Market place

 

Well my experience is only 8 days so keep that in mind.

 

If I were starting over with my current knowledge, I would balance between upgrading Mrkt and Mines, Etc.  Currently, I have a lvl 5 Mrkt with 5 caravans gathering resources.  But I have a hard time fiding the resources I need most (Iron and Clay) close to my city.  I now have over 1 hr commutes each way to the nearest Iron and Clay.  So that's a farily long procurement time in my mind.  And you will find that others are getting the same resources so you will be interrupted and maybe even have an Army destroy some caravans.  So production at home is most important.

 

You will have to find the balance that works for you.  For now, I am trying to concentrate on upping my mines, etc. and using my caravans to help in that process.  I think I erred by building a Barracks too soon and trying to get an Army up and running.  Any Army a noob can make is just a snack for an established player.  Rely on Vault to protect your resources and an invading Army really can't hurt you until sieges come later.

 

Buildings I probably still should not have but mistakenly built long ago:

Barracks - Needs Spears and Lthr Armor

Tannery - Needs Cows

Common Ground - only need to make Armor for troops

Spearmaker - only need to make spears for troops

Brewery - No need to make beer for a long time

 

And if you aren't making the above bldgs, don't research those techs yet.

 

In the first week, I would only build a Library, Mrkt, Paddock (lvl 1 only), Storehouse, Vault and Consulate (lvl 1 only).  Otherwise, stick to upping mines, etc.  Get some Caravans, and 1 or 2 Scouts.  Up your Storehouse and Vault as needed for your level of accumulated resources.

 

NEVER LET FOOD GO NEGATIVE FOR VERY LONG.  WHEN IT IS RED, YOU NEED TO UP FARMS TO GET TO GREEN AGAIN.

 

Take some time to research alliances in your general area and see about joining one that fits you.

 

I thought about when to start building an army, I guess I'll wait.

I was about to build the mage tower and maybe the brewery, I missed that you need books for spells. 300 research points for books and upgrading the library doesn't look that usefull (research goes from 4 to 5)

 

Dude, an hour+ looks long, but when you compare it to production in my city it's still pretty good. If you have your production up to ~lvl 6, that's different. What does a lvl 6 mine get you? 78 resource? Times 5, + bonus sending your caravans out isn't as vital anymore.

 

If it's too early to build most of the other stuff, why not. At least learning you can send out caravans for resouces makes sure it doesn't take forever to get enough to build something.