Getting started

So you received an email from our GM Bob saying "Welcome to the game!", probably along with your first turnsheet. What to do next?

Do not open your turnsheet!

Seriously, don't do it. Make sure you're in a comfortable position, with no possibilities of falling backwards or sideways. Now open your turnsheet. Shocking, isn't it? Relax. Take a deep breath. We'll come back to the turnsheet later.

Diplomacy is a key, the Key, to this game so lets start there. Join the public board if you haven't done it yet and post an introduction about yourself and what nation you're playing. Go to the google-group you've just joinedforthe game and look for the latest Game Map and identify where your nation is located and who are its neighbours. While you're there read for the latest edition of The Planet (which can also be found in the same group) and take a look at the statistics. Come back here and read the rules in detail. Pester the GMs with whatever questions you have.

By now probably several players replied to your introduction. Some may have just said "Welcome aboard!", some may have given you some information regarding their nations. Reply privately to all of them (always check who the reply is being sent to, make sure you're not replying to the group) and also send emails to your neighbours. Ask them what nations they run if they didn't say, what relationship they had, if any, with your nation, which resources they normally have available for trade and which ones they need. Don't worry if you don't understand their replies, you will in time. What's important is that you're beginning to forge your first relationships in the game.

Dealing with your first turnsheet

The first step to deal with the turnsheet is to balance it. to do that take a look to the Gov-tab, the Areas-tab and the Builds-tab and make sure you're not building anything. Go to the Trade-tab and make sure you're not exporting anything. Finally, go to the Production-tab. Play around with production until no red cells appear. Check the Gov-tab and see if you can manage to end the turn with at least as many resources as you started. If you can't do that, identify which resources you need and try to trade them for resources you may have surpluses of (mind you, you can only trade by a merchantship, so you will need to have a coastal area with a port to built one. Your mining production (minerals, coal, iron and oil) is automated, just as your agricultural production (food, cotton, timber and raw) is automated. Then try to max out the production of your factories, steel mills and fuel refineries if you can. Manufactured resources are always worth more than natural resources and mineral resources more than agricultural ones. 

Although it is advisable to only focus in balancing the turnsheet during the first turn, you might be tempeted to build something. If you can't resist the temptation but you're unsure about what to build next, building a factory might be your best choice. Go to the Areas-tab and look for an area to build a factory, use the dropdown-menu in the yellow cell to select what you want to build in that specific area. Now go back to the Production-tab and see what happened. You probably now have several cells in red. See if you can balance your turnsheet again. if you can't, may be it'll be better to leave that factory for a better time. By now some players might have replied to your trade requests. If you reached to an agreement, go to the trade tab and input the quantity of the resources you want to send (named in the columns) in the row corresponding to your trade partner. make sure to allocate enough merchants (1 per resource, except cash) to deliver the traded resources.