How to Increase Influence

• Complete Growth & Routine Quests -- Many of these give influence as a reward.
• Complete EPIC/Contribute Quests -- The Contribute Resources/Troops/Jewelry quests exchange a number of these items for a certain amount of influence. However please be careful to not trade ALL of your resources for influence; it's not good to have tons of influence and not be able construct buildings or train troops.
• Train soldiers -- You get 1 pt of influence for every soldier you train.
• Maraud Wilderness/Cities -- You get influence from battles.
• Arena -- I haven't tried this one yet, but I'm told it gives lots of influence. ( PvE (PvP & PVE labeled) , PvP Arena, & Arena FAQ )