Just began playing this game 8 weeks ago (as of this post), therefore let me add two caveats right off the start:

 Being rather new to "Sparta: War of Empires" and currently working on level 63, the list below is my current take on things. Some tips might be incomplete, some misleading, some plain wrong. See this as a disclaimer my lawyer had me insert to prevent future legal action :-). 

I'm a conservative player by nature, therefore I'm more intent on building a viable settlement with a balanced economy and a sturdy defense, rather than investing in troops and slugging it out. But make no mistake, many aggressive players are very successful, willing to sacrifice troops and drachmas in order to earn even more troops and drachmas. But that is not me. 

So here, after the above limitations, are my tips: 

1. Do not use Drachmas to buy or revive units until you know what you’re doing. 
   
2. Grow your Acropolis along with your resource and storage buildings. 
   
3. Remember that when raided, you can also quarter your defenses in the Acropolis. 
   
4. Don’t spend Drachmas on walls and towers until later in the game. 
   
5. Don’t play all events; pick those which fit your needs and objectives. 
   
6. Keep your troop strength at grain production levels. 
   
7. Make sure your artisan(s) is/are NEVER idle. 
   
8. Check the Wheel of Fortune daily for deals one cannot refuse … but make sure you really need what is offered. Buying an item one doesn’t require at a discount is still a waste of money. 
   
9. Always quarter your offensive troops in the Acropolis. If your resources do not overflow Acropolis capacity, consider also quartering your defense, so making even the strongest players leave empty-handed. 
   
10. Always scout your opponent before committing troops to a raid or siege. 
    
11. Make sure you are CONSTANTLY updating agreements. 
    
12. Save your boosts, specials and dominion speed-up’s for when you really need them. 
    
13. If in doubt what to build or upgrade, check the quests. 
    
14. Do not use a nick or a city name which indicates your time zone. “Village Girl” as a nick and “New York” as a city name will just give others a nice clue as to when you are offline and potentially vulnerable. 
    
15. Complete but do not cash in your Divine Quests whenever possible. (1) It’s a good place to stash resources securely and (2) they can be all cashed in when an apposite mission comes along. 
    
16. Battle Persians only if they are 20 to 25 levels below you (and you have build sufficient troops matching your grain production). 
    
17. Do not attack members of other coalitions unless you are prepared to fight it out with his or her coalition brethren. If unavoidable, check opponent’s coalition regarding size,influence and especially strong players in your immediate neighborhood. 
    
18. Sieges are the poor people’s raids, raids are most often the better tool. 
    
19. Never risk meaningful number of troops at Emporia, the returns are not commensurate unless you are looking to score tourney points.. 
    
20. Use the “Contacts” lists to create and update dossiers on your foes. 
    
21. Make friends; you will need them to acquire additional building spaces. 
    
22. Visit your friends daily to (a) repair towers, (b) summon heroes and (c) take home some resources. 
    
23. If sieged, don’t panic. You will still be able to raid, siege and engage in all other activities; the only downside is that the sieging player will leach some timber and bronze off your production. 
    
24. Your very first investment of Drachmas should be a 2nd artisan (see also next). 
    
25. Before spending Drachmas, consider waiting for special offers which may amount to 80% off the standard price. 
    
26. When involved in a coalition challenge, check chat or rules of engagement and orders. 
    
27. Check the Embassy to view the diplomatic states with other Coalitions and respect these agreements. 
    
28. When studying scrolls at the Academy, take the courses down the middle axis and complete these only as far as is necessary to access the next course. This will later allow you to access other study branches more quickly.  
    
29. Do not risk losing your strongest units in defending Protectorates or Emporia. 
    
30. Remember to complete the divine quests. The longer ones offer up to 30k of resources. 
    
31. Logon daily in order to increase your dominion status and cash in on the Sparta Allegiance prizes. 
    
32. Never make decisions in anger; and never attempt to get even for the sake of it. Consider your options and your targets and act accordingly. 
    
33. Early in the game, siege only inactive players and leave but a skeleton defense behind. 
    
34. Attempt to build small, local alliances, especially with a stronger player in your area. 
    
35. If you are often involved in battle, upgrade your Infirmary. At level 13, the Infirmary will heal 30% of your troops (but only those used in defense of your city). 
    
36. Don’t spend resources earned in events or elsewhere; leave them at the Market where they are safe and will soon add up to a nice nest egg for when times get rough. 
    
37. Have questions or need help: (1) check the in-game Guide, (2) ask in Chat, (3) use the Plarium Forum, (4) read the Wiki and (5) google it; the game resources have been well indexed by Google and you should find everything you are looking for rather quickly. 
    
38. Remember to mix and upgrade your elixirs and activate those which match your current gameplan and troop types. 
    
39. Completed divine quests can be left unclaimed until needed, but remember that each quest category holds only 10 quests, therefore don’t leave more than 5 quests unclaimed (per category) so leaving room for new quests (unless you have dominion activated, in which case you will be getting 7 or more new quests and should only store 3 completed quests). 
    
40. Engage in chat often so that your coalition brethren get to know you. 
    
41. Do not upgrade elixirs above level IV until you have acquired a caduceus. 
    
42. Remember to upgrade the Agora, which will reduce building and upgrade times of your artisan. 
    
43. Do not build units while offline, especially offensive units. 
    
44. Keep an eye out for bot-cities, you will recognize these by their generic names such as “55kjd3ij”. These are usually undefended and offer good resource counts. 
    
45. Check your Mail (PM’s). 
    
46. If you need to stash excess resources, consider using ships. Create a disadvantageous trade offer and leave your ships waiting in harbour (but don’t be too surprised if some desperate ingenue takes the deal anyway :-). 
    
47. Keep your stored resource count below your Acropolis capacity where possible. 
    
48. Remember to pick up the daily offerings of resource in the carts outside the front gate and the small boats in the harbour. 
    
49. Trade double articles at the market; and don’t wait too long or you won’t find anyone willing to trade higher level against lower level ones. If you’re stuck with an article, consider donating it to a coalition member or send it to an officer for redistribution. 
    
50. Check your progress in the Achievements lists, as there are many prizes to be had. 
    
51. During the first weeks, save any Drachmas, Dinarii, upgrade sketches or GP’s (glory points) until you have a better grasp as to where to invest these. 
    
52. Don’t forget to claim your reward packs as they expire within 3 days (Market > MIsc. > Special) 
    
53. To move buildings, select “edit mode” (the “arrow” icon bottom right above zoom), then click a building. All structures except default buildings (Acropolis, Infantry Camp) and resource production buildings may be moved, walls, towers and most decor also deleted. Click “Save” (bottom right) when finished. 
    

So there :-)- I'm sure I'll reap some disagreement for the above, so let me know what you think and how these are working for you )or not :-). If nothing else, perhaps the odd item in the above list will at least trigger recognition (or introduce some game aspect not thought of previously.

Cheers