Ok... I think it is time to provide some extra information now. since the newbie protection will be over for most of us soon and also because of the ally discussion above;
recommended actions :
- build a
CRANNY and level it up; You should have a cranny that holds at least the amount of resources you need for further upgrades of your buildings and res. fields;
That would be level 3 at the moment I'd say....
The "crannymethod" will work for at least 6 - 8 weeks; you can level up each cranny up to level 10 ( 1000 res each ) and then build another one;
-
Military has an offensive function at the moment; so if you want to go raiding you need them of course; defensive troops are not needed before heavy weapons can be built ( will be the case in 4- 6 weeks probably )
-founding an ally ( which means that one member has to spend res on a level 3 embassy ) is not that urgent, although it helps a lot; This should be your task for the next week.
GTP Ally :
there is already a discussion... I tell you how I see it from my experiences with the german travian :
- an ally should consist of strong individual players, who are selfly-sufficient : They have to be able to produce all resources they need on their own as well as to be able to defend themselves;
I do not recommend a strong allocation of tasks; as far as I know, that won't work.
- the function of an ally in travian is to organize these individual powers and to provide safety; This means that military action ( apart from raiding small new members who are not organzied in an ally themselves ) is always a matter of discussion in the ally forum;
If a member will be attacked the ally has to solve the problem; It is very important to contact the agressor first and to try to find a solution without the use of troops first ( by discussing the problem with the attacking ally or member ) If that doesn't help the ally has to organize the revenge
- if the ally wants to be able to do all this, it will need a kind of " operations staff ";
So there will be members with more rights than others, and the game is meant this way, because it provides the possibility to appoint ministers;
Of course military action and so on still should be discussed in a forum in a democratic way, but you just have to realize that not everybody in the ally can have the same power; the differnce is not huge, but it exists;
The member with the strongest army could be responsible for military actions; old players with a lot of experience in life and in other browsergames should be responsible for diplomacy (very important ); I don't think this is a job for a 9 year old for example, if you know what I mean...
Ok just to make clear why I posted this : I'm member of the german travian for over 2 months; it exists since March... We have about 10000 active members and hundrets of allys; just to show you the dimension : the best travian.org player has 12 villages with almost 6000 inhabitants and probably more than 5000 soldiers;
Have a look yourself :
Most powerful player :
http://www.travian.org/spieler.php?uid=426
Most powerful ally :
http://www.travian.org/allianz.php?aid=351
You will see now that the ally needs to be organized; that has nothing to do with dictatorship or communism;