MULTIPLAYER GAMES

• Starting a game: From the main Conquests menu, select "Multiplayer".
   
• Once you have selected what type of game you want (Internet, LAN, etc.), you must change the Game Mode from "Standard" to "Scenario".
   
• In the player setup screen on the right, be sure that every human player selects a civ to play. Often, the default civ is a tribe from the regular game, not the scenario, so each player must manually select a civ to play. Very important: be sure to set all of the non-human player slots to "Computer".
   
• When playing Ultimate Shogun, the host must not forget to set the World Size, Land Mass, Water Coverage etc...
   
• All of the human players in a multiplayer game must have the Age of Shoguns mod pack installed.
   
• Leader portraits in AOS do not show emotions, so using the emote buttons will not work. So it is important to express your emotions through chat.

SINGLE PLAYER GAMES

• Starting a game: From the main Conquests menu, select "Civ Content", and choose a scenario to run.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Be sure to try all three of the AOS scenarios. Each has different rules, strategies, and objectives. Each scenario has a very different feel and offers a unique playing experience. Be sure to play all of the six major AOS clans. Each tribe has unique abilities. Some tribes have special  units that only they can build, and some have units they cannot build. Each clan will require a different strategy to win the game. If you play every tribe in every AOS scenario, you will experience 20 very different games.
   
• When you start a scenario and choose a clan to play, look for clans with an asterisk (*) in front of their names. These are the major clans. For example: *Tokugawa. There are also 8 minor clans. Minor clans do not have an asterisk in front of their names, and are not meant for human players.
   
• Your civilization will collapse if ALL your Shoguns are killed. For this reason it is important for your first Shogun to raise heirs. You raise heirs by building a Forbidden Palace or Imperial Retreat. A new Shogun heir appears in these structures every 100 turns. These new Shoguns can immediately be upgraded.
   
• Armies in AOS are handled much differently than in a regular Conquests game. In a regular game, the AI is unlikely to field armies against you. This is not the case in AOS. You no longer need a Great Leader to build an army. Armies are built like any other unit, when the technology becomes available. However, armies are expensive and cost population points to build. Civs that over-indulge in armies will find themselves population depleted, economically disadvantaged and quickly falling behind the tech curve.
   
• Armies have "defensive initiative". When they are attacked, they can inflict a small amount to damage to the attacker before they themselves suffer damage. These units can also cause "collateral damage" when attacking cities. For example, an Army attacking a city may destroy the city's barracks in addition to killing a unit.
   
• Minor tribes can not build Armies.
   
• When you are exploring and first meet a new civilization, pay close attention to what they say to you in the diplomacy screen. The diplomacy scripts in AOS have been customized to reflect the personalities and special abilities of the various civs.
   
• In addition to the normal special abilities of the civs (seafaring, religious, commercial, etc.), some new abilities have been added:
  1) Political Civs (Mori, Hojo, Uesugi) start with the Political Ambition tech, which along with Philosophy, allows Politics. Politics allows mutual protection pacts and trade embargoes. When a tribe achieves Politics, the entire map is revealed to them (and is also revealed to all other tribes). Tribes with Politics can also build the Den of Spies to carry out spy missions (non-political civs can't spy), and the Imperial Retreat (which serves as a 2nd Forbidden Palace). Shogun heirs are raised in these buildings, so generally a Political civilization will have more Shoguns.
  2) Agricultural civs have been given an additional advantage. They start with the Farming tech, an advance that can't be traded. Farming allows irrigation without adjacent water (wells and canals) and the building of Farming Co-ops, which allows city sizes over 15 fairly early in the game. Farming Co-ops also produce a peasant worker every 15 turns. Agricultural civs are able to grow bigger and faster and can generally support more Armies.

Check the online civilopedia to get full descriptions of the special abilities for all the civs.

• When you check your diplomacy advisor, you will see the banners of the opposing clans. These banners will show you your opponent's level of technology, as well as their mood. Colored rings around the portrait convey this information:
  Red ring: angry
  Orange ring: neutral
  Green ring: happy
  Grey ring: Pre-Sengoku Era
  Bronze ring: Early Sengoku Era
  Silver Ring: Late Sengoku Era
  Gold ring: Post-Sengoku Era
   
• Naval vessels in AOS do not have bombard capability. To attack an enemy ship you must board it. This is an all-or-nothing attack that will result in the destruction of one of the two ships. To board a vessel, simply move your ship into it, as you would when attacking with a ground unit.
   
• In the past, some players have been annoyed with the cultural aspects of Civ 3 because the biggest civ always had the highest culture. This has been changed in AOS. It is now possible for a small civ to have the highest culture. AOS offers several city improvements, such as the Tea Pavilion, which only offer a cultural benefit. Players who concentrate on these improvements can be culturally competitive with much larger civs. When building a wonder or improvement, be sure to note its cultural value.
   
• If you decide to go for a cultural victory, you will probably want to play the Oda. The Oda are culturally oriented and are difficult to compete against on this level.
   
• If you have large city with citizens to spare, or a smaller city with an immediate need, you may want to consider converting a citizen to a specialists. Here are the specialist bonuses:
  Geisha: +1 luxury
  Magistrate: +2 taxes
  Philosopher: +3 research
   
• Ethnically and geographically related clans have similar colors. For example, the warlike Tokugawa are red, and the neighboring and equally warlike Takeda are orange. When looking at shaded portions of the map, these colors can look the same, so be alert for this. You don't want to start a war with the wrong clan.
   
• In AOS, you need to build an Aqueduct for your city to grow beyond a population of 7 (an Aqueduct, however, is not necessary if your city is built alongside a freshwater source). You need to build a Farming Co-op (agricultural clans only) or an Imperial Farm to grow beyond a population of 15. Cities that already have a Farming Co-op should not build Imperial Farms.