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Army evaluation:
Gremlins 3/3/4/1-2/4/30
Master Gremlins 4/4/4/1-2/5/40, shoots
The only 1stlevel shooter! But don't be too happy - gremlins are weak both in offense and in defense. However, expert bless gives them 100% increase ;-)

Stone Gargoyles 6/6/16/2-3/6/130
Obsidian Gargoyles 7/7/16/2-3/9/160
An average unit, good against shooters.

Stone Golems 7/10/30/4-5/3/150, 50% damage from magic
Iron Golems 9/10/35/4-5/5/200, 25% damage from magic
Ideal troop for castle defense - cheap, tough, magic resistant and with solid damage, this one can block holes in castle walls forever.

Magi 11/8/25/7-9/5/350, no melee penalty
Arch Magi 12/9/30/7-9/7/450, no melee penalty, reduces spell costs by 2, no walls penalty
Strong shooter with good specials.

Genies 12/12/40/13-16/7/550, hates Efreet
Master Genies 12/12/40/13-16/11/600, hates Efreet, casts random beneficial spell Very potent unit (for sitting in the back line and casting spells), also for cleaning of low-level units. Keep out of reach of enemy grunts.

Nagas 16/13/110/20/5/1100, no retaliation
Naga Queens 16/13/110/30/7/1600, no retaliation
Best 6thlevel troop, but the cost reflects that.

Giants 19/16/150/40-60/7/2000 + 1g, immune to mind spells
Titans 24/24/300/40-60/11/5000 + 2g, immune to mind spells, shoots, no melee penalty, 150% damage against dragons
Very potent but expensive. Luckily, unupgraded variant can be built quickly.

Upgrading priorities:
* Master Gremlins: High in early game, because their numbers are great.
* Obsidian Gargoyles: Low, unless needed against shooters. Good for scout arm, however.
* Iron Golems: Very Low, unless you can't build Nagas or unless you've got plenty of them and need them for offensive.
* Arch Magi: Higher, speed up and sieging special are worth it.
* Master Genies: High, their special, although uncontrollable, works wonders.
* Naga Queens: High for +50% damage and +2 speed.
* Titans: Top, although very costly. One of the best 7thlevels.

Castle building in the first week:
Day 1:  Town Hall        2500g
Day 2:  Parapet          1000g + 10o
Day 3:  Golem Factory    2000g + 5w + 5o
Day 4:  Mage Guild       2000 g + 5w + 5o
Day 5:  Mage Tower       2500g + 5w + 5o + 5cgms
Day 6a: Golden Pavillion 4000g + 5w +5o + 2cgms
Day 6b: Altair of Wishes 3000g + 5w + 5o + 6cg
Day 7:  Citadel          2500g + 5o

Workshop as 1stlevel dwelling assumed present. If it's not present, we must forget about Citadel or one of the alternative day6 buildings, unless we decide to delay TownHall.
If we have enough resources, we can sacrifice Townhall and Citadel to build
ALL dwellings in the first week, since Cloud Temple costs only 5000g + 10w + 10o + 10g. I'd vote for that in cases where a HillFort is nearby to upgrade the two giants to titans on the very next day - with such unstoppable force you can explore very aggresively, so the costs will come back fast.
If gold is abundant, the TownHall can wait in favor of Genies AND Nagas built in the first week.

Resource summary:
You'll need 20w, 35o and 16500g, which leaves us (20000 + 7000 - 16500) =
10500g for Day 1 to spend on troops. Since most of the troops are much better upgraded, I'd suggest buying out Nagas and Magi and use these two troops for exploration force.
(However, an upgraded Workshop will usually throw in a significant amount
(100+) master gremlins.
I consider Nagas better than Genies for the second week exploration, since they have non-retaliated attack. I also recommend upgrading them. [They're very expensive - but I suggest to compare them with 7thlevel behemoths (unupgraded) to see that they're worth the money.]

