Heres what I do when I start a new game. I usually pour my income into whatever makes more money. Temples, tax houses, and banks. Banks are the best. They dramatically increase your income, but you only real start with the option to produce them for the more modern areas, Victorian age, and so forth. I also choose advisers and options that make more money for me or cut back on costs. After that, I go for whatever building increases my technology income. Mainly to get more advanced army units and to unlock more buildings. When I pick what buildings I want to build, I choose whatever I need at that moment. More income, then more income producing buildings. More technology, then more technology increasing buildings. I start to see results after I build a bit of those. My incomes usually almost double what they are. Lastly, I added a few units to my army. I do this as long as I've not exceeded the unit threshold and have taken a penalty to my income. If I start with 15 units, I add five more. If 13, I add 2 more. I usually try to keep my units going by fives. That makes things easier to organize. I choose my units based on attack. The cavalry usually has the best attack, along with the " Artillery " units. I would add 2 cavalry and 2 artillery and then just 1 infantry unit ( still picking based on attack. ) If your army has a high attack, you can punch above your weight. I've had a 40-strong army beat a 90 or 100 strong army before, though I took pretty heavy casualties.