There are many different ways to play this game. Some of the advice is pertinent to one style but not necessarily all of them.

Building a school in Rupert’s Land is unlikely to result in unmanageable unrest.

England has so many farms that you hardly need to worry about exempting them.

On the tax tab of each region it will tell you what town is developing and how long it will take at the current rates.

Chances are you will end up with a Gentleman or two in North America, schools or no schools so if you have a place for them to go it is all for the better.

In ETW all of the trade nodes in a given trade area are the same. Both the areas off of Africa have Ivory. South America has Sugar and the East Indies has spices. Other than that you have plantations or trading posts in other regions, as I am sure you have seen.

You can put any number of ships in a fleet on the trade nodes with ever diminishing returns. I think it was decided that 13 trade ships still pay for themselves but more are rather wasted. You need a few warships with them anyway.

Alliances work much better in NTW than in ETW. In Empire they may be more of a hindrance than a help. Chances are you will end up with very few friends anyway and making alliances just gets you into wars.

Just wait until Sweden, Prussia, or Poland declares war on the 13 Colonies.

If you only worry about your required regions in North America it will be fine. The more developed areas are better. South America and the Caribbean are also good once you are at war with Spain.

Larger trade partners are better than small ones. Russia may be the best for you but they can be difficult at times.

Morocco makes a good staging area vs. Spain and has ports near the trade areas.

If you are good at naval battles you can make a lot of money catching pirate fleets and selling off the ships.

You may want to blockade and capture their islands fairly early on, however.

Trade techs with anyone you can. You can usually stay a head of the race after you get your schools up and running. You only get 6 Gentlemen now and not the 12 you once got in the earlier versions of the game.

I don’t know if there was ever a table done of all regions and the towns they develop. You would have to do a bit of searching.

I hope that answers most of you questions. I hope it helps.