Made it to Epoch 3 from a clean start, with 55 extra men. I haven't quite developed a feel for deeper strategies, yet, but here's what I've learned so far:
- There's no difference between winning an island with 1 man alive, or 100. (Prior to Epochs with stasis.)
- Win each island with as few men as possible so you can carry unused men to the next Epoch. You can retry islands if you fail.
- Split men between research/mining and idle to let your population grow.
- Offensive weapons seem better than defensive in the early Epochs. You can flatten enemy armies with weapons from 1 Epoch ahead.
- Making an alliance with your neighbor leaves the other two to fight while you grow.
- Base placement affects available resources for weapons. These are persistent so you can retry an island in a different spot if needed.
- "Ergonomically terrific" designs have optimal resource usage.
- You need at least 1 of a resource to reveal researchable weapons that require it.
It's an interesting take on RTS. I haven't yet reached the point of exhausting resources and needing to grow beyond one base.