if, especially in the first month, you can check on it regularly. I would strongly recommend to Always keep building! This might not be possible at the beginning. Even if you have very limited time during a certain period, check in frequently for five minutes and start new building projects. Time (or prestige) is the main constrain for growth! Chose building projects that take that much time until you have time to log-in your account again.

And some interesting links containing a lot of further information (other links are integrated below):
Manannan provides good information for new players, that again is based on the work of The Dude, I will try to summarize it below.
HonoredMule's Illyriad Wiki
The blog from Kurdruk
Basic self-defense for new players
Illyriad geography demography
NPC difficulty guide
I have been robbed! What shall I do?
The forum thread for newbie questions.
The official Help section of the forum
Calculators for military success and basic ressorces
Travel time calculator




What you need to know at the beginning:

1. Complete the tutorial
You get a basic understanding of the interface and mechanics of Illyriad and you will receive a gift.

2. Change your tax rate to 0%
If you increase your tax you will earn more gold (you do not need gold when you're starting out!) and less resources (you do need these, though!). Later (when you produce 1000-2000 clay/wood/iron/stone per hour) you may alter the tax rate. Keep in mind you can only change it once every 24 hours!

3. Visit Global Chat (GC) and never be shy asking for help
Many large players routinely send new players resources and goods with no expectations other than you become a worthwhile member of the community. Tell them how much of what resources you need. Also you can ask questions in GC. Do not troll in the GC! In many alliances as in this Republic, you can ask in alliance chat for help and we will provide substantial support.
See: Begging for dummies

4. Upgrade your storehouse
It should be high priority to upgrade your storehouse (and later the sarehouse, which you can start to build if you have a level 15 storehouse) to increase the amount of basic resources you can hold. This allows more substantial resource shipments to your city to help you grow; if you can only hold 2000 of each resource, that's all we can give!

5. Increase your resource production
Since begging at GC is not what you want to do all the time, you should increase wood/clay/iron/stone production. Always watch your food requirements because buildings will collapse if you run out of consumed resources.

6. Build your library and start research
You need a library to produce research points and complete research. If you are lucky an older player will send you some books you can convert to research points. This will enable you to research at the start without having to wait for points to amass. You should aim to get you library up to about level 12 as quickly as possible. At this level you can produce enough research points to research continuously.

7. Build your architect's office soon!
As I said: Building time is the main constrain to growth. From my perspective one of the most important buildings for new players is the architect office, as it helps you to level up your buildings more quickly.

8. What should I DEFINITELY not do?
A. Start to promote commanders without carefully thinking about it. For now you will not need any military at all!
B. Relocate your city or build a second city without carefully considering where you put it. If you do this too hastily, it will probably be the worst mistakes you can possibly do at the beginning (except for trolling in the GC)
C. Attack other players (unless they are inactive).
D. Join an alliance that does not allow you to leave again.
E. Build T2 buildings. There are some buildings that consume resources per hour (all those listed here except the Architect Office). You should wait to build them.
Particularly A. and B. are very important!!

9. Information for impatient players: Do not build any other buildings?
Apart from those mentioned above, the storehouse (and later warehouse), resource production sites (to produce positive food and 1000-2000 clay/wood/iron/stone), the library and the architect office, you should wait until you grow more. That would be best for your long-term growth prospect and to achieve self-sufficiency! You think that is a bit boring? I agree! I also was impatient. From my perspective there are some buildings that are worth to build and start levelling them up (a list of all buildings here and here):
*Market: Is good for harvesting (and later trading) and therefore similar to resource production. Try to get this to level 12. It allows for caravans to hold 1000 resources, which makes harvesting much more efficient.
*Mage Tower: This is the cheapest and easiest way to defend yourself as a new player! You should first research the Runes school of magic. Then, activate the strongest rune you have available to protect yourself.
*Tavern & Brewery: You need beer (produced in the Brewery) and the Tavern to start accepting quests (later it might be worth destroying these buildings to specialise in something else)
*Common Ground: Cows are the most valuable trading goods you can produce. Sell them to get cash!
*Barracks: Can be levelled up to start researching the military tree. However, don't build up your military until later.
*Consulate: This increases your warning radius for incoming diplomat attacks and makes diplomat units available to you. In addition, it unlocks researches which can help you to identify your attacker (if you find yourself being attacked by diplomats).
*Stone Mason, Foundry, Carpentry, Flourmill and Klin. When you have levelled up your clay/wood/iron/stone/food production sites to level 7, you can research a certain technologies that allow you to build the stone mason, foundry, carpentry, flourmill and klin. These buildings also increase your resource production. But they are properly more expensive and can wait. Once you have high resource production, start building these to unlock the ability to build tier two resources. The stone mason will allow you to build walls and later the siege workshop (you will only have a benefit with a level 20 Barack!). The level five foundry will allow you to build the blacksmith and if you level this to level 10 the forge.
*The Forge and Blacksmith allow you to produce advanced resources you will need to build up your army later. It might be worth to level up those buildings, although it would be better to read some more information on building armies.