Second week strategies:
After getting City Hall, focus on two or three troops types, upgrade them and try to buy them all in third week. (I suggest Naga Queens, Arch Magi and
Master Gremlins.) All other upgrades can wait.
Pay extreme attention to securing ALL mines - you'll need a lot of rare resources to get the most out of your troops and heroes.

Troops cost weekly (with castle):
Without 7th level: 20800
With 7th level: 30800
With one castle producing 14000/week and one of the most expensive army sets, you'll get used to ignoring golems and either genies or gargoyles completely until you secure large gold sources. Tower is the only town that isn't self-sufficient even with Capitol - the Titans add 10000, thus making the weekly budget almost 3000 in deficit.
HPs grown weekly 1820 (plus 600 in titans) at 11.42 g/HP (12.72)

Benefits:
* Artifact Merchants: May be useful, but seldom you'll have 10 grand to spare.
* Blacksmith: Ammo Cart (useless);
* Library: Extra spell in each level of guild - great!
* Lookout Tower: May be useful in cases where you must choose one path in early exploration (i.e. if two ways are guarded by two strong armies and you can't beat both with the same force.). Also good if you have a close Necro neighbour, as it eliminates Cover of Darkness in a too close city.
* Resource Silo: +1 gem /day
* Sculptor's wings: +4 gargoyle growth (good).
* Wall of knowledge: +1 knowledge per hero (good, esp. for defending heroes.

Strategy
In your first week, ore will be crucial, if you want high dwellings. Wood can wait into second week for City Hall action.
Try to use upgraded troops (esp. gremlins).

Forces combination:
If your starting heroes have brought many gremlins, upgrade them ASAP. For their protection, any slower walker may be used. However, if gremlins are low in count, you might press for upgrade on Nagas and use them with their high damage and speed as the main offensive unit.
I often explore with Nagas being the only troop, divided in two or three stacks.
Once you get Master Genies, take two to four strong armies (master gremlin hordes, magi, nagas and/or titans) and split the genies into all the remaining free slots. Having i.e. three offensive armies and four master genies to cast a spell on them each turn is a very effective combination, as the genies can cast any beneficial spell, ranging from 'Protection from ...' to Prayer! The genii should engage battle only in absolute need. They can cast three times in a battle. They won't cast duplicate spells, they won't cast spells useless under current battle condition (like Protection from... when enemy hero cannot cast spells.) Their spells are cast at power 6 and Advanced level of the corresponding school.

Heroes:
Best pick from Alchemists is Torosar (Tactics, Ballista). Fafner likes Nagas, others aren't that useful (Golems, Gargoyles and Genies aren't critical offensive units and having a special wasted at them isn't good).
Wizards are better: Astral is hypnotizer with Advanced Wisdom, Cyra has
Diplomacy and Haste. Theodorus has Ballistics and promotes Magi, but the all-round favorite pick is Solmyr with ChainLightning! Others are useless, except for Aine (350 gold) as secondary.

Skills important for the troops and strategy:
With three shooters (and esp. Titans), get Archery!
With Libraries, you might consider Sorcery and Magic Schools, because the probability of getting useful spells is much higher.

Unit            A  D  HP  Dmg   Sp $$   AdjD  Dm/g grow weekD
Master Gremlins 4  4  4   1-2   5  40   1.32  3.30 32   42
Obsidian Garg,  7  7  16  2-3   9  160  2.35  1.47 22   52
Iron Golems     9  10 35  4-5   5  200  4.41  2.21 12   53
Arch Magi       12 9  30  7-9   7  450  8.80  1.96 8    70
Master Genies   12 12 40  13-16 11 600  15.95 2.66 6    96
Naga Queens     16 13 110 30-30 7  1600 39    2.44 4    156
Titans          24 24 300 40-60 12 5000 85    1.70 2    170

Chapter VIII: Stronghold guide

Strengths:
Cheapest troops
Most offensive troops

Weaknesses:
Lack of potent shooters - cyclops are hard to build due to ore and crystal requirements.
Only one flyer

Army evaluation:
Goblins 4/2/5/1-2/5/40
Hobgoblins 5/3/5/1-2/7/50
Due to their speed, both goblins and hobgoblins are somewhat more useful than you'd expect for a 1stlevel troop.

