I know that I cannot get likes nor awards for this, since you would need to own the game on Steam to "like" my guide. But I still like to share it with you here on GOG.com who also love to have their games DRM-free and share the same passion for games like me.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2971154168

Cheers ~

Thank you. This is my 1st 4X game and I'm not good at all. This looks helpful.

I was unsure if Story Realm 1 or the Initiation Realm was the easier of the two. Story Realm 1 felt like it might be easier but I don't know that it is intended to be.

I am unsure how to judge what to do with a new city. For example if I concurred it, when is it better to raise it vs assimilate it. Other than the city cap I am unclear how to judge if it would be a benefit or a strain to my resources.

I was also surprised when the ruler I had the strongest possible bond with immediately declared war on me when I tried for a magic victory. I had not realized that would happen. Is it not possible to win while still being friendly to another ruler?

Good questions! I will ponder whether I put some more information about those in my guide. For now allow me to have my take in attempting to answer those questions of yours!

The story realms are indeed easier than the tutorial realm. The tutorial realm resembles more an open sandbox in easy settings while the story realms are actually scripted to be easy. I would say the designers had originally only the initation realm intended as tutorial. I too feel that it seems somewhat out of order, or even unnecessary if you just play the story realms. But then some players might not start the story at all.

On the long run it is only the city cap which puts the greatest weight what to do with a conquered city. In short term it is playstyle dependent with these three main options

Absorb it into your empire, gaining instant access to the conquered lands but eventually leaves you with a lot of work in repairing and defending a weakened part of your empire. In worst case it is so badly managed that it will strain your economics early on, making it not worth without a large investment to keep the city.

Vassalize it, is the comfortable method. You get lowered income and no control about the kind of income it can produce for you, and it would not work as "recruitment center" like an actual city you own. But it is often the better choice unless e.g. you want a recruitment/teleport center at the frontlines during a war.

Raze makes only when you have to worry that the enemy might conquer it back and you have no means to hold it, or when you follow an aggressive playstyle which is accompanied by chaos perks which gives you extra benefits.

For example there is one perk which gives you +20 permanently gold income. Even if the city gets rebuilt by the enemy, razing it again and again and you get additional income no one can take away from you in addition to the boons an evil alignment brings.

When absorbing a city there can be the question: why should I choose which race to settle there? That would make only sense when you are the keeper of multiple races with multiple traits you want to prefer. E.g. your tough orcs make good brawlers, while the elves you conquered have keen sight, making them better archers. So you want to be able to recruit archers from their race when you can, while your defenders and shock troops are your standard orcs. Cliché, classic, but that is how it is.

Keeping the other NPCs friendly only works when you actually ally yourself with them with allied victory enabled. Otherwise it is standard gaming principle. Like when you play Risk without teams. No one can afford to let anyone win, and the moment someone is close to victory they become naturally prime target for everyone else.

OK. That's good to have confirmation about. It does seem odd to make a tutorial harder than the story "missions". Since it is first in the list I initially thought it should be the easiest. And based on the descriptions it does seem the devs intended it to be the first thing the Godir did. OK that makes sense. Thank you. I noticed good alignment improves the odds of positive random events. What bonus does evil give? OK I did not notice this option. Possibly it is not visible when you choose a pre-made realm.

Evil alignment gives you a malus on % based events, but offers in return more beneficial choices like e.g. instead of paying for something you can force them to make them pay you instead.

There is also the culture agenda with High, which gives with awakened units a significant battle bonus for evil aligned rulers. You could say it is similar like Chaos vs. Nature - one is better for the offense the other is better in defense. But they are very well balanced by the end of the day.