Before you go and build a bunch of production facilities, build up a strong, positive budget balance. Then, build production structures until that balance gets close to zero. This way, you’ll never outstrip your cash flow.

2. Short Roads

Roads are the simplest and most important things you can build in a game. You want short, cobblestone roads; this will increase the speed with which you harvest goods. If your roads are long, it will take extra time for your resources to be gathered and stored. Also, you’ll usually find that you have surpluses of stone as you play. Put that stone to use and pave your roads with cobblestone; it makes your resource collectors move faster!

3. The ideal Housing Situation

As you play Dawn of Discovery, you’ll probably tinker with a lot of different housing layouts. The key is to waste as little space as possible; you always want the spaces between your roads to be two houses wide, so that you never find yourself in a position where you either don’t have enough room for a house, or you have a little too much room. As your civilization advances, you’ll need to squeeze as many houses as possible into the space you have.

4. Some Needs Are Wants

The extent to which you fulfill your inhabitants’ needs dictates whether they move onto the next social level, regress back to the previous level, or do nothing at all. So you could say that the things that will keep your inhabitants at their current level of advancement are the actual “needs,” while the things that would take them to the next level are really “wants.” The point is that you can only meet a fraction of your population’s needs and generally be okay. Nomads, for instance, say they need everything from mosques to milk to carpets. But those are the things that will allow them to become envoys; the only thing nomads really need are dates. As long as you provide those, nomads will keep moving in, and never move away.

5. Tower Power

It may look silly, but you don’t need to place watchtowers anywhere near a wall. Rather, you should put them on the field of battle. Towers are a great and cheap way to boost your damage, especially in defensive battles.

6. You Don’t Need to Connect Everything

When you first begin playing Dawn of Discovery, you’ll be tempted to try to connect everything with roads. You don’t need to do this. If a market building connects and stores a resource, that same resource is instantly stored at every market building. Depositing resources in market buildings is like depositing money in a bank that way; it isn’t actually stored in the ATM, it’s stored in the metaphysical pool of funds that is available from any ATM, or in this case, market building.

7. An Island Is Truly an Island

Your goods are shared between market buildings on any given island, but your goods are not shared between islands. So if you decide to start developing on one, you’ll need to supply it with goods from another until it becomes autonomous.

8. Speed the Game Up at Your Own Risk

One impulse, especially in difficult levels, is to speed the game up to see how you’re doing. This can sometimes be a tempting mistake: if there’s a flaw in your system, accelerating time may exacerbate it to the point that it becomes a major, crushing issue. In other words, sometimes patience can be a virtue.

9. On-Foot Deliveries

Many farm buildings, such as hemp plantations, crop fields, and herb gardens, don’t deliver their goods by road. Instead, they have workers who deliver their products to other production buildings as long as those buildings are in range. You’ll want to be aware of whether or not a building requires a road connection, because if it doesn’t, you’ll have a lot more freedom with its placement.

10. Auxiliary Fleet

This is a somewhat advanced tip, but the auxiliary fleet can be your best friend in a continuous game or a scenario. For nothing but honor, you can instantly order small fleets from both the Orient and the Occident. If you’re under attack and have no other defenses, auxiliary fleets can save your life!

For tons more helpful tips, tricks, and strategies, check out Prima’s official Dawn of Discovery strategy guide!

The Hint Book is a very bare bones introduction to the four new characters introduced in Street Fighter IV. These include Crimson Viper, El Fuerte, Abel and Rufus. Within the pages of the Hint Book you’ll find one combo for each, as well as a few special moves, all wonderfully drawn by Udon (the people behind some of the SF comic books).

As a collectible, the Hint Book is a must have for SF fans. The artwork is very nice and it has a comic book feel that you won’t find in the Official Strategy Guide (although you will find plenty of artwork). However, it’s in no way a replacement for the Strategy Guide. You won’t find any frame data, character strategies, general strategies, or anything remotely similar to these assets.

Hopefully that helps to clarify the difference between the two for people on the fence about choosing between them. Collectors will probably want to pick up both, while people looking to take their game to the next level, or simply learn the basics should opt for the Strategy Guide.

Now that I’ve covered that, I’m off to do some Soul Calibur IV training. I just came off of a displeasing 5th place finish at a regional qualifier over the weekend, so I need to ensure I do better at the next regional qualifier in San Diego this coming weekend.