Wolf riders 7/5/10/2-4/6/100
Wolf raiders 8/5/10/3-4/8/140, two strikes
A good offensive troop. They're extremely bad on defense, so you need to protect them.

Orcs 8/4/15/2-5/4/150
Orc chieftans 8/4/20/2-5/5/165
Another offensive unit - they make good cheap shooters and upgraded are pretty durable.

Ogres 13/7/40/6-12/4/300
Ogre magi 13/7/60/6-12/5/400, cast Bloodlust
Ogres are great fighters, yet their lower speed assures them defensive tasks, especially protection of orcs. BloodLust is cast at Advanced level (+6 attack) and is affected by Magic Plains/Cursed Ground.

Rocs 13/11/60/11-15/7/600
Thunderbirds 13/11/60/11-15/11/700, Lightning attack
Both variants are good flying fighters, important in most battles.

Cyclopes 15/12/70/16-20/6/750, attacks siege walls (Basic Ballistic level)
Cyclops kings 17/13/70/16-20/8/1100, attacks siege walls (Adv. Ballistic level)
Powerful special!

Behemoths 17/17/160/30-50/6/1500, reduces target defense by 40%
Ancient Behemoths 19/19/300/30-50/9/3000 + 1c, reduces target defense by 80%
Behemoths make excellent fighters, although they're not as remarkable as other 7thlevel creatures.

Upgrading priorities:
* Hobgoblins: Low, unless you're going to use them in offensive campaigns.
Taking into account affinity of castle tower fire towards them, you probably will take them along only as cannonfodder.
* Wolf raiders: High, for the speed boost, double attack and higher damage. May become low if you manage to build Rocs and Behemoths quickly.
* Orc chieftans: High, for the increased HPs and higher speed.
* Ogre magi: High, for the special and +50% HPs.
* Thunderbirds: Top, for the +4 speed and nice cleaning special.
* Cyclope Kings: Moderate, for increased special effect and +2 speed.
* Ancient Behemoths: High, for the speed boost and almost doubled HPs.

Castle building in the first week:
Day 1: Town Hall     2500g
Day 2: Wolf pen      1000 g + 10w + 5o
Day 3: Orc Tower     1000g + 5w + 5o
Day 4: Cliff Nest    2500g + 10o
Day 5: Behemoth Lair 10000g + 10w + 10o + 10c
Day 6: Ogre Fort     2000g + 20w
Day 7: Citadel       2500g + 5o

Goblin Barracks as 1stlevel dwelling assumed present. If it's not present, we don't go for Ogre Fort.
If we can't get enough resources, we should focus on less dwellings and try to upgrade them. A good combination is Hobgoblins, WolfRaiders and Thunderbirds (and these troops are pretty fast, too!)

Resource summary:
You'll need 25w (45 with ogres), 35o and 21500g, which leaves us (20000 + 7000
- 21500) = 5500g (7500 without ogres) for Day 1 to spend on troops. That isn't any much, but you'll be able to recruit three behemoths and a few rocs, which should provide capable army for exploration.
The minimal variant with upgraded cliff nest, wolf pen and goblin barracks, but without orc tower, ogre fort and behemoth lair requires 7000 less gold, so you'll be able to recruit all the built troops and still have some gold left to raise CityHall quickly, if you'll get the required wood.

Second week strategies:
If you choose the rich variant with all dwellings, you'll have a lot of unpurchased troops in the castle, so hurry for all the gold you can get.
The minimal variant will have priorities in getting all the extra wood, ore and a crystal mine first and extra gold later.

Troops cost weekly (with castle):
Without 7th level: 18530
With 7th level: 24530
With one castle producing 14000/week, you will probably do well without ogres and possibly either goblins or wolfraiders... yet the goblins make good cannonfodder for AI castle turrets. Capitol at 28000/week will spare some 4000 gold a week, thus making the Stronghold the richest town in the game.
HPs grown weekly 1770 (plus 600 in ancient behemoths) at 10.46 g/HP (10.35).