One thing I think you glossed over was wall defenses Ken. I always recommend that defenses are built up as quickly as possible. For someone just coming out of beginner protection, I would also recommend scheduling resource hungry/longer upgrades/researches right before you log out for the day - try not to leave tons of resources in your city as there are always bigger players who will look to farm weaker players.

Defense wise - Archer Towers are the king - build some traps and abatis to ensure any attack on your city starts at 5k range giving your AT's a chance to cut down the attacking force. Rolling logs and trebuchets both can only fire once in an attack and are therefore not as popular.

Until your army is big enough, better to keep your gates closed (the check box for this is in the rally point) so you don't lose your army - that also applies to losing your scouts if you are scouted by more scouts than you have.

Warehouse wise - I always keep 1 warehouse per city and set it to 100% food. If I get attacked by wave after wave - I at least have some food to comfort and start to rebuild loyalty. However, big time players who have Privateering can plunder from warehouses so at some point your warehouses will be rendered useless.