Other important advices:

1. City relocation/founding of a new City
Do NOT move your capital or found your second city, unless you know what you are doing!!!!! There are many things to think about (see below).

2. Alliances
We decided to make this guide public and therefore I have added this point. You are very welcome in The Old Republic. Joining an alliance is helpful because networking is important! I would join an alliance that allows you to leave again. There is a wide variety of alliances: For example see here and here (step-by-step guide to join an alliance) and here . It might be good to join a training alliance (see here and here)?

3. Daily Log in Bonus
Claim a free bonus every 24 hours (see the starting screen)! I would highly recommend claiming prestige! If you are desperate for resources ask your alliance or the global chat.

4. Population Growth and Tax
The common misconception seems to be, if you continuously upgrade your farms your population will increase by itself over time. WRONG! Every building has a food upkeep value. The higher a buildings food upkeep the greater the population it provides for your city. Population consumes food. Tax depends on you population and your tax rate. Your tax rate influences food and the production of wood, clay, stone and iron, mana and research. That is a very important mechanism in the game of Illy (see also here)!

5. Barracks and military: Don't build armies...
It is not important to upgrade your barracks and build up your military at the beginning! Any army you could build at the start is completely insignificant and will rather serve to tempt an aggressive player to attack you for points. Building an army will also make you raise your tax rates which will hamper your growth. Upgrading your barracks though is a good idea when you have a chance. See below for more information on military. You can find good information about the different units of Elves, Orks, Dwarfs and Humans.

6. Research Arcana and build a Mage Tower: ... but do defend yourself!
Magic is your best defence at the beginning of the game and at later stages. Once you have built your Mage Tower you can research your first school of magic. Currently there are three schools of magic you can research:
- Runes are your first cheapest defense against enemy units and are effective at all stages of the game. It might be worth starting with this school of magic!
- Geomancy increases your resource production. It also serves as defence if Blight spells are casted on you. This should be your second choice, after you further upgraded your mage tower.
- Blights have no use for you early in the game as they are an offensive school of magic used to sabotage other players resource production or storage. They are described by some as coward magic but can be highly effective.
More information on magic in the step-by-step guide to use magic!

7. Marketplace
You need a marketplace to make caravans. Caravans ship goods to friendly cities, make trades in the market, and harvest resources that spawn on the world map.
Resource harvesting is very useful as you start the game and you can use it to subsidise your resource production (see here for a step-by-step guide to harvesting resources). If you send caravan(s) to nodes where harvesting is already occurring then yours will send those harvesting there already back to their original city without getting a full load allowing you to harvest what remains there or filling your caravan(s). These interruptions are called 'bumping' by the community and although it is accepted that it is part of the game, a lot of players recommend not to deliberately sending your caravans to locations already being harvested.
Trade is definitely worth it at a certain stage! See the guide: Trading for dummies! It is not worth trading all kinds of goods. You need to calculate whether you make a profit or not.

8. Diplomatic Defence
Most likely a new player will suffer attacks from diplomatic units before armies. Diplomats are anonymous unless captured and prisoners successfully interrogated unlike armies which identify the attacker when sent. Your first defence against enemy Diplomats are your Runes so ensure you have a powerful one cast (maybe the one against thieves)! Second build your own force of diplomats. Put simply your diplomatic forces can stop enemy diplomats but your defending force needs to be about 50% the size of the attacking force to be effective. Also only diplomats of the same type stop the enemy; i.e. thieves stop thieves, scouts stop scouts etc. You train diplomats in your consulate. Each diplomat type comes in a basic and advanced tier. The basic tier units are good at defence whilst the advanced ones have better offensive and movement statistics (see here). You are a target of thieves?

