I decided to give this mod a try after a long absence, and I seriously think that some kind of guide needs to be created for how to play using this mod, because I really really love the ideas behind it, but find it nearly impossible to play. Not how to "Install" but how to PLAY.
Yes, some kind of tutorial will be mandatory, and the UI should also provide enough information on the consequences of each action.
I don't plan to write a "how to play" or make tutorial videos yet, at this point in the development, the mod is still missing some core features that will affect the balance, and any "how to" will be obsolete after the addition of each feature.
Once the mod reach "alpha" state, when all core features are coded and linked together, then we can start tutorials.
But I can already provide advices about the beginning of the game with the mod current state.
You need either forest/jungle (for woods) or stone (the resource or plains/hills), and when founding a city look at the placement of its first citizen on the map.
If the first worked plot does not provide wood or stones (the plot tooltip should list the resources available on a plot), change it. If there is no wood or stones in the available plots for your first city, you may want to restart the game.
Depending on the available resource, my first building is either the carpenter (converting wood to material) or stonemason (converting stones to material).
In some cases I start with a cheap housing to help city growth (as the current version of the mod made it too easy to get food in the early game, but this will be tuned)
The city size affects the base production of material per turn, and now it also affects the number of wood/stones (and later copper/iron) that can be converted to material each turn.
If you manage to produce more material than you use, its price will go down.
Else it will be expensive, and building anything will cost you a lot.
I may add a project to boost material production for a few turns in a city to help this, and prevent you from being forced to build something that will both cost you and raise the prices at the same time.
At the beginning of the game, I alway try to place my first cities on the same river or the same coast, as they provide longer automatic trade routes than road (before you can build them...)
This way your first city once it has growed (and if you managed to start a good material production rate there) will be able to provide your other cities with material (and other resources), keeping the local prices low.
Tiles on the coast of a sea and the side of a long river are very good positions to place cities.
Canal cities linking two separate seas are also central hubs for commerce.
About commerce, external trade routes (automated or using trader units) are a good source of income, and diplomacy is defining the kind of trade (none at war, food only when denounced, food and luxuries when neutral, all except equipment when declared friends, all when allied)
Every traded resources on an external route will provide a small income based on the resource price (see the thread about resources for more information)
Your units (and their need in equipment for reinforcement/upgrade) can eat a lot of your treasury.
If you start building optionnal buildings that provide advanced equipment (war horses, armors,..) then the reinforcement/upgrade cost will raise (melee units with armor, mounted units and naval units have a high production/supply cost)
there are also two new policies that can be selected to get more gold based on your percentage of upper/middle class population in your cities.
