Hi all,

I play GA games and in these I like trading for the points and money it brings. So, I don't need to rush anyone and I can build up slowly. Yet, I like to take advantage of provinces that are rich for trade that rebel as I can take them over without causing a war! Often I look for oppotunities near my borders but also farther away.

The agents are great for keeping peace in your own land and causing trouble to go away. Causing rebellions also is sometimes fun, especially if you can get the rebels to attack another faction when the faction tries to invade. I use the rebel lands (the nonproductive ones, i.e. low on trade and with no valuable resource) as buffer zones so that ideally all my neighbors are rebels.

In addition, sometimes you can provoke attacks by not attacking. The AI doesn't like my looks and goes on a suicide rampage if it thinks I am ;

--too rich
--have too many provinces
--too close to his border
--disagreeable about making a treaty with it

Longer games allow you to use many units and managing the economy is a lot of fun (not that I don't like the battles too)!