9. Buiding Your Second City
Once you hit 450 population in your first city you will be ready to settle your second city. To do this you must first have completed 'Pioneering' city research which costs 1200 RP and takes about 12 hours to complete. You can actually complete this research very early in your gaming experience; however you may struggle to do so unless you have been sent a large amount of books. Once you have completed this research you should start training your settler as soon as possible. They cost 15000 gold, 8 horses, 20 beer and 10 saddles each to produce and require 4 days to train! Don't leave yourself having acquired the required population but having to wait a further 4 days to found your second city. Also if you are considering relocation of your capital now would be the time to do it before you send your settler. Read the information on city relocation below! Take some time to look for a good spot but get to a decision as early as you reached 450 pop.




City relocation/founding of a new city

The article is from the Voice of the Republic (4. February 2012), the independent newspaper of the Old Republic (some links added):

Feature Article: Things to Consider – City Settlement
By Janosch & Stephens

For new players it is very difficult to evaluate where to build a city or relocate your capital to. Some players even recommend not to do it at all. And in fact you should not move your capital if you do not know what you are doing. There is not a more important long term decision, since it can be costly to correct at a later stage. You should therefore think carefully about that decision and ask for advice. The decision is made more complicated because it is nigh impossible to find a perfect location, and often one has to make a sacrifice somewhere. This is the first in a series on the tactics of Illyriad and will hopefully encourage debate on such issues.

1. Sovereignty
The concept of sovereignty may appear difficult at first, but it isn't. It allows you to claim the squares around your city as your own, which allows you to build sovereign structures on them. Sovereign structures provide a bonus to your city. The most common use of soverignty is to build farmsteads, which provide a food production bonus. This is beneficial because city size is usually limited only by the ability to produce enough food(see also here and here). With this in mind, some squares offer a larger bonus than others. This bonus is based on the number of food tiles a particular square has. Hover over a square to see this. Ideally, you would have 2 or 3 squares with 6-7 food immediately adjacent to your city. This provides a larger bonus, which means you won't have to claim as much sovereignty (remember that claiming sovereignty is expensive!). There are some guides about sovereignty here, here and here.

Something else to consider when settling is that you cannot claim sovereignty on some squares. For example, water, volcanic peaks, lakes, and swampland are all "impassable" and you cannot claim sovereignty on them. If these squares are very close to your city, this means you will have to expand your claims outward more (which is also expensive). In general, you want to be able to claim sovereignty on all of the squares immediately around your city, and at least one or two that are two squares away.

2. Resource Distribution
When settling a city, you likely want it to either have balanced resources or to have 7 food. Having a balanced resource distribution is beneficial in the short-term, as you're less likely to lack any specific resources, but having a city on a seven food square is more beneficial in the long term. Large cities often have a surplus of resources, but may lack the food required to sustain their size. As such, 7 food squares are highly recommended.

When moving a city, note that using Tenaril's Spell of Ultimate Transportation does not change the resource distribution of your capital. Exodus, on the other hand, does adopt the new resource distribution.

3. Defence
There is a military bonus that depends on the terrain. Mountains favour ranged units and nimble spearmen, and penalise cavalry heavily. Attacking swordsmen are also hampered by the passes, gullies and canyons that make frontal assaults more difficult. Hills also benefit ranged units and spearmen to a lesser extent, but still penalise cavalry (to a lesser extent). Swordsmen are largely unaffected by hilly terrain. Forests penalise ranged units and cavalry due to the foliage, but swordsmen and spearmen love all the opportunities for cover and ambush. Plains provide the opportunity for cavalry to shine - their ability to manoeuvre makes them the masters of open flat space. Lightly armoured spearmen dislike the open terrain of plains, where they are easier targets for cavalry and archers.

Think about “if the worst happens”: the worst is probably that someone will try to siege your city. This requires an attacker to take up a position on an adjacent square to your settlement, and if they do, you will want to attack them – so think about whether you are happy attacking the squares immediately around you. For example, if you want to build a cavalry army, don’t put your settlement next to a mountain – a siege camp can just sit on that mountain, knowing that your cavalry will be at a disadvantage attacking them. You're at an advantage if you build just one type of military per city, so if you want to build cavalry, you should choose a plain to build your city upon surrounded only by plains. Particularly due to the new buildings and the just described mechanism, it is worth it to concentrate on just one kind of military unit per city and one kind of terrain surrounding your city.

Another thing to consider is the use of the arctic, desert, and jungle warfare college. They give a defence and attack bonus on those terrains. Therefore, it would be beneficial to make sure that your city does not straddle two different types of terrain (jungle and desert, for instance), as the bonus will only apply to one of these terrains (unless you build another building).

