Ultimatly Build 8 castles ...thats it at its most basic level

Since I just bought Castles and played it for the first time, I have found building 1 Castle in the first edition of the game results in the game ending.
It took me about 10-12 tries but I finally finished my first castle.
Happyloaf, what made it work for was two simply things:
1. Keep the Tax rate to one less then the top level. You can also impose a monthly tax that helps out by setting the Arrow and clicking in the little box.
2. When building your castle, you must Click on each section of the wall or tower you placed (i.e. each section is considered a separate part of the wall), and apply workers to it.
Make sure you have hired the maximum number of workers, as each section can only have 90 workers maximum applied to them.
I hope this helps.

one castle is pesant level. just to get you into the mood
need to go up to prince level before the REAL meaty campaign starts
also max number of builders is not always the best option apart from peasent level when money is no object
during the real game you do have to think of money so you can get a mix of castle builders. and you will be given an overal idea from poor to superb ( i think)
So you might find yourself like this...1000 workers ..satisfactory mix...average 40 days to compete a piece of wall but the cost of those workers will bankrupt you in a year ( you also need to pay your army as well ..and of course the messagers might want some money as well)
on the other paw...you CAN get a fantastic mix of workers so you only have say 300 workers but they take 20 days per piece. this saves money in the long run
oh and the levy taxes piss off your population...the people will rise up and then you will not get your BIG tax at the end of the year.
so dont do it that much