So I'm going to try to refrain from talking in global chat. (I may have to turn the whole thing off.) And I'm going to see what Illy life is like for a newb who knows how the game is played but is starting without outside help. And I'll chronicle my adventures here.

I'm sure most people will find this tedious (in that case, don't read it) -- a few might enjoy it. And very new players starting after me might find some of my insights useful. Or at least they'll have something to do while they're waiting for their resources to build.

Day 1 10:53 p.m.

I have started on the tutorial. My storehouse is maxed out at 500 of each resource type. I know I am supposed to build a library, but that means that while I am building I will miss out on any resource accumulation in that period. Sure, it's probably 1 or 2 resources at the most, but I'm a newb and I need everything I can get! So the first thing I do is build a storehouse. Thank goodness a level 1 storehouse now holds 1000 units of everything!

The second thing I do is decrease my tax rate to 1%. This increases my resource production by an average of 2 units of each resource per hour. Exciting times!

The third thing I do is upgrade my library. The storehouse has already finished, so at the same time I set the library build, I set one lumberyard to upgrade to level 1. That won't be how the tutorial tells me to do it, but I'm a poor newb, and that upgrade will allow me to upgrade an extra one or two wood per hour for the time I spend researching haggling ... ok, so probably .0001 pieces of wood, but it's the thought that counts, right?

My library has finished building. I set a clay pit to build. I also start the Haggling research. If I am supposed to research this first, why is it nearly at the bottom of the "Available to Research" column? It should be at the top where it's easy to find. I'm just sayin'.

My lumberyard has finished building and Haggling is still being researched, so I set a Quarry to build.

While stuff is building and researching, I check out the mail welcoming me to the kingdom of Illyriad. Why are they pressuring me to join an alliance already? I'm a newb, for goodness sake! I don't know which alliances are good! I'm barely allowed to talk in global chat, even if I wanted to. That reminds me, better turn global chat off so I won't be tempted.

Haggling research is completed and my level 1 Quarry still is not done. Nevertheless, I start an Iron Mine rather than a marketplace. The tutorial is prompting me to open my castle, and I know the next step will be to change the name of my city, at which point Siggie is going to send me 500 more of each resource -- including food. That will put me over my storehouse limit for food, and I will lose 2 whole food! I think I'm going to upgrade the storehouse to level 2 before I do that. But only because I'm obsessive.

OK, iron mine finished, level 2 storehouse queued and marketplace queued. I still have approximately 230 of each resource left, plus 502 food. I'm feeling pretty good about this. When my level 2 storehouse finishes, I will proceed to the next portion of the tutorial.

Storehouse finished, with 1200 storage capacity under my belt, I rename my city. King Sigurd of Illyria is sending me two presents; one will arrive in less than a minute while the other one takes about 14 hours. Apparently Sigurd didn't get the memo about caravans going to new players travelling at double speed, because that is the same amount of time it took the last time I did the tutorial.

Sigurd also gave me 2 horses and 500 gold; time to build some caravans. I'll only be directed to build one, but I might as well start both of them cooking. I have 2 more horses coming in from 14 hours away; it would make more sense to give me all 4 horses (or 5 even!) right away so I can build additional caravans to harvest with without waiting 14 hours, but I am not going to look a gift horse (or horses) in the mouth.

In the meantime, I've upgraded my lumberjack to level 2 and started an upgrade to a level 2 clay pit.

Now it's time to learn about trade. This part of the tutorial could do with some information about the difference between city-to-city and hub trades. It would make the tutorial longer, but it would give newbs something to do while their resources were building. Maybe King Sigurd could even keep a supply of something for sale at a trade hub at a newb-only price, if that were not too hard to code. Would be a good introduction to trade for new players.

I am lucky with my city placement this time; I'm only 27 away from my nearest trade hub. Unfortunately that hub is NOT Centrum, and I notice no one is buying basic resources in my local hub, although thank goodness there are some sellers. Nobody's buying hides, herbs or basic minerals either, so gathering with a cotter and selling at a local hub is not going to be a viable way of making gold. I will have to go into global chat to sell my wares. Still, it's better than the time my newb city was located 94 squares away from the hub; 4 hours there and 4 hours back is a LONG time when all you want is 200 wood!