4. Politics
The political surrounding is important but very hard to evaluate. Where are players that will send you resources? Where are other Republicans? Do you want to be in a cluster with your alliance? Are my new neighbours friendly towards me and my alliance? Some players will not like it if you settle too close to them and may have planned to use your square, or the squares around it for sovereignty claims. For example, Harmless? does not allow new cities to be settled closer than 10 squares to an existing H? city. It's good practice to send your new neighbours a welcome message and to settle a good distance away from them.

Also consider the factions controlling the area you're going to settle in. While they are still under development, you will want to avoid hostile factions, such as the Melders (who have a -80 standing for all races; to put that into perspective, at -75, they will "actively seek out and try to destroy cities within a certain radius of faction hub.")

5. Proximity
You have to consider the proximity of your cities to one another when placing your cities. Some prefer cities which are very tightly packed (take a look at the area around 207,-219). This is good for deference, because resources can easily be transferred between cities as needed in minutes and any attacker would be vulnerable to attack from any of the nearby cities. However, widely dispersing cities is also beneficial because it allows easier access to areas across the map. Some prefer their cities relatively close to each other, but still quite dispersed, with an hour or two between each city. There is no right answer to which one is best, and a combination of these settlement patterns are possible. However, it is something you have to consider before settling.




FAQ:

When should I build an army?
The_Dude recommends avoiding army building until you are around 450 pop. So you can focus on growing your city very early on. I think that sounds reasonable, but it might be better to wati a little longer. You should consider very carefully whether it is smart to attack an active player.

Can I cancel build or research items in my queues?
No.

Can I speed up research?
No

Can I speed up building construction?
Yes, but you should wait spending your prestige. It is not cost effective to spend it at the beginning. The build time for some of the higher level buildings can literally take days to complete....

What are the purple/pink circles on the world map?
You will see animals/monsters and army encampments on the world map that have a purple/pink circle around them. These are Non-Player Combatants (NPCs) and are static targets for players to kill. The squares on which they spawn are referred to as NPC nodes and there are many different types. They do not attack you. If you want to attack them you can scout them before you send armies to ascertain numbers and troop strength. Every six hours the NPC nodes respawn either a new NPC or resources for harvesting.

What are Mysteries?
Mysteries are special sites around the world map which when visited correctly can give you an added gaming boost. Some mysteries are:

• The Ancestral Statue Mystery (Solved)
  
• The Steamtastic Brewery (Solved)
  
• The Temple of Reason (Solved)
  
• The Heart of Corruption (Unsolved)
  
• The Fortune Teller Mystery (Unsolved)
  
• …

What happens when I have negative food (or resource) production then run out of food (or other resources)?
Your buildings will collapse in the order you have finished them until your production is positive again. You should definitely avoid this!

Some players say it is not possible to specialise as not all buildings have been released now. Which things should I think about that are not implemented now?
Illy changes constantly. I strongly agree with Rill: ‘’I was given very good advice by a veteran player when I started playing: Play Illy as it is now, not as it might be someday. I've been playing Illy for seven months, and my experience says that not even the developers can be sure about the details of unreleased changes. Their plans may be altered because things that seemed like a good idea at the time didn't work out. So it's better not to plan in detail for things that may not be released for a long time -- or ever.’’



Thanks to all players that assisted in the creation of this guide (also those not mentioned above). Thanks to Stephens for review!



More will be added!!!

Thought I'd go point by point to help you with this. It is quite good!


What you need to know at the beginning:

1. Complete the tutorial
You get a basic understanding of the interface and mechanics of Illyriad and you will receive a gift.
This is perhaps a little redundant. If they've already joined Republic, they've probably finished the tutorial.

2. Change your tax rate to 0%
If you increase your tax you will earn more gold (you do not need gold when you're starting out!) and less resources (you do need these, though!). Later (when you produce 1000-2000 clay/wood/iron/stone per hour) you may alter the tax rate. Keep in mind you can only change it once every 24 hours!

3. Visit Global Chat (GC) and never be shy asking for help
Many large players routinely send new players resources and goods with no expectations other than you become a worthwhile member of the community. Tell them how much of what resources you need. Also you can ask questions in GC. Do not troll in the GC! In addition, you can ask the Republic in alliance chat for help and we will provide substantial support.

4. Upgrade your storehouse
It should be high priority to upgrade your storehouse (and later the sarehouse, which you can start to build if you have a level 15 storehouse) to increase the amount of basic resources you can hold. This allows more substantial resource shipments to your city to help you grow; if you can only hold 2000 of each resource, that's all we can give!

5. Increase your resource production
Since begging at GC is not what you want to do all the time, you should increase wood/clay/iron/stone production. Always watch your food requirements because buildings will collapse if you run out of consumed resources.

