Seeds of Chaos [v0.4.08] By Vénus Noire

[Villages] To secure a stream of revenue, you’ll want to capture as many villages as you can as early as possible. Unfortunately, since you won’t have that many orcs early on, you won’t be able to make many gains in the first few weeks. You’ll want to savescum for the corrupt nobleman (the one that starts with a nobleman trying to whore out village girls to you for favors) event early on, as this allows you to capture a village without wasting soldiers. After you’ve captured three or four, switch to making trade agreements—these increase your weekly revenue more than captures, though you’ll want some captures under your belt to help trigger events.
* * * IMPORTANT * * * As of the last version I tried (0.2.43), a bug prevented most unique village capture events from registering successful captures/trade agreements. Only the corrupt nobleman event and the old ways event (the one that starts with Rowan stumbling on some villagers about to make a human sacrifice) seem to register as successful. The generic village capture/trade events (those that start with a choice on whether to capture the village, trade with it, etc.) will all register successfully. I recommend savescumming for these successful events each time you enter a village.
[Abbeys] To increase your research rate, you’ll want to capture as many abbeys as you can as early as possible. Thankfully, unlike villages, abbeys don’t deplete your military force, so the only thing preventing you from taking them all right away is distance. At this point in time, there’s little benefit to increasing your total weekly research over 20, as any research points over the total needed for a topic are wasted, so keep that in mind when deciding whether to make the trip to farflung abbeys.
* * * IMPORTANT * * * There are a couple of abbey events that don’t result in research bonuses. (Unlike villages, the narrative of those events leads me to believe this is intentional and not a bug.) I unfortunately can’t remember how these events begin, so make a save before entering an abbey, make another save after finishing it, and then end exploration early to check in the castle whether your research bonus has increased. (You can find this figure at the very bottom of the list of statistics you get when you click the scroll icon in the upper right corner of the castle screen.) If your research rate has increased, reload from your save after the abbey; if it hasn’t, reload from the save before the abbey and try for a different event.
[Mines] To increase your military strength, you’ll want to capture a couple of mines early on. You only really need about 10 iron/week max, and you can’t even benefit from more than 5 until you get the Forge Lvl2 (a fairly low priority), so don’t worry about getting too much too early. Mines are also less vital early on than villages, so focus on those first three village captures before sending your soldiers to become miners, nor is it worth the gold you need to hire workers. (The first mine you take is a freebie, though, and Jezera has that one staffed out of her own pocket, so grab the first one you see ASAP.) There’s only one unique mine capture event that doesn’t result in a successful increase in iron production rate, and this is definitely intentional based on the narrative (it starts with Rowan finding a message written in the goblin language). You can savescum around this if you like. Later on, after you’ve made your 3-4 village captures and have captured Raeve keep, feel free to capture as many mines as you like, as you’ll be getting new orcs faster than you can use them up at that point.
[Drider Eggs] You only really need to successfully capture one of these locations, and you can only do so after you build the breeding pit, so this is super low priority.

[Week 4] Week 4 is the first time you’ll have access to the castle, and starts you on an administrative choice right off the bat: whether to start construction on a building project (forge, tavern, or dark sanctum), or buy something from Cla-Min. You’ll want to start construction. My recommendation is the dark sanctum—this lets you start recruiting cubi sorcerers, which add to your overall military might directly (though I don’t recommend using them in village captures, they’re too valuable to waste), as well as indirectly (they give your orcs a multiplier to their military strength in the same way iron equipment does). They also increase your research rate by 0.5 per recruited cubi, which is critical for increasing research early, and you’ll need the dark sanctum to unlock the futa events, if you’re into that.
[Construction] You’ll want to start other building projects as your funds allow—keep in mind that you need 500 gold in the castle coffers by Week 22, though, so don’t overextend your finances. After the Dark Sanctum, I recommend the following projects in the following order:

* * [Forge] Assuming you have access to a steady stream of iron, the forge increases your military might (in the form of a multiplier for your orcs) by equipping your soldiers with better equipment. Several Forge related events are also locked behind low corruption, so it’s best to get them out of the way early if you’re interested.

Raeve Keep is the castle located across the bridge just East of the starting portal. To capture it, you must have 150+ military power, or have constructed the Brothel and recruited a spy. After recruiting the spy, visit Raeve Keep and choose the Infiltrate option. I believe the spy path takes a few weeks after the initial infiltration, so leave yourself a little padding with that option.

