I plan to have this guide be a place where I put tips and tricks I learn of while playing or become informed of here. I may do this through links or explanations from how I see it. Don't hesitate to send me a friend request if you have something to share that you feel may be beneficial for the guide.

Fandom Link
https://eiyuu-senki-gold.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page

I consider the early game to include the initial unification of Zipang and the Americas. (North America, Indies, Aztecs, and Incas)

• You can avoid doing an action for three turns before being forced into a battle by what I like to call the No progression Bandits.
  
• Save at least every few turns when in peace.
  
• When at war at least at the early game the most I have seen the AI do is send possibly two invasions a turn though that is much more biased to one every few turns.
  
• Unlike World Conquest I haven't noticed the AI punishing you when in war time by increasing strength the longer the war gets drawn out. Natural recovery becomes a bit more valuable at times because of this.
  
• For those of you with the lovely patch Inner thoughts is a mission to watch out for.
  
• Abuse enemy ranges especially in the conquest of Edo, in hard mode let alone normal mode you can position your units on the bottom row and snipe the musketeers that way while they try to move to be able to shoot.
  
• I recommend unifying Zipang by Edo then Kyoto to give Oda at least one battle of Experience.
  
• As soon as possible after doing Inner Thoughts you should see a quest something like Voyage to the New World, do it as soon as possible to gain two units and San Fransisco for free.
  
• In the same vein the Getting Dirty Bonding event for Date will boost Sendai's income to 200. Thus, prioritize this early on as income increases are worth more the sooner you do it.
  
• I haven't in the early game seen an independent faction attack, so you can take your time with them.
  
• Preserve most all of your missions except bonding ones till after you have united the Americas for optimum money generation.
  
• Buy the Mandragora and Well-Aged-Spirit from Seimei's shop early and then fuse them into the Golden Apple. This gives you a MVP magnet item which should be given to the MVP.
  
• Getting the MC 30 MVPs will give you a sword hero for free with around 3k+ troops in hard mode. This is doable before beating Billy, it just may require redoing several battles.
  
• Before the shops open up throw almost every last coin into giving the MC more troops for the goal of 30 MVPs.
  
• After you finish uniting North America proper and get many choices on where to go do the mission to meet with the leader of the Aztecs. They will submit without a fight and no forced war, giving you around 4 cities at no real cost.

Here is a list of things I decided to note that you may want to keep an eye on to help past the early game that I have noticed so far

• You can use funds to get a character to get up to 9999 troops though to get past that they would need to enter battle and earn battle end bonuses
  
• The Vinland Pirates should not be all that hard of fights after finishing the Incas as I believe the troops strengths were quite similar
  
• At least when I had finished off the Incas I remember the Macedonia-Mongolia alliance declaring war so be prepared for that
  
• You can start the Britania quest line and purchase Lancelot for 50k at no harm after that as later progression for that is tied behind a mission not war
  
• The Britania quest line will eventually lead to war with India, and to make the deal sweater defeating India's original holdings will get you all of Britania.
  
• Develop Cape town asap for an extra 750 per turn.
  
• It can be quite easy to snowball funds during peace and create super soldiers
  
• Keep Seimei cleared of her stock so you can fuse plenty of items