6. Build your library and start research
You need a library to produce research points and complete research. If you are lucky an older player will send you some books you can convert to research points. This will enable you to research at the start without having to wait for points to amass. You should aim to get you library up to about level 12 as quickly as possible. At this level you can produce enough research points to research continuously.

7. Build your architect's office soon!
As I said: Building time is the main constrait of growth. From my perspective one of the most important buildings for new players is the architect office, as it helps you to level up your buildings more quickly. Build this instead of building a vault.

8. What should I DEFINITELY not do?
A. Start to promote commanders without carefully thinking about it. Agree with this very much, but perhaps this should be broadened to "Don't build up a military"? How about: Militaries are very expensive and you should probably have a second city before having one. Once you do build one, make sure that you think carefully about what skill you want to put your commander's levels into.
B. Relocate your city or build a second city without carefully considering where you put it. If you do this too hastily, it will probably be the worst mistakes you can possibly do at the beginning (except for trolling in the GC)!
C. Attack other players (unless they are inactive).
D. Join an alliance that does not allow you to leave again. This is a little redundant if they're in TOR.
E. Build T2 buildings. There are some buildings that consume resources per hour (all those listed here except the Architect Office). You should wait to build them.
Particularly A. and B. are very important!!

9. Information for impatient players: Do not build any other buildings?
I disagree with this; other buildings can be built, especially if support is provided by the alliance. This paragraph is also quite contradictory: "you can for now forget about all other buildings!!!" and "there are some buildings that are worth to build". Instead how about a point by point of the advantages of each building and when to build them?
Apart from those mentioned above, the storehouse (and later warehouse), resource production sites (to produce positive food and 1000-2000 clay/wood/iron/stone), the library and the architect office, you can for now forget about all other buildings!!! That would be best for your long-term growth prospect!!! You think that is a bit boring? I agree! I also was impatient. From my perspective there are some buildings that are worth to build and start levelling them up (I provide more information about them below):
*Market: Is good for harvesting (and later trading) and therefore similar to resource production. Try to get this to level 12. It allows for caravans to hold 1000 resources, which makes harvesting much more efficient.
*Mage Tower: This is the cheapest and easiest way to defend yourself as a new player! You should first research the Runes school of magic. Then, activate the strongest rune you have available to protect yourself.
*Common Ground: Cows are the most valuable trading goods you can produce. Sell them to get cash!
*Tavern & Brewery: You need beer (produced in the Brewery) and the Tavern to start accepting quests.
*Barracks: Can be levelled up to start researching the military tree. However, don't build up your military until you have a second city.
*Consulate: It is also recommended to start upgrading your Consulate. This increases your warning radius for incoming diplomat attacks and makes diplomat units available to you. In addition, it unlocks researches which can help you to identify your attacker (if you find yourself being attacked by diplomats).
*When you have levelled up your clay/wood/iron/stone/food production sites to level 7, you can research a certain technologies that allow you to build the stone mason, foundry, carpentry, flourmill and klin. These buildings also increase your resource production. But they are properly more expensive and can wait. Once you have high resource production, start building these to unlock the ability to build tier two resources. The stone mason will allow you to build walls and later the siege workshop (you will only have a benefit with a level 20 Barack!). The level five foundry will allow you to build the blacksmith and if you level this to level 10 the forge.
*The Forge and Blacksmith allow you to produce advanced resources you will need to build up your army later. It might be worth to level up those buildings, although it would be better to read some more information on building armies.

