Editing King of Dragon Pass (section)

====Keep Your Enemies Close====
At the start of the game, single out a neighboring clan or two as your personal whipping boy. Generally, pick a clan whose nature is alien to yours (such as slavers) or who will interfere with the eventual kingdom unification endgame (such as the duck-hating First Clan). If you are at war with anyone else at the start of the game, offer them horses and make peace ASAP. War is sub-optimal and you want to be at peace as long as possible with as many people as possible to keep your population from being wasted in battle. Remember, pre-Industrial, even pre-Classical, warfare involved a few masses of untrained men supporting a few elite warriors, and KoDP's combat system reflects that. If you fight too many battles and lose them or don't win them decisively, you may lose two to five of your elite Weaponthanes, but you'll lose dozens of men who, when they're not fighting, are your hunters, farmers, and herdsmen. You will lose agricultural and economic production with every death, and be much more vulnerable to counter-raids. Only raid when you're trying to prove a point, need more land, or your local warhawks start getting bored. Raid your whipping boy too much and they will migrate out of fear of you, and you'll be forced to find a new one.

To improve your skill at war you should have at least one councilor that is ''Excellent'' or better in Combat. The one with the highest combat score will automatically become your warleader and a combination of their Combat and Leadership skills will affect the random rolls you make in combat. Other factors will include the amount of magic assigned at the start of a year to War, free magic assigned to any battle, and the effect of various treasures you may discover or buy. Also, when traces of existential threats such as undead or Chaos show up, deal with 'em immediately, preferably under the direction of specialists. Your general is primarily improved by their partaking in Heroquests with respective foci in Combat and Leadership. Heroquests are also available for your Food specialists such as the one wherein they [[Lulz|pretend to be a cow]].

You've gathered by now that having food and winning battles are highly important and as such your magic should always be allocated for anything that improves these. With food and combat secure, your playthrough is set. Specific guides for Heroquesting, combat tactics, and tribe building are freely available elsewhere, though the game has so many options and events that you can freely experiment and try new things every playthrough.