AoE3: info spot - home cities

So I thought I'd do a little research, and put up some posts of the most useful things i found.

Most of what I'm putting up for now comes from a guide i found and was written for single player, so keep that in mind

Home Cities
You can choose cards from five different areas of your Home City by clicking between the five tabs on the upper left of the lower window. I played the game all the way through without realising this, and the only cards I picked were the ones on whichever tab was open at the time.

The more experience you pick up during the levels, the faster your Home City will advance and the more cards you will be able to choose from. Try to complete as many secondary objectives as you can; also explore as much of the maps as possible, and pick up the treasure items. Killing off more than just the required enemy buildings and units is another good way to get your points up. It all helps.

The game makes a big deal about picking the cards to suit your own playing style and civilization, but this is bollocks. A lot of the cards pick themselves. It should be obvious that a card which gives you two falconets is better than a card which increases the speed at which villagers gather food from hunting. Since every building and upgrade in the game exists to provide you with units with which to defeat your enemy, always go with the free units cards first. The Fort and Factory cards are extremely valuable too.