1. How do I play?
There are many ways to play.

We have an Imperial Forum for posting questions to other players and you may swap ICQ numbers with players to ask and answer questions. On the most difficult pages we have also placed Help links that will give you more insight into the game. Remember that the game is very simple to play, but difficult to master. Strategies are also important to play. One strategy is to become a knowledge maker. With this strategy you make knowledge and sell it to other people. When you sell the knowledge you get money to buy armies. This a powerful strategy!! Overall there are 7 strategies you can play and each one is very different. You will discover which one is best for you. Hint: Carpenters are very important!!!

When you first begin you will have 60 rounds of play. You will also have Imperial Amnesty, which allows you to roam throughout the game for your first 100 rounds without being attacked and you also can't attack others. Each time you complete an action such as buying infantry or spying on an enemy, you will use some of your rounds. The amount of rounds will be posted on each page, or you can decide for how many rounds you want your nation to complete an action. Take your time and you'll see that it is a very easy game to begin--but difficult to master.

2. How do I get money?
There are many ways to get money. You can sell your armies and food at the markets. Maybe you want to attack another nation at gain some cash? There are many ways to get money. Watch what other players do and copy the strategies that intrigue you the most!

3. What will I get if my assassins successfully attack other countries?
You won't get anything but the person you attack will lose many things, thus making them weaker. This is a good way to kill somebody. If you are allied with another nation, one nation might send assassins and the other nation might send troops, thus creating mass disorder in the attacked enemy's land!

4. Why can I not get my Activation Code?
About 2 minutes after you first registered with Zhanshen, we sent you the Activation Code. It is possible that your email address doesn't work or your email address is being used more than once. Did you enter it correctly? Are you sure? If you are still having problems, you may send an email to us from Zhanshen's first page. Remember that if you use ZhanshenMail.com, you should never have a problem receiving email from us!

5. How do I get chariots?
6. How do I get soldiers?
You can make them by building factories and then choosing to make each of these army units or you can get money and buy them.

7. Can I change my personal info and nation name?
You cannot change your nation's name during the game. Only when the game is restarted can you change this information. You'll need to re-register at the beginning of the month's competition.

8. When I am about to attack others, I am told I am "under protection". What should I do?
You only need to play up to 100 rounds and then you can do what you want. The first 100 rounds you are "under protection" so nobody will attack you and so you can understand the game before stepping onto the battlefield! This "under protection" is also called "Imperial Amnesty" and should not be confused with IPM protection, which is a very different sort of protection.

9. How do I resist spies?
You can make or buy more spies. A good idea is to get more spy knowledge, which makes your spies stronger.

10. What is the difference between tactical and strategic attacks?
The difference is a strategic attack makes your armies stronger because they use more time to plan the attack than planning a simple tactical offensive. However if you defeat your enemy, both types of attack will net you the same amount of land and resources. Remember, though, that the strategic attack uses 4 rounds and the tactical attack uses 2 rounds!

11. How do I increase population? And what is the fastest way to increase my population?
There are 2 ways. One is to make more houses where more people can live. Another is to increase house knowledge points, this allows more people to live in one house.

12. Why am I told my password is not correct?
It is possible you aren't entering it correctly. If you have this problem click here and get it emailed to your account.

13. What should I do when my rounds run out?
This is a very important part of Zhanshen. If you only play once a day and logout you will get bonus rounds if you don't play for more than 18 hours. You could get many more rounds than other people if you only log on once a day. We reward people who only play once a day so after you play you can relax and plan your strategy for the next day. Enjoy life and go visit MyZhanshen.com.

14. What is the use of the Army Barracks?
These structures lower the cost of your armies each round and lowers the cost to buy armies in your own nation's market.

15. What is the best tax rate?
This depends on your strategy. For example a farmer makes food but the more people in that nation the more food they eat. A higher tax rate will make people run away so a farmer can make more food to sell to other players.

16. Why am I dead?
It is possible you were killed--it is difficult, but you can kill another player in Zhanshen by killing all their people. It is also possible you had more than one nation and we removed it.

17. Why didn't I get Zhanshen newsletters?
Are you sure you entered the correct email address? We only send the newsletters to users who have registered with us or who have specifically requested to get the newsletter. Sign up for a free email account at ZhanshenMail.com and have your Zhanshen emails sent there!

18. How do I create an alliance?
Go to the "Ally" page and type in the player's number with whom you would like to create an alliance. Then you must wait maybe a few hours or days for that player to respond. They might accept your offer, or they might turn you down.

