If you are really keen about playing Travian and want to go on to build a World Wonder, there are some things you absolutely need to do. As in every other game, winners are those who use certain tools that losers don't. The trick is in finding out what they are.

Typically, newbie Travian players are likely to face a few problems when they start out and search for a Travian tool or two to help them out. For instance, many newbies are lulled into a feeling of false security, by the beginners' protection they receive. In fact, this beginners' protection only lasts a few days.

When the protection time ends, newbies are brought rudely back to earth by a series of attacks by more experienced players who have been licking their lips in anticipation of the day. So, if you learn these first, before you venture into playing Travian, you will never find the need or urge to use cheats:

1. You must find out how to survive in the face of continual attacks, before you have been able to raise an army, or even find your feet in the game.
2. You must learn how to make such attacks pointless, at the least, so as to deter future attacks.
3. You may become impatient knowing that the game typically spans a period of 13 months. There is a way you can increase your speed by cutting down this time span to a third of its duration.
4. You may be hard pressed for time, and not be able to spend sufficient hours on the game to work it to your advantage. You need to find out if there's a way by which you can spend minimal time playing, and yet play to win by maximizing your returns.
5. Some players do badly because they have selected a tribe not in keeping with their individual personalities. If this sounds absurd let me assure you that the qualities of the three tribes of Travian are each geared to suit certain attitudes and personal traits of players.
6. Learn to use diplomacy as an effective tool, whether while negotiating to join an alliance, against aggressive opponents, or while corresponding with a multi-hunter.
7. As the game revolves around building up your resources, the order in which you build these resources is an important part of the help you need to get.

Once you have learnt these, the Travian game will no longer appear difficult as it first did.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Travian-Cheats-and-Tools---7-Tips-Newbies-Need-to-Know-First&id=1493150