The first/second gathering commander you get, upgrade them to level 20, and max out the first two skills.Whichever civilization you choose, upgrade that Epic commander as quickly as possible, raising it's troop limit.I find it much more comfortable to play on a PC screen than on my phone, with my neck hunched over looking at the screen.My situation is quite good, so I'm lucky in this regard.I play on four devices: Home PC, Personal Cellphone, Work PC, and work cellphone.You can now play RoK while you do other things. By this I mean, install Bluestacks on your PC if you have one.Talk to your alliance members and communicate with your allies.We kick them out of our alliance almost daily for not participating in raids, forts, altars, etc.
Nothing is more frustrating than a new player who isn't active.I feel I would have reached level 16 much faster if I had joined a good alliance as soon as I could. I didn't join an alliance for the first 3 weeks. I recommend hospital as the first upgrade when I have some spare time. Focus on leveling buildings to get your requirements for the next city hall upgrade first, and if you have time, upgrade some others.Do not skip a day, always get your free goodies, and NEVER STOP BUILDING TROOPS.I admit I bought a few of those Legendary commander packs when I was prompted, but other than that. Took me about six weeks to get from New Player to level 16.