by wallwaster
I'm no pro, but here's what helped me get to where I am:Play against TM AI until you scored 150+ points with all factions. The AI won't really contest you on majorities, so it's not that hard, but it's pretty agressive on the board. Feel free to take back moves, sometimes even to the very start of the game, and try something else, that's a good way to learn. A match against the AI can be played in 20 minutes, so this way you can get a lot of practice in with the basics and get to know the factions.
Most pros will probably tell you to just look at a lot of games on snellman, or start playing there. That's the way to the top, what I wrote above is more a way to being not bad at the game :)