Don’t forget about the $2,000 DEVASTATION Street Fighter IV tournament in June, or Evolution in July.

The layout is looking phenomenal; huge props to Jody for hooking up a stellar layout and using the high resolution Capcom artwork perfectly. I’m generally not a big fan of game artwork, but the SF4 art is really nice. In addition to the artwork scattered throughout the guide, there’s a small art section in the back with a few character montages.

I think this guide should appeal to the new players and the returning veterans. Coming from a Tekken and Soul Calibur background, I had to change the way I think about high level play. Playing a 2D fighter at high levels is very different from how a 3D fighter is played. But while I learned the differences (playing on a local SF4 arcade machine before heading to Capcom), it helped me develop the early chapters of the guide, informing newcomers about the intricacies of SF4.

For the advanced players, there’s a frame data index in the back of the guide. It only covers the 17 arcade characters, but it’s more than you’d find in most US-based strategy guides and the first time I’ve been able to include frame data in one of my fighting game guides. I ask for it every time because it’s something that high level players use regularly and something that I personally use religiously, but I always have to import a Japanese guide to obtain it. Now the SF players have it in the US SF4 guide.

The guide should be heading to the printer very soon to release alongside the game on Feb 17th. I’ll be gracing the Capcom Unity blog later this week with info on the new characters, along with another Prima blog next week.

For you tournament goers, keep in mind that there will be a $2,000 SF4 tournament at DEVASTATION 2009 in June. In addition, Evo 2009 was just announced to include SF4 when it takes place in July.

Anyway, here’s the link to OMGRPG.com list of 10 most legendary swords in gaming.

2. The LPO-50 flamethrower is a great way to quickly eliminate enemies in assault trucks. Duck behind cover and wait for an assault truck to approach, then when it’s nearby, stand up and douse the vehicle in flames. Due to the vehicle’s open sides and rear, the driver and gunner don’t stand a chance. Just make sure you’re not hit by the truck before you can attack-if you’re spotted, the driver will try to run you down.

3. The enemy AI’s vision is significantly reduced at night, making it harder for them to detect you. Hiding in tall grass or behind shrubs can also make it difficult for them to spot you. For best results, stay on higher elevations too. If you’re standing on lower terrain, they’ll have a much easier time detecting you.

4. The turrets on swamp boats only fire in a limited forward arc. So if facing a hostile swamp boat head-on, throttle past it at full speed to get out of the kill zone. The hostile boat must then turn completely around before it can reacquire you, by which time you should be well out of range.

5. If you injure an enemy, they will usually cry out, triggering an alert. But be careful when killing enemies too-alerts are propagated when bodies are discovered too. So be mindful of where bodies drop and try to neutralize targets outside the sight lines of their comrades.

6. When attacking convoys with IEDs, place your first device near a landmark that’s easy to distinguish from long range, such as a tree or signpost. Once you move to a safe distance, spotting the IEDs on a road can be difficult without the aid of your monocular, so using a landmark allows you to easily identify the blast zone. Therefore all you have to do is watch the landmark and detonate the explosives when the convoy passes it.

7. Bus stations function like a warp, taking you directly from one station to another, allowing you to bypass all the hostile forces along the way. The bus is also a great way to get back to town after completing a mission. Use them as frequently as possible.

8. Long grass has grains at the top of each blade and provides the most effective concealment. If attempting to hide in shorter grass (without the grains), enemies will have no trouble spotting you. When using the Camo Suit upgrade, you’re virtually invisible while remaining motionless in high grass.

9. When firing rocket launchers, a large plume of fiery exhaust shoots out the back of the tube. So be mindful of your surroundings. If you’re standing in dry grass, it may cause a wild fire, setting your legs on fire shortly after the launch. For best results, stand on rocks or other nonflammable surfaces when firing rockets.

10. Setting wild fires is a great way to distract hostile units. The AI recognizes fire as a separate threat and will take steps to avoid it, making it a kind of force multiplier working in your favor. But pay close attention to the wind before going pyro. Orient your attack so the wind is at your back, blowing toward the enemy-watch the swaying movement of grass and trees to determine the wind’s direction. Wind can carry a fire quickly, especially when moving through dry grass. Fire is less effective in lush (green) or wet environments. Starting a raging wild fire during or after a rainstorm is nearly impossible.