

That's something you can build off of! In a pinch, someone with a couple ranks of influence (the little green wreaths) will do. If you need governors, look for somebody with a ranking of one or two in management. Your daughters will bring home all sorts of rubbish - say no to anyone with no worthy skills. Great Governors are Born and Made But where do you get good governors from? And how do you make characters better at city management? Here are some tips for finding good governors:

Note how he improves trade income and how his influence keeps the people happy. It pays, then, to have governors in all your important cities - even if they're lousy. Having a governor in a city also has another advantage: when you bring in slaves from conquered provinces, only cities with governors get the extra population. So all things equal, it's better to have a governor in place who knows what he's doing. Cities are capable of running themselves without a governor, although managing taxes and public order will be trickier. The more scrolls the better: he'll be able to keep taxes higher and people happier. Those little white scrolls next to a character's name indicate how good he'll be at governing a city. Ungoverned Cities Any named character - a family member or general - can be a governor of a city. Later in the game city management matters less (if you accept the fact that large empires are going to get messy, you'll spend more time enjoying the later game and less time micromanaging.) But it's always good to know the basics. Early in the game good city management is crucial: you want to keep your major cities growing and your taxes flowing. It starts with your cities, from whence comes all of your revenue and troops.

Let's skip all the stuff about how to start the game or how to move your units around and dive right into the meat of winning this sucker.
