- Try to place your starting dwellings next to others, or in places you think they would like to start. Ideally, your starting position would be somewhere next to another player who is far away from your faction on the terrain color wheel, and not next to factions who want the same tiles that you do.

- Only use three workers to dig if it's a really important place. It's very rarely that important (basically never, particularly in the early game.) You can probably use the workers to build something else that will be better in the long run.

- Don't take favors with three cult steps on them in the first half of the game. Sure, they can give you something nice right now, but it's usually not worth it compared to the long term gains of all other favors.

- The bonuses on each round are very useful. Try to plan your game so that you can build your buildings at times that give you the most bonuses and points.

- The cult trackers are most useful when you can gain power and extra bonuses from the round tracker. Position your cult bonuses so that you can make the most of the limited priests you have.

- Earth1 is extremely overrated, do not always rush it. Almost always, double spade and an economic favor is better round 1 than earth1. (This is somewhat contentious... Taking Earth 1 early is still generally a safe choice.)

- In the first two rounds, the spade power actions are particularly valuable. In most games, you should really try to get the double spade action in one of the first two rounds (or get 2-3 spades in some other way without spending workers.) Most factions have access to several free spots for dwellings if you dig (and utilize shipping or related powers) optimally.

- In later rounds (3 - 6), the 7 coin power action is especially valuable. You should try to take it at least a couple of times throughout the game.

- It's powerful to build one temple in round 1. This gains you an income of five priests, in addition to a strong income favor tile or a way to gain some points such as Earth 1 or Water 1. A second temple early can also be very good (or if you're playing Engineers, absolutely necessary.)

- While many of the strongholds can be really powerful, it's almost always better to build a temple before you build a stronghold. (The notable exceptions are Swarmlings and Giants.)

- Pay attention to the bonus tiles that are available in the game. Certain factions might really want to advance shipping early, and so they'll be more likely to make good use of the shipping scoring tile. (Mermaids, alchemists, and the red factions, for example.) Sometimes it's worth it to pass early or try to outlast someone in a round to gain or deny someone else a bonus tile.

- Don't be afraid to burn power early. Burning power to as low as seven in the first couple of rounds is perfectly acceptable. (7 - 9 power is a safe range for the early rounds.) It's best not to burn below six power early on, however.

- While playing, you should be thinking about getting towns along the way. Try to set up positions so that you can get three towns. Ideally, you'll build your first temple where you think your 3 hex town might go. For the other two towns, try to secure areas of 4 contiguous hexes with a neighbor or two.

For more tips, visit the the Basic Guide on BGG: [1]