1. Becoming a colony, First off, If you haven't played before, i highly advise you to do the tutorial and not skip it.

The first thing you'll want to do is build structures, if you don't donate, here's a good strategic mini structure guide for you :3 build these structures to the levels here; Irrigation to level 3, metal mine to level 3 (then you can give commands to your units), oil well level 1 or 2, Only build the barracks; as infantry have a 25% bonus hit towards light vehicles, and also have no weakness except for concussive units of course. and build up to Damage upgrade; be ahead of the game when attacking people at the beginning of the round, as most other colonies are likely to have only amour units. Leave the rest until you have spare recourses.

When conquered, stay conquered until you have an army that you think will not be killed so easily by your enemy, then when you think the time is right, rebel; via clicking on the colony.

Next step is find an alliance, an alliance is a big help, without them you'd find getting conquers could be quite hard as you may not have any gates. Gates are also a big help because you can move your squads from gate to gate instantaneously for a small sum of energy (depending on the eta). Your alliance is also bound to have a good radar view so you can see what's happening around you, for e.g. If you were going to conquer someone outside of your radar view, but someone else was attacking them.. You'll be accused of sniping, and trust me... No one likes a sniper.

To become a decent player and to be fairly high ranked, I advise you to stay active, or you'll most probably be kicked from your alliance.

a good way of getting more recourses is boosting, It helps a lot, especially when you're in trouble if someone's attacking you.

P.s. Thought i would let EVERYONE in on a little Battle tactic, everyone says that 20 range units and 10 armour units are the best, or 7 range tanks and 3 armour tanks. Wrong, 20 damage units and 10 armour or 7 damage tanks and 3 armour tanks actually have the exact same effect, and also damage cost less to build than range which makes it fairly economical ^_^. Try it now in the battle simulator if you don't believe me.

THE END

Also, Seth if you're reading this; it's actually my birthday on july 6th xD

Ok so I read this and it got me interesting and I started to question my ratios as well as my ratios. I'm pretty sure that you never mentioned that Vehs have a 25% increase against tanks. Here's what I have found (expect more replies because I am continuing to experiment). Ok, so you say that Damage with a 7:3 (in tanks) is the same as a Range 7:3 (in tanks). Not 100% percent true. Going against my ratio in Vehs of 10 Range 4 Armor 1 Damage (10:4:1) it is NOT the same. They both die... but the range does more damage. In the end of the Damage 7:3 ALL of the tanks die and they kill 1 armor Veh. On the other hand, the Range 7:3 loses ALL units as well but does a bit more damage. It will kill 2 armors and not 1 making it have the edge over MY ratio... but not by much.

Also, some who think that throwing a damage unit in their squads will do much... are in MY CASE wrong. I don't have enough time on my hand to check other combos but my current tank ratio vs veh ratio is the same result as the 7:3 ratio of tanks vs 10:4:1 ratio of vehs. The one damage made NO difference whatsoever. 2 Armors still died and all tanks still died. This is what I have found. Others reply beneath me please want to hear what you have to say.

I'm not sure this guide is too helpful compared to others.

But this point in particular is the same tired old nonsense. If you built damage units in a successful alliance, you would be kicked pretty quickly as all your units would be dead.

Firstly, good players will ensure they outnumber you every time. So with your damage units, you're letting your enemy get a free shot in before you even start on his armour. Your enemy will know you have damage units and will plan to wipe you out in the 1st round.

In large alliance battles, you will helpfully act as a meatshield for your comrades, getting cheerily wiped out before their range units get touched. However, you sending damage units in on a massed attack will probably help your alliance to lose the fight.

Damage units are equal to range units BY ROUND 6. You will be dead a long time before round 6 against a good opponent.

This isn't opinion, it's fact. Guides for new players need accurate facts if they are going to be helpful.