[*]First town build orders: what building or unit should I produce first, what second, what third, and so on?
For the initial town, the build order I usually start with is something along the lines of: Granary, Shrine, Marketplace, Farmer's Market, Library. This gets your population going as quickly as possible. Then I would probably get to work on my military. It does depend on what I've encountered in the mean time. If I'm on an island alone, I don't have to worry as much. But, if I've encountered another wizard, you'll need to really start working on your army.
[*]First two units' orders: should they go out exploring? Are they strong enough to take any kind of neutral guards? Does patrolling a city offer any kind of bonus?
I have them split up, and explore in different directions. Have them search for and explore points of interest (caves, dungeons, ruins, etc.); some are unguarded. Usually, they are not able to take on much by themselves, but you kind of have to experiment to find the relative strengths of the different units.
If you have high Sorcery, you probably have a chance against some neutral towns, if you are not on Myrror (the really brown plane), Generally, I find that one unit of Phantom Warriors can destroy one low level, melee unit of a neutral's army. Chaos can work well here, too, as Hell Hounds are surprisingly decent low level units - 2 movement, fire breath, and good hit points. Skeletons are virtually immune to non-magic missile attacks, so they can be useful there.
Two units (non-hero, non-summoned) can reduce unrest by one level, which effectively removes one rebel from a city. Other than that, and for defense against attackers, there isn't any bonus.
[*]Mana allocation: 100% research, 100% pool, 100%, or a moderated combination? Research first and cast later, or cast first and research second?
Unless I *really* need mana, I shift it all away from mana, and put it into research and skill. Usually its weighted a bit more toward research than skill. You can always use alchemy to create mana, which I've always found to be adequate. But, you can't ever 'buy' research or skill, so I try to hit it as hard as possible.
[*]Settlers: when and why?
If you've found a good location, its probably best to go as soon as possible, as long as you think you can defend it. Use the Surveyor (F1) to get more details on the benefits of each location, and to make sure you can build there. Cities must be more than a certain distance away from one another in order to be able to build.
Mostly I will create some once my initial town is fairly established. Probably around 8-10 population, where the number of turns required to create it is pretty low. I want to make sure I can defend my current towns, as well as the new one, if necessary.
[*]Fielding an army: what's the fastest way? Summoning stuff? How do I get the MP to summon creatures early? Or using town-produced grunts is a better way?
I usually wait to build up much of an army until I really need one. It mostly depends on your race and spell book choices. Good low-level racial units are:
- Halfling Slingers
- Gnoll Wolf Riders
- Elven Longbowmen
- Lizard Men Javelineers and Dragon Turtles
- Dark Elf Spearmen (all Dark Elves have a ranged attack)
While there are certain strategies for bringing out a strong, summoned unit early, summoning is generally a bit expensive at the beginning. However, a Magic Spirit scout can be very useful. They're low cost, fast (2 movement over any terrain), and can move over water. Have them search for unguarded points of interest, scout for neutral cities and wizards, etc. Some summons can be cast in combat, which can help bolster a weak stack.
Probably a quick way to generate mana is to up your tax rate and alchemy the gold into mana, and shift your resources to magic resource pool to mana. However, understand that not only do you have to pay the initial cost, but there's a mana upkeep as well. Dark Rituals can also create mana pretty fast. Some races (eg. Elves) also create mana based on their population.
Some heroes can also be good here. B'Shan, while statistically weak, is a Noble - no upkeep and generates 10 gold per turn. He pays for himself after 10 turns, and after that its just gravy. Spellcasting heroes add half their spellcasting skill to your skill when they are in your home town, which enables you to cast spells faster. Zaldron is a sage, which adds to your research. You can use the summon spell to call a hero and/or select the 'Famous' ability when creating your character to help bring in more heroes. A cheap tactic is to save your game just before completing the summon spell, and reload if you get one you don't want.
[*]Town rebels: fastest way of getting rid of them? How should I avoid them?
At the default tax level (1.0, as I recall), you will gain 1 rebel for every 5 population you have. The absolute fastest, but probably the worst in the long run, way to reduce unrest in all your cities is to reduce tax rate. Some rebels will probably disappear immediately, but your gold income will plummet.
Conquering neutral cities will invariably cause unrest in the conquered city. Each race has a relationship with each other race, which determines how well they get along. Dark Elves and Klackons are hated by everyone, and halflings get along well with pretty much all the others. You can raze a city when you first conquer it, if you don't want to deal with it. However, you are only given this option once, when the city is conquered (ie. you can't decide to do it later, unless you reconquer the city). Unless you're desperate for a city, if the city is in a bad location, or they're Klackon and you are not (which creates lots of unrest), I'd just raze it.
Probably the best, general solution is to create religious buildings (Shrines, Temples, Parthenons, Cathedrals); they remove one level of unrest, and provide mana. Not all races have the capability to build all of these, though. A few other buildings reduce unrest, as well. The Animist's Guild and Oracle, I believe. Some spells can reduce unrest (eg Just Cause, and the extremely overpowered Stream of Life), while some others can increase it (eg. Armageddon and a lot of Death spells).
A temporary solution is to create a Settler. Reducing a city's population removes the rebel, as it drops below the threshold where a rebel is created. Once the population goes back up, though, they will come back (unless you've done something in the meantime).
Also, as mentioned earlier, military units can reduce unrest, which can be a good way to handle it. Unless you need to defend the town against attacks, use the cheapest units available, as it doesn't matter which type you use.
