Noob, needs advice please

[DanielDrache]

I brought Dom3 through eBay (no manual, sending a 300page book to New Zealand would of been way to expensive)

I've played 5 games so far.
1st game was against 1 easy ai, which lost all of its provinces without me fighting it.....
Rest I've lost


I've lost them mainly due to the extremely large number I've gone against, I've downloaded the Better Independents mod which should help.


Can anyone give a suggestion of a powerful early nation?

Is there a modding tool, that lets me alter a nation/Pretender?

How can I message other pretenders? ie peace etc

this may be part of the previous question, on StrategyWiki the part about supply, nature mages or magic items, but "or find a trade partner"
How do I get a trade Partner?


Finally, I normally build a temple, Lab & fort in all provinces, The Walkthrough & a few posts have led me to believe maybe thats not good?
Fort = more income & better defense
Temple = stronger influence & able to build a few better units
Lab = Allows research & able to build a few better units




Thanks for any help
Daniel