Right now we will ignore deer and boar, because deer take up too much time, and board will kill your villagers. Otherwise, in the advent sheep, bring them to your Town Centre. If that source is forage or fish, then build a mill next to it. Now, our three starting villagers should be finished with real estate, and you should have found a nearby source of food (forage, sheep, fish, etc.).
The first thing you want to do is to select all you villagers and build three houses. You shouldn't stay there more than fifteen minutes (based on the game's inbuilt clock) and should have 29 villagers before upgrading to Feudal. You will want to build up the foundations of an efficient economy without taking up too much time. It's also the most important when it comes to economy. The dark age is probably the roughest part of the game, and the least fun.
