Greetings, this an unofficial guide to playing. I can only help so many people when I am on. Not to mention having to sleep.

Tips and Tricks What does a Few, Pack, Throng, etc. mean?  Evony wiki

Before we start, there is a Quest icon to the left of your chatbox. Click on it. Click on Daily Quest. Claim your amulet. Note that it is available to claim because it has a green check mark after it. Your Quests can be used to determine what to build, buy and what to do.

Anytime your Quest flashes red, click on it and look for the green check mark. It tells you what you accomplished. Click the Daily Quest every day you log in to get a free amulet. It can be redeemed by clicking "My Items" under your character picture on the upper right hand part of your game screen. A pop up had a tab option of "Chest." Click Chest and then click your amulet which is purple.

Step 1: Build a Cottage
Step 2: Click on "City". Click on a light square and build a Farm. Then build a Sawmill, Quarry and Iron mine.
Step 3: Click on "Town." Click your Cottage and click Upgrade.
Step 4: Click on "City" and build one more of each resource.
Step 5: Check your resources on the right hand column of your game screen. If your black numbers next to the resource icons are low, wait for your resources to build. When you have enough, upgrade your resources to lvl 2.
Step 6: Click on "Town." Click on your Town Hall. If the upgrade button is dark, click it. If it is not dark, you need more resources. Let them grow. The green number on the resource line is how much of each resource you gain an hour. The green number is increased by the number of a specific resource, say lumber is increased by Sawmills.

It takes some figuring out your own city from here on out.

Make sure you have one of everything available for your Town screen. (Cottages and Barracks require more then one.)
Make sure you build resources, as needed, on your City screen. I have heard nonsense about not needing Farms. This is not true.

To build Troops, chose a blank Town square and build a Rally Spot. The build a Barracks. Then a Feasting Hall, to house Heroes, to lead Troops. Then an Inn to find Heroes.

To have technology, such as Archery, you need an Academy. I think it requires a level 2 Forge and a level 2 Town Hall. It will tell you what you need to build it, if you hold your cursor over the button under the Academy (after clicking a blank Town square.)
 
To join an Alliance, you have to have a level 1 Embassy. To create an Alliance, you have to have a level 2 Embassy. Alliance building is not for new players. Please join an established Alliance with friendly, helpful, established players who can help you.

To buy or selling resources (not items,) it is necessary to build a Marketplace. Chose an empty Town square and build it. To use it, after its been build, click the Marketplace. There are resource tabs to the left. Click the resource you want to buy or sell. To buy it, you must have enough gold. To sell it, you must have enough for the resource you wish to sell. Click buy or sell (as needed) and it will show a blank, white box above a number. The number is how much the resource costs. Type how much you want to buy or sell in the white box. Click post. Remember, if you have a lvl 1 Marketplace, you can post one buy or sell at a time. One additional transaction is available per Marketplace lvl.

It is very important to have Walls and Archer Towers coming out of Beginner Protection. Archer Towers, or ATs, require Archery lvl 3, in the very least.

DO NOT BUILD YOUR TOWN HALL ABOVE LEVEL 4 PRIOR TO GETTING NOTIFICATION YOUR BEGINNER PROTECTION HAS ENDED.

*Troops require a Rally Spot and Barracks. Troops cannot be used with a Hero. Heroes are housed in your Feasting Hall and found in your Inn.
*Do not attack anything without scouting. Go for lvl 1 valleys (found on your Map screen.) Send two to three times the amount of troups, of equal or more powerful, levels.
*The lvl of one's Town Hall indicates the level of cottage available. (Cottages can be one level higher then the Town Hall.)
*The lvl of one's Town Hall indicates the number of valleys a city can claim. Additional valleys can be attacked, but will not provide the added percentage to resource growth.