There are 7 things you need to doing at all times

1. Training - go to your factories and train troops. The first tier (battleship, submarine, destroyer, and aircraft carrier) are the weakest. Tier 2 are stronger etc. To see the stats on each troop type select a troop type and click stats. The top sections in black show you their strengths and weaknesses, and star ratings for each category.

2. Building - each building in and out of your city walls needs to be upgraded. Try to keep every building upgraded to the same level before you upgrade your headquarters. So have every building say at level 4 before you upgrade headquarters to level 5.

3. Researching - go to your academy and research. To be strong in battle focus on combat.

4. Building Wall Traps - click on your coast guard factory and build wall traps. These defend your city when you are attacked. The first tier is the weakest so try to research wall traps to get access to the higher tiers.

5. Questing - click on quests, there are headquarters quests, daily quests and alliance quests to complete. Try to have these running all the time. When you have finished all the quests try using the CHANCE button. You get free chances to use. Quests give you different bonuses. Tap on each quest title to see what you will receive when you have completed each quest.

6. Collecting Resources -  There are 5 resources you will need to keep collecting to allow you to carry out all building, training, researching and wall trap building.

ALUMINUM     IRON     COPPER     FUEL     GOLD

Always let the alliance know if you need resources to complete a task. If they have some over their HQ limits they can share. This reduces the risk of you having troops attacked on tiles. When you need to collect resources go outside of your city by clicking the icon in the bottom left corner. You can clear all the information from your screen by using the top right icon to expand the view. Scroll around to find the resource tile you would like to use, say iron. Tap on the tile, you will be shown the quantity available. Click OCCUPY, allocate the troops you want to send  and march.

Warning: during kill events your troops on resource tiles are unprotected by your city hospitals and wall traps and are an easy target for other players to attack and kill. Be aware that if you leave them unattended they can be attacked at any time. Usually this is not a big issue but it can happen, particularly when events are on.

7. Helping Alliance Members - Go to ALLIANCE, you will see the (hands shaking with a number). Click this whenever you see it. It helps speed up tasks that other alliance members are doing. You also get alliance points each time you click. You can use your points to go shopping in the alliance store and get free stuff.