Best strategy for beginners

So you found out about travian and you want to play, but you have no idea how? Or did you play already but you had to delete because you were a farm? This is the guide for you!

Choosing a tribe

When you first register you will need to choose a tribe. This is very important. There are three tribes: Romans, Gauls and Teutons.

Romans are balanced in both attack and defence. Their city wall provides the highest defence bonus of all tribes, but it is also very easy to destroy. Their merchants can carry 500 resources, the least of all tribes. Their special building, the horse drinking trough is useful in mid/late game. And they can build resource fields and buildings simultaneously.

Gauls are mostly defensive. Their palisade is balanced, it provides a good defence bonus and it's not too easy to destroy. Their merchants can carry 1500 resources, the most of all tribes, and they are also the fastest. Their special building, the trapper, is very useful in early game but not too useful in mid/late game. And their cranny can hide 50% more resources than others.

Teutons are very offensive. Their earth wall is almost indestructible, but it provides the smallest defence bonus. Their merchants can carry 1000 resources, however, they are the slowest. Their special building, the brewery, is pretty useful. And their troops are very cheap and fast to produce.

So now that we've seen the pros and cons of each tribe, which one should you choose? In my opinion, Gauls! They have the best defence, their cranny can hide more which means your resources won't get stolen, and in early game, most people will avoid you because of the trapper.
Or  you could also go with Romans. Their double build feature is very nice. It depends on how active you are. With Romans you have to be more active than Gauls. If you are active once a day or less, I recommend that you move out to coordinates at approximately 300/300 (it could also be -300/300, -300/-300 or 300/-300). That way people won't bother attacking you as you are far away, and even if they do, you will have enough time to see it. You can also do this if you are active, but by doing this you won't really be able to raid. 
DON'T choose Teutons. With Teutons you need to be extremely active and experienced. All your clubswingers can get destroyed by one cavalry attack. If you choose Teutons on your first server, in one month you will have to delete. So choose wisely.

One more thing I'd like to say is start on a new server! Start on day 1-10. I have seen a few guides where they said that the best time to start for beginners is 1.5-3 months after serverstart. Wrong! They claimed that then you would be surrounded with beginners. This is partially true, however, good players will be a lot bigger than you by than, and someone will destroy you.

First day

You should start when you have a bit of time. Ideally, two hours for the first day. In the first week you will need to be active, later it takes less time. On your first day, you should follow the taskmaster's tasks. They will get you going. When you run out of resources, go to sleep and wait for the next day.

Second day

On your second day, continue with the tasks, but start training troops. Build the prerequisites for barracks if you haven't already and make some phalanxes/legionnaires (I assume you listened to me and you are not playing as Teuton). Then concentrate on resource fields. You will find that you don't need the same amount of each resource (depending on tribe). So upgrade more of what you need. Keep it pretty balanced though. You don't want to produce e.g. 200 clay and 70 iron. You can also build a marketplace and start trading. Don't forget to collect the reward you get from daily quests, a new thing in 4.4.

First week

On day three continue with the tasks and troop training. Sometime around day 4-5 you will be asked if you want to extend your beginners protection. It depends whether you want to raid and risk a bit, or you want to be peaceful and safe. For beginners I recommend that you do extend it. The other bad thing by doing so, though, is that you are only able to do 1:1 trades. Either way, start building crannies before you exit beginners protection. Build it so it covers your warehouse/granary capacity. For Gauls 2 crannies lvl 10 should be good, for Romans three. Also if you're Gaul, build a trapper and make some traps. It is useful in early game.

Second week

So your beginner protection ended. I hope you built crannies. If you are Romans you can start raiding with legionnaires. Villages below 9 population can't have barracks, so they are safe. If you are Gaul, you might want to research swordsmen and start raiding. Same goes for Romans, research Praetorians to improve defence a bit. You should be close to building your second village now. In your first village, absolutely build a residence. Don't build a palace!

Choosing a spot to settle 2nd village

Choosing a spot to settle 2nd village can be difficult. I already talked about going out to 300/300. But there is another decision you have to make: how many resource fields of each type do you want? I don't recommend going for a cropper as your second village. You should either choose default (4/4/4/6) or with less iron (Gauls) or more iron (Romans). And don't settle close to a big player. I learnt this the hard way.

Final words

You are now no longer a newbie! You settled your second village. Congratulations! If you ever find that you are being attacked, just make sure the attackers don't get resources. If you see your cranny won't cover your resources, spend and send them. If you can't do that either, destroy them (Start building a building then cancel. Repeat.). If you can't have them then nobody should. And make sure to check out other guides. Thank you for reading. :)