You might find some of these interesting, though many of them are rather old:

Top 10 things a new player should do/know: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445229

What type of heroes work best overall: https://forums.elementalgame.com/444783

Some stuff about combat: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448225

Some stuff about melee champions: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448214

Comparison of Assassin/Warrior/Defender: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445788

Mage Unit Design tips: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445308

Some stuff about map setup: https://forums.elementalgame.com/447478

Use of Non-Mage Heroes: https://forums.elementalgame.com/446606

Some stuff about Assassins: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448862

Champion-Champion and Champion-Henchman experience interaction: https://forums.elementalgame.com/442186

Spell Mastery vs Spell Resistance: https://forums.elementalgame.com/446514

Clever Tricks: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448924

Resoln Overview: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445825

Champion Archers: https://forums.elementalgame.com/452464/page/1/#3449352

Getting Champions to high levels: https://forums.elementalgame.com/452493/page/1/#3452554

Sovereign Path: https://forums.elementalgame.com/452251/page/1/#3450881

Fighting Dragons: https://forums.elementalgame.com/450677/page/1/#3425226

Custom Character and Faction creation: https://forums.elementalgame.com/449299/page/1/#3408504

A bit about Capitar: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448826/page/1/#3407756

A 'noob' help thread: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448133/page/1/#3394498

"How to handle your cities": https://forums.elementalgame.com/447952/page/1/#3394037

Food and growth: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448091/page/1/#3394334

Appearance of fertile areas: https://forums.elementalgame.com/448111/page/1/#3394625

Some stuff about settlement rules: https://forums.elementalgame.com/447385/page/1/#3387291

Another 'noob' questions thread: https://forums.elementalgame.com/446543/page/1/#3380447

Value of essence: https://forums.elementalgame.com/446148/page/1/#3377187

Another 'noob' help thread: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445263/page/1/#3370789

List of city level-up improvements: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445642/page/1/#3370577

Using magic: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445631/page/1/#3370289

Healing heroes: https://forums.elementalgame.com/445191/page/1/#3365484

Of those, the ones I would concentrate on most are the top two links; the others you can read if you think you're interested. Please be aware that some (many) of these threads are rather old and not necessarily up to date.

To more directly answer your questions - I prefer to start off researching the entire first tier of the Civilization tree, just like Crathsor. I prefer to stay in the Civilization tree for a while; depending on difficulty and how comfortable I am with the situation, I might stay until I have Economics and Craftsmanship. I prefer not to start climbing the Magic tree until I have a reason to; without shards and with little poor sources of crystal, the Magic tree doesn't really do you any good. The Warfare tree, however, gives you some equipment (both weapons and armor) which is free from all global resource requirements, and moreover metal production can be improved using the same research path that improves your city production.

As far as troops go, I prefer to keep early armies small, using just the starter units for my sovereign, and training two or three militia to accompany the first or second champion. I would not recommend more than three such armies; there's just not enough exploring that needs to be done to gain much benefit from having much more than that, and it'll cut into your gold reserves. Please note that this is a relatively high risk strategy, as you'll be using small armies of weak units, which could adversely impact your ability to expand. I simply prefer building up my cities over having large armies; AIs will be more aggressive towards you as a result of your low power rating, and monsters will be a relatively greater threat to your armies, but it's good practice for preserving your units and getting the most out of them that you can.

I also tend to prefer to start off with a Conclave as my capitol city, and want at least three essence wherever I decide to place my primary training fortress. Some other people prefer to start with a Fortress, as it builds things faster and gives them somewhat better units than I'd get. Conclave first is more of a boom strategy and is therefore 'better' on a safer start, Fortress first is more of a rush or turtle strategy and thus is 'better' on a relatively dangerous start. Try both for a couple of games and see which way you like to play better. Town first is more of a wonder-grab move than a boom/turtle/rush strategy, as improved gold economy isn't actually worth that much compared to early research enhancement or better early troops and production. Plus, above the challenging or hard difficulty, it becomes increasingly unlikely that you'll even be in the race for the wonders, let alone actually grab one, unless you happen to really focus research on one of the less commonly-built wonders (Ereog's Tower in a game without New Pariden and Resoln would be the main example I can think of, but that's not a research path I could recommend in good conscience except under special circumstances).

Edit: And, before I forget - if you want to add a ranged component to your army and you have at least one crystal source, I'd recommend going for the fire and ice staves from the magic tree rather than going for the bows and crossbows in the Warfare tree. Magic staffs are much more readily available than bows are, aren't concerned about armor, and let you kill banshees without expending mana or relying on finding that Burning Battle Axe and actually remembering to equip it on your hero before entering battle. Other than for the ranged component, I'd stay out of the magic tree as far as early-game combat technology goes. (If you want to see my fuller thoughts on the subject, look at the first noob help thread in my list of potentially useful threads, and find my first post within that thread.)

I am not going to be a horse's ass and simply respond, "Yes." But I have to tell you the parameters you set for each game really should have a lot to do with your approach at various points in that game.

For example, if start up as Procipinee or a Pariden-like character, you will want to get some of the basic civ research done, but also push the magic tree to get access to the four elemental books. Pariden also has basic spearchuckers who can shoot out a lightning bolt, so you'll want to develop elemental shards, and create buildings that improve their yield. On a small world, Pariden is much, much tougher to play, while on a huge one, it has a chance to develop into a powerful force. Unlike, say, Magnar, who needs to expand quickly from the start, feed and grow large populations, and turn them into hors d'oeuvres.

So size of world, choice of race, choice of ruler, the strength of magic, the AI players in the game with you--kingdoms, or empires, or a mix--will have a lot to do with the game you play. In general, get those basic civ researches done. Get enough war researches to increase your stack by one. Get enough magic research to harvest mana. Send out your ruler and champion with a few units, and start trolling for monsters. Create a settler, and look for a nice piece of land with good resources, away from monster encampments, etc.

Oh, and bear in mind that on the lowest two levels of gameplay, your cities won't get attacked by monsters. If you set the AI to those levels, neither will they, though their playing will suffer in other respects.