Step One: Research Opulence at the library. This makes the research subject Dark Subterfuge available.
Step Two: Research Dark Subterfuge at the library. This opens the Brothel for construction at the workshop.
Step Three: Construct the Brothel at the workshop. A week later, the brothel will be in the upper right corner of the basement.
Step Four: Visit the brothel and recruit a spy. You can recruit one spy per week from the menu there.
Step Five: Visit Raeve keep. (You may need to do this twice to get to the right menu if it’s your first time there.) Choose the Infiltrate option from the list of choices; in the current build, I don’t think any of the spies’ traits matter, so pick any you have access to.

From the starting portal, follow the road North. Keep going North at the next fork you encounter (there should be a bridge and an abbey directly north of the fork). There will be a second fork just North of the abbey; follow the road that goes Northwest. You’ll find an orc camp very close to the second fork; this is the army camp.
From the northern portal, step North onto the road, and follow the road West. You’ll reach a fork (this is the same as the second fork in the instructions above). Follow the road that leads Northwest, and you’ll quickly see the orc camp. This is the army camp.

From the starting portal, follow the same instructions as finding the orc army above until you reach the second fork. Instead of heading Northwest, follow the road East. Continue following the road (it’ll be a while), and you’ll reach a large city. This is Rastedel.
From the northern portal, step north onto the road, and follow the road East. Continue following the road (it’ll be a while), and you’ll reach a large city. This is Rastedel.

This is a complex, multiweek process, and there are four paths to success. In your first visit to the orc army camp, you’ll hear of three figures vying for power; an old orc chief (Ulcro), a young warrior (Batri), and a scheming woman (Tarish). You’ll either have to support one of the three in their bid for power, or ignore them and focus on rescuing the noblewoman prisoner, which causes the conflict to sort itself out. Before going into any path, find the noblewoman, since doing so is necessary for all four routes.
Finding the noblewoman
You must locate the noblewoman prisoner (Delane). To do this, pick the “explore the camp” option until you find the building where she’s been hidden. Don’t worry if this takes more than one week. Once you’ve found her, you’ll need to continue exploring the camp until you encounter her again, at which point you’ll actually speak to her. This unlocks the camp menu option “Sneak in to meet with noblewoman”; you can do this once a week.
To support Ulcro
After visiting Ulcro, the camp menu option “Hunt for gifts for Delane” becomes available. Use this option several times until you have enough gifts for her. You must also visit the noblewoman once a week, and use the “Convince her to Accept Ulcro” options. After you’ve done both requirements enough times, she’ll consent to be Ulcro’s woman, and Ulcro will reestablish his authority. Success!
To support Batri
Note: For this path, you’ll need to have constructed the Brothel and recruited a spy. For instructions on how to do this, see the “How to Infiltrate” instructions under Week 22 above.
After visiting Batri and finding the noblewoman (and assuming you have an available spy), the camp menu option “Corrupt Delane” becomes available. Select it; in the current build, I don’t think the spies’ traits matter, so pick any you have access to. This process takes a few weeks (you’ll receive reports from your spy between weeks). While you’re waiting, use the “explore the camp” menu option until you encounter a group of orc raiders. It gives you the choice to tag along with them; do so. This unlocks the camp menu option “Go on a raid.” Use this option a few times; this raises morale among the younger orcs that support Batri. When your spy reports that Delane is ready, visit the camp again to watch Batri take over. Success!
To support Tarish
After visiting Tarish, meet with the noblewoman once a week. You need to use the “Gain her trust” option until you’ve exhausted all the topics of conversation. Also after visiting Tarish, when you return to Bloodmeen castle after the week is over, visit Cla-Min’s caravan and the throne room. Doing so gives you the items you need to execute Tarish’s plan. Once you’ve gained Delane’s trust, you’ll be able to help her escape. Choose to stick to the plan when the option comes up, and she’ll be recaptured by Tarish’s followers, leading to Tarish taking over. Success!
To rescue Delane
After speaking to the noblewoman for the first time, go back to visit her once a week, choosing the “Gain her trust” option each time until you’ve exhausted the topics of conversation. Once you’ve gained her trust, you’ll be able to help her escape. Once this is accomplished, you’ll no longer be able to do anything at the army camp, so make sure you’ve done everything there you wanted to do; otherwise, events will take their course and Tarish will end up leading the orc army under the twins’ banner. Success! Disclaimer: this route requires SEVERAL successful skill checks to reach the end; if you fail and want to try again, rollback to before the skill check (you’ll see a number in the upper corner), save, and reload; you can keep reloading from that same save as many times as it takes to pass the check.