fighting:
-fire scares grey dwarfs
-shield and club should be effective against skeletons. stag breaker is unnecessary and is really more for hitting skeletons through walls in the narrow crypt hallways.
-avoid troll until you have bronze buckler and spear, unless you want to kite forever with arrows.
-stay away from grey dwarf spawners unless you are sure you can destroy them if you push in.
-use spear throw against grey dwarf shaman to target him first in a mixed group.
-if you dont like what you see in the first crypt, retreat and try another one. dont keep dying to the same 2 starred skeleton.
-priority for early bronze is buckler.

exploring:
-mark crypts, troll caves, and grey dwarf spawners. don't mine your first copper near these locations.
-make cart paths on the shore (sea level) and bring copper from inland down to the main shore path. this is as opposed to making long winding paths through the middle of the forest which will be confusing and difficult to defend. try to explore from the shore, as you cannot get surrounded because half of your sight line is water. tin is along the shore also.
-bring enough materials with you to make a shelter on the run, to recharge rest. dont run back and forth to your main base every time you need new rest. if you are cold, wet, and not rested, everything will be harder. use some of your early bronze to make a cart, which not only helps you bring metal back to base, but helps you bring your camping supplies out to the mining site.
-when mining, take a few swings and then look around to see if you aggroed anyone. mining has extremely large noise radius.
-if you are really broke, remember you only need 5 cores to smelt, as you can deconstruct kiln and smelter to swap the cores back and forth.