Help the amatuer

Hey I'm EGF BATISTA, this is my first post on the forum, never done it before. My request is for advice on an overall strategy...I'm at a point where I have to choose between buying units or expanding my bases income; and the usual with levelling and completing missions...do I try to keep up with units as I level up or do I increase income? I work a day job, so I collect twice per day 73million at the moment (air traffic towers) all need stars, so just enough to buy units or save to expand...what do I do?

I did money with one oil. Then added at least 5 of all inf, grd, air and navy. then kept maxing out the top weapons and supplies ( gun and helmet on inf). hope this is of some help.

Expand...need 10 times that income just to afford sanctions..(just sayin')

Steve,
First off, what level are you?
Second, what is it you want to accomplish?
I leveled quite a bit at first, but then started losing some battles. The reason was easy. I couldn't afford good units and I couldn't afford a good base.
So what I did was stop doing missions and battled only or not at all. This slowed me down dramatically, BUT, it gave me time to collect base income and upgrade to the base structure that suited my needs best, (good income with good timing for my schedule).
When my base was where I wanted it, THEN I started spending the good income on units. Good units, (the best each tier has within my level range and lower for EACH level range), so that I could fight people my level or lower. Remember, when attacking someone lower than you, if they are in a lower tier of missions, you must use the units that are ONLY available for your opponent's tier and gifted/specialty items.
I also made a point to have lots of allies and exchange gifts daily. Be certain to load up on good infantry attack and defense items, (naval caps, machine guns, etc.), along with the armor and planes, (they don't give good naval gifts).
I built up one type of my military at a time, (Armored first because it contains the most units, then either navy or airforce, THEN infantry.) I saved the infantry for last because you must also buy the accessories, (and get the best deal for your buck there, it makes a HUGE difference.)
Once I had what I wanted, I killed everything around me since I had a great income that I could bank and a great army that clobbered most other players.
I only use the gold you get with the daily bonus for skill points, (Att/Def/Supplies), and nothing else. No specialty units. You get three gold a day if you log on daily, that means every five days you have enough to get five skill points to utilize. If you level slowly, IT ADDS UP and makes ya tough.
Now, there is a bad point to this. People that I started with are way past me in levels, (I'm currently around level 165), as in 100 to 300 levels past me. But this doesn't bother me. I remember in W@W that I loved playing the lower levels more simply because you had so many other opponents to fight. The higher in level you get, the fewer opponents you have.
Also, get buddies in the game that can help you with certain aspects... As we're both EGF, I'll get with you on a couple of other good pointers that I'm not going to post here.
But level quickly, level slowly, it's up to you. But I can tell you that if you level quickly, have no army and income, you'll get chewed up and spit out on the way up.
Few have beaten me that are in my level range, (Mona is a good example of a REALLY good player who thought things out well), because of my strategy. Most who do beat me, (I don't put as much emphasis on defense as offense on stat points), get return fire with a vengeance if they've been obnoxious.
The main thing, do what makes the game fun for you.

EGF Machiavelli

p.s. Steve, don't employ too many gifted Swedish Amphibious Units. Though they are great for defense, your barracks will look something like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XpKJWLHsAk