A couple of ideas: For beginners, although there is the archive, the forum and friends I remember being shy of not looking like an idiot. One of the hardest things to master is production chains. Why not have two new characters? The town crier who comes on rings a bell and shouts "Oyez" to alert a new player that there is a problem. The player can then try and figure it out or go and consult the Wise Woman, where for a fee of coins/wood/meat whatever, they get a cryptic clue "Look you to the woodsmen" or somesuch. For more experienced players, we all evolve from basic generals to hopefully Field Marshalls, could we have some kind of trade up where for say 4 generals you could get a battle experienced general and so on?