19. When I input my Activation Code it still didn't work. Why?
Please email us if you have this problem. It's rare, but it is a problem sometimes with some users. Send your email to webform@zhanshen.com.

20. What kind of constructions should I build when I first begin the game?
Again this will depend on your strategy. If you are going to be an army maker it is good to make factories. We will offer hints as the game goes on but this is the fun of Zhanshen. You must be clever to be ZHANSHEN!

21. How do I find out a nation's number?
You can use "Search" to find a nation's number by inputting all or part of their nation's name.

22. When searching nations, how do I know if they are online or not?
If you want to attack another player it is not important if they are online at the same time as you are. But there is a chance they will know if you attack them and attack you back. To find players, you must search for them with the search command and then determine if you wish to attack them.

23. If Army size accounts for so much of net value, why will nations attack?
You will have to determine how strong your nation will be compared to another player who does attack at the end of the month. If you attack another player and win you will lose some armies but you will gain territory, money and buildings from that attack. The amount you gain from an attack is worth much more in the long run then not attacking. Remember Zhanshen is a war game--this is why armies are very important in the score and value of your nation. The important items for your nations score are: armies, knowledge and territory.

24. Why would anbody attack a bigger nation?
Zhanshen does encourage you to attack stronger nations. You will gain less if you successfully attack a lower player and you will gain more if you beat a higher player. Of course it is harder to attack a player who is able to make a strong nation. You must be clever and use all the options available to you to win the war. Such as having strong medical knowledge which will save more of your armies when you attack. Please keep in mind that Zhanshen lasts for 1 month. If you started playing a week after the first players you will not have used as many rounds to play thus it will take a very clever person to have a high score similar to a player who started at the beginning of the month. You will have a better chance at the beginning of each month when Zhanshen is restarted.

25. The game is very slow. Can you change that?
We appreciate your patience, we have added new servers and are working our best to make sure the game is fast.

26. Why does the other nation have no soldiers but is still very hard to defeat?
If you find this problem please email us the nation you are trying to attack and your own nation number and we will check it out.

27. I defeated my enemy but I lost more than he did. Why?
It is possible to lose more armies than the player you attack. Zhanshen is a war game, we encourage people to attack and you will gain more if you attack a higher player. Remember that it is possible to lose more armies than the player you attacked.

28. Why is my population decreasing?
Your population can decrease for many reasons. There might be a disaster in your world; somebody attacked you and stole you territory; a spy killed your people or you were attacked by an assassin. You will also lose people if you do not have enough bars or food for 1 round of play. You should always look at your History when you first come into the game and there you can see who has attacked you and who has stolen your property.

29.How do I get assassins?
You will make assassins by having more assassin knowledge. Each round taken will better train your assassins to fight for you.

30.My expenses are higher than my income--how can I make a living?
You will have to either make more money each turn or you will have to sell what you make. Each player will learn how to survive, and as Zhanshen continues all players will see that burning through money is perhaps not the best idea.

31. People will attack my nation if I have too much land? Can you remove the land from the score list so that people can't see it and they won't attack me?
Zhanshen is designed so that people with much land but a low value will be attacked. It is much better for a player to have a combination of land, armies and knowledge that create a strong nation. If you only have more land than the people close to your score you are a target.

32. What's the difference between Multi-Level and Team Games?
That's a great question. We have outlined the features of the two games below:

REMEMBER: If you have a nation in the Multi-Level Game, you CANNOT use that nation to play in the Team Game, and vice versa.

Zhanshen Multi-Level Game
-Players are randomly arranged in Levels and Areas within these Levels when they first register. Each Area has hundreds of players and you can only play with those players. At the end of the month we will take the best players and move them up a level and take the worst players and move them down. In this way, the game will be more exciting and fun to play.
-Following the Rules and Regulations of the game, we will be very vigilant about deleting accounts where people have registered more than one nation. In fact, it is quite simple for us to do and easy for us to see, so we hope players won't try to test the Emperor's Great Powers. Those who test the emperor will have a swift death.

Zhanshen TEAM Game
-This game is separate from the Multi-Level game, but the game play is almost identical. The difference is that players will have the ability to join a team. The name of the team will be displayed beside the players name and nation number in the score list. Players may play one nation in the Multi-Level game and one nation in the Team Game.
-Zhanshen Team Creation: Any player in the Zhanshen Team Game can create their own team. The player will then choose a team name and will be the super user for that team. The team super user will then create a password for other players to join the team. Team leaders can choose who joins the team if they wish or openly recruit players for the team.