City relocation/founding of a new city
Do NOT move your capital or found your second city until you know what you are doing! There are many things to think about. Some players even recommend not to do it at all. I do not agree with that perspective. I moved my capital when I founded my second city and was happy with that decision. New players start relatively close to the centre of the map. It is crowded and likely not a good spot for your capital. I think it is an advantage to have your cities close to each other for defence and to quickly exchange resources. Since you will not find good spots for new cities close to your first city, it is good to plan ahead. There are two ways to relocate your city that you can find in your castle. If you've decided where to move, use Tenaril's spell. You can only use the spell once and only on your capital. It is also not possible to relocate via the spell, closer than 10 squares to an existing city of an active player. The Exodus technology is VERY costly (all your buildings are levelled down to level 12). Therefore, if you use the spell it will be expensive to correct a possible mistake. It is a lot of work to find a good place. But it will be very advantageous once you've moved your city! The main criteria to choose a location of a city are:
1. Sovereignty: Sov appears difficult for new players. It is not. The basic concept of sov: You can claim sov and build sov structures on the squares next to your cities and exploit the resources on those squares. E.g. If you hover your mouse over a square on the map, you will see: Square A: 6 Wood, 4 Clay, 5 Iron, 3 Stone, 7 Food or Square B: 2 Wood, 2 Clay, 5 Iron, 2 Stone, 14 Food [You would not be able to settle on this square] or Square C: 5 Wood, 5 Clay, 5 Iron, 5 Stone, 5 Food or … If you build a sov structure (in this example a farmstead level one – and I recommend to primarily look for food!!!), on Square A/B/C you will receive a bonus of (twice that food amount in percentage) 1.4/2.8/1.0 % to your food production. Therefore your city can grow more than without sov (see also here and here. Sov is expensive and you will most likely not do it more than two or three squares away from your cities. It is only worth doing it when you are large (min 10000 pop). But it is important to choose a good spot now (particularly for your new cities as you cannot use the spell). There are some guides about sov here, here and here. In summary, you want to try to find a position with squares that have 6 or 7 food (or more!) around them.

I found the above paragraph quite confusing, so I rewrote it:
The concept of sovereignty may appear difficult at first, but it isn't. It allows you to claim the squares around your city as your own, which allows you to build sovereignty structures on them. Sovereignty structures each provide their own bonus to your city. In particular, city size is often limited by the ability to produce enough food, and as such, you'll be claiming squares to build farmsteads on (farmsteads provide a food production bonus). With this in mind, some squares offer a larger bonus than others. This bonus is based on the number of food tiles a particular square has. Hover over a square to see this. Ideally, you would have 2 or 3 squares with 6-7 food immediately adjacent to your city. This provides a larger bonus, which means you won't have to claim as much sovereignty (remember that claiming sovereignty is expensive!).
2. If you build a new city or use the exodus it try to put it on a city which already has 7 food. This provides you with more farms, further increasing your food production.
3. Defence is also very important: There is a military bonus that depends on the terrain. Mountains favour ranged units and nimble spearmen, and penalise cavalry heavily. Attacking swordsmen are also hampered by the passes, gulleys and canyons that make frontal assaults more difficult. Hills also benefit ranged units and spearmen to a lesser extent, and still penalize cavalry, but also to a lesser extent. Swordsmen are largely unaffected by hilly terrain. Forests penalise ranged units and cavalry due to the foliage, but swordsmen and spearmen love all the opportunities for cover and ambush. Plains provide the opportunity for cavalry to shine - their ability to manoeuvre makes them the masters of open flat space. Lightly armoured spearmen dislike the open terrain of plains, where they are easier targets for cavalry and archers.
Think about “if the worst happens”: the worst is probably that someone will try to Siege your city. This requires an attacker to take up a position on an adjacent square to your settlement, and if they do, you will want to attack them – so think about whether you are happy attacking the squares immediately around you. (Example: if you want to build an cavalry army, don’t put your settlement next to a mountain – a siege camp can just sit on that mountain, knowing that your cavalry will be at a disadvantage attacking them. See here. It is properly an advantage if you build just one type of military per city. If you want to build cavalry, you should choose a plain to build your city upon surrounded only by plains. Particularly due to the new buildings and the just described mechanism, it is worth to concentrate on just one kind of military unit per city. The above link also implies, as the Arctic/Desert/Jungle Warfare Collage give defence and attack bonus on those squares. Therefore it appears beneficial not to build your city on the edge between a desert and a jungle.
4. And finally the geopolitical surrounding is important but very hard to evaluate. Where are players that will send you resources? Where is your alliance? Does your alliance has a settlement strategy? Do you want to be in a cluster of your alliance and what will your alliance do if you want to leave? Are my new neighbours friendly towards me and my alliance? Some players will not like it, if you settle too close to them and eventually even plan to use sov squares they are planning to use. E.g. Harmless? does not allow new cities to be settled closer than 10 squares to an existing H?-city. In general I would recommend to contact your new neighbours first.

More will be added!!!

Thanks again. I have adopted most things. I think there might be two misunderstandings.

This is the first and most important information for new players. It should be as short as possible and contain only the most important information. The city settlement stuff I have only added as I have recognised that demand is large. Players need to read it before they have pop 100. Later additional information shall be released step-by-step and people shall read it periodically. To provide all important information at once (like in previous guides) will only confuse new players. Therefore it is not complete now.

And the information shall be rather directed to all players of Illy. But to put a focus to the Republic is a good idea.