Gems: Save your gems. You will need 600k gems to unlock t4. And you should have 10k gems when you unlock the treasure trove to deposit. Exception is to buy the VIP level that allows you to auto complete Admin and Guild quests.
Gem mall: Do not buy gems or speed ups from the mall. A gem seller will give you 10K gems for USD$2.2 . What you should buy is material madness packs (25$, 50$ and $100. the $100 gives less materials per dollar but you receive the ability to gift items to others). Or specific monster packs for noceros and gryphon. After this, spend if you want.
Speedups: Use them to get stage 3 rewards from hell event (rewards should be gems and more speedups for research). But do mostly research hell events, as after castle level 25 you have no more buildings to upgrade and you will stop all construction. But research has a lot more to do. And you should wait until you are castle 25 and have can use 3 golden flutes and a gold trickster to use your speedups.
1. Construction:
Your main objective is to reach Castle 25, so you can get the 3rd accessory slot (to use 3 gold flutes, 3 gold circlets and 3 gold mistery boxes) and academy lvl25 research boost, and unlock everything. Exceptions are having enough infirmaries for your army and treasure trove to get gems (deposit minimum of 10000 and you get 20000 or up to 45000). All other, just upgrade to a level that doesnt take too much time or as you prefer.
Watch the cargo ship every 6hours, gives you many resources and speed ups, which all go into your bag.
2. Research:
2.1 Economy: Always research the maximum level for construction and gathering (unless you do not gather much, in that case, do hiperfarming and research the resource you chose to hiperfarm).
2.2 Military: After economy, you should unlock T3. They will help clear skirmish 8 (for special buildings and familiars) although with 100K T2 you can clear it also.
2.3 Monster Hunting: Upgrade it to be able to hunt lvl3 monsters, because the more research you have here, the more materials and gifts you get from monsters.
2.4 Max deposit I and II for treasure trove. Upgrade these to a good level so you get more free monthly gems from the treasure trove. And Stamina and monster energy limits to increase the STA and energy limits.
2.5 You should not waste time researching other things until you have done these 4. Defences are not that important, because there are always players that can come and destroy them. And they will. Better you just shelter and grow as fast as you can. Use the guild bank to save your resources that can be stolen. Also do not do other military research, as the game is played with the strong players in the guild leading the rallies against darknests and enemies, and the smaller ones sending troops to them. Just make sure you always build T3 troops and send it to them.
3. Gear
DO NOT BUILD ANY GEAR OR USE ANY JEWELS UNTIL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! Because the materials you use cannot be recovered and the jewels you need to spend gems to get then out of a gear.
3.1 Materials from tiles: There is only 3 gears that you should build with materials that come from tiles. Flutes, Circlets and Mystery boxes. All other you build will steal materials from these 3 and are not worth it.
3.2 Materials from monsters: the only gear you should build that is not lvl60 is from the noceros, gryphon and voodoo shamans (because they will boost construction, research, gathering and familiars). For war, the best gear is at lvl60 or at lvl55 for a cheaper option. Any war gear you build that is not lvl55 or above is useless and you will lose your materials and regret it later (check war gear post)
War gear ratio: 1% Attack = 2.5% HP = 75% DEF (So better choose gear with attack)
4. Talents:
4.1 When not in war, max out these, Construction, research, gathering, max load, (if you never gather, ignore these 2), then the resource you are hiperfarming (see hiperfarming guide). When possible always max out level3 and then go down to 2 and 1.
4.2 War talents: Max attack and HP only. (ask r4 for more specific advice) However unless you are doing a solo attack or leading a rally, these will not be necessary. But save your talent resets for when you need it.
5. Heroes:
5.1 You should have a gold trickster (research boost) and at least 5 heroes green for the coliseum (tracker, donna, rose are the best). After a gold trickster, you can go for a gold scarlet (construction, hunting boosts). Also you can medal up the best coliseum heroes. Or the best war heroes (check heroes for war post)
6. Guild Coins: Use guild coins to buy admin quest scrolls because they give you the most materials. (save the coins and the scrolls for guild fests and you can finish it in a few minutes with a high score)
7. Familiars: For pact 1, i recommend 2 springs, 2 gyms and 4 spirals because the runes are the hardest to get and only 2 monsters are worth it, Aquiris and Territe from pact 1A and 1B. (read familiars post for more)
8. Holy stars: save them for hell events
9. Monster energy: save them for hell events and monsters that have materials you need (like noceros and gryphon). Exception is when a monster is almost dead you should kill it.
10. Gathering: Always choose the highest level tiles you can harvest, but they must be untouched and your army needs to clear it to have the best drop rate (or at least go back and clear it). If you cannot find untouched, clear the lvl4 tiles around you and then harvest the new ones that will replace them. Lvl 3 tiles give you white and green materials, level 4 give you white, green and blue materials, and i suspect level 5 might give you purple materials (but there are only a few lvl5 tiles and around the base so it is hard to harvest). Just like the monsters.
Time and rss calculator: https://goo.gl/zXDUUs
tier 4 troops requirements:
http://www.lordsmobiledata.com/guides/how-to-unlock-tier-4-troops/
M1 guild site 