While I was typing this, my buildings have finished and my queue was empty! Better get building ... level 2 quarry and level 2 iron mine here I come. I think after this I will start my level 2 library.

I'm deliberately ignoring the tutorial, which is telling me to upgrade one of each resource field. The only one I haven't done is a level 1 farm, and I'm still positive on food. My goal is to be slightly negative on food before I go to bed, so I can use up the excess. Thank goodness my level 2 storehouse holds 1200 of each resource; at least my food storage is not maxed.

Level 2 resource fields consume one unit of food per hour, just like level 1 fields, so I'll have to upgrade to level 3 before they start consuming more food. The same is true for the library; level 2 library consumes the same amount of food per hour as a level 1 library. This is a good reason to upgrade one of each resource, library and storehouse to level 2 before upgrading additional resource fields; it's just a bit more efficient in terms of food consumption. I will have one of each resource to level 2 and a level 2 library and storehouse all in the same 9 population that one normally has at the conclusion of the tutorial.

My two caravans have finished building. The only thing to harvest anywhere near me is gold; I send one caravan to each nearby pile. At least if I don't get bumped I can use the gold to buy additional resources.

Perhaps I should upgrade my paddock; that way I can replace my caravans if someone kills them. Normally I hesitate to do this because of the food drain, but I have plenty of food. I will do that after my level 3 lumber jack finishes, then upgrade a farm and finish the tutorial.

My goodness! I've forgotten about research. Time to decide what to research first. Usually what I do is choose early researches that take a long time compared to the research points they consume. That way I have time to build up research points. Plus the short ones can be knocked out when they are needed. I have 184 research points to play with, and I gain 6 more every hour with a level 2 library. I start with Timekeeping for 20 research points; although it only lasts 5 minutes, it unlocks some cheap researches that take a long time, like Bureaucracy. For my second research I select Brewing which also costs 20 research points but takes an hour.

My farmyard has completed, so I can continue with the tutorial. Now it's telling me about alliances again. Enough with the pressure already! If anything, it should be warning me not to accept the first alliance invite someone sends me. OK, skip through alliance stuff, now I'm learning about prestige. OK, I get one free prestige a day. It really should link me to where I can collect it. And I'm a bit bummed that I wasted 2 hours before claiming my first prestige.

Finished the tutorial. The part about playing multiple servers is a little misleading -- no wonder newbs ask so often about where the other servers are! The tutorial implies that they exist.

I'm not sure I like the "possible paths in Illyriad" post all that much. It sort of implies that building a consulate, mage tower, barracks, etc. are separate paths, and probably every city needs all of those things. Plus, it tells me AGAIN that I should join an alliance. It also gives bad advice about building a wall for defense. Honestly I think it would have been more useful to just direct me from the tutorial to the Help section of the forum, with all the various posts on how combat works, how magic works, etc. Maybe after all of those posts are read it makes sense to read the "possible paths" post. Or maybe it should be eliminated entirely.

OK, I've started the upgrades of quarry and iron mine to level 3 now. Time to choose another research. I think I'll choose Craftsmanship, 3 hours for just 50 research points. Agriculture is the other option, but it doesn't do anything anyway, just opens the way to research milling. The Agriculture research description is so misleading! I'm not sure why it even exists -- probably initially it was intended to be a prerequisite to building a common ground and paddock (based on the description), but instead it's just a waste of 4 hours and 75 research points.

Almost forgot to make an extra horse now that my paddock is finished. It's a way to use up a little more food. I'm not maxed yet, but I will be when King Sigurd's second gift arrives in about 13 hours, even though I'm running slightly negative on food. It's not worth upgrading the storehouse again just to hold the food though.

Upgrading to a level 3 library; looks like I won't have enough resources to upgrade my lumberyard to level 4 though. So my fun is almost over for the night. Not too bad, I got in about an hour of playtime before the resources ran out. And it's time for bed anyway.

