There is an in-round chat where you can chat with other players. You need to run a right strategy that I have not yet discovered so this is going to be tempting for you to try out the game and figure out your own strategy.
So far, here is what I did: I send small groups of scouts to explore land and gain as much as land as I can in the first two rounds of free army (after a period of time you get extra army per land you get). Then I start hunting the nearest general to take over the opponent’s army. Once you defeat a general, the entire army is under your control so the more generalss you defeat the stronger and larger your army becomes.
I have done some research on the game as well and apparently, a new company called MUGA GAMING,LLC has acquired it. They seem like a promising online gaming company with lots of traffic and player base. The new company reset ranking to make the game competitive and started a new ladder season.
Very nice game in my opinion - a must try out! www.generals.io - you can also download the application to your android and ios phones