Hmmm ... I could upgrade the marketplace to level 2 before going to bed, or upgrade the common ground and start some cows. However, the research to increase caravan carrying capacity isn't unlocked until marketplace level 3, and it requires 300 research points. I have 98 research points now, and my level 3 library produces 8 research points per hour. So I wouldn't be able to afford that research before tomorrow (or even the next day) anyway.

I think I'll upgrade another one of each resource to level 1. I'm at -5 food now and this will put me at -9 food, which is a pretty comfortable level at this stage of the game. After all, if I run out of food, nothing bad happens until I hit 100 population.

On the other hand, I usually find that I run out of wood and clay before I run out of iron and stone in the early days of building a new account. Perhaps I'll upgrade one each of wood and clay to level 2 and leave the iron and stone for tomorrow.

I'm short 5 wood to upgrade my second clay pit to level 2. I'm going to stay up a few more minutes to get it started. Only a few minutes until my research finishes ... this is why no one sleeps the first night after they start playing Illy!

I spend 75 points on the Bureaucracy research.

At the end of day 1, my resource production per hour is 27 wood, 28 clay, 22 iron and 22 stone. I'm -7 per hour on food, with 940 stored and 500 on the way from King Sigurd. I produce 8 research points per hour and have 20 population.

Last night as I was going to bed I was thinking about cows. There's a lot of gold in cows. But I need to know if I have a market. I checked the local trade hub, and someone is indeed buying cows. So my first build of the day is common ground. This will put me at -12 food, but I still have that food incoming from Siggie, and no disastrous consequences for running out of food at my size anyway.

My second build is upgrade of the library to level 4. While I can buy resources to build from the market, buying books is a LOT more expensive. So it's more efficient to create my own research points in the library.

Wow, how did I get 7 horses? I don't remember making that many! Well, once again, not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Time to build 3 more caravans. My common ground is finished, so I build 1 cow.

There is still only gold available to harvest on the map, and someone is harvesting at both nodes. Chances are I need it more than they do, so I will take the chance of bumping them. If they are fellow newbs, their caravans will finish harvesting and go home before my caravans even get there.

I have 99 research points available. I research Negotiation and Arcana for 20 points each. I will need these eventually anyway. Still resisting researching Agriculture since it's so pointless.

I have enough resources to upgrade a quarry to level 1, leaving me with 12 wood, 8 clay, 41 iron and 68 stone. I also have 848 gold, so I could buy some additional resources at the market once the caravans I started building are finished. I think I will just wait for the gift from King Sigurd, which is now 3 hours away.

Another caravan has finished building and I found some wood I can harvest. Someone else is already there; if it's a fellow newb I will send an apology for bumping and a gift from Rill.

I spot a stack of stone as well, and some iron. The iron is 66 squares away though, so 3 hours there and 3 hours back – probably not economic given my limited number of caravans. My final caravan is now finished; I find another stack of wood to harvest. So all 5 of my caravans are out on harvesting missions; I feel productive and proud.

I need 2 more clay before I can build anything else; I'm trying to decide between a level 1 iron mine and a level 1 farm. Probably I will do the iron mine, even though it means I will be -16 in food. I still have a good bit of food on the way from King Sigurd; I can build farms later.

11:30 a.m.

I decided on the iron mine, and now I have produced enough resources to start on a level 1 farm as well. I checked on my common ground, and I've gotten a bonus cow! I only ordered 1, and now I have 1 in production and 1 in my inventory. This is cool, as I can trade that cow for enough resources to upgrade a level 4 resource field or something equally exciting. Thank you system gods for your bounty!

I started the Bartending research and now have enough research points to start Militia as well. I have now finished the first research in each branch of the research tree (except for Crafting and Sovereignty). Not too bad for still being in my first 24 hours!

My hourly production is now 1 gold, 30 wood, 28 clay, 25 iron, 25 stone, -14 food and 12 research points. I have 29 population and nothing left to build with. King Sigurd's caravan arrives in one and a half hours, so this is a good time to take a break.

1:27 p.m.