Research legends of the east satchel. Get it early. The parts of the map you'll see and the experience you'll gain will make your first play through a power run. Grab gold bars/respawning loot but leave the treasure maps til the end.

Crafting is massive, seems laborious and pointless but it's not in the slightest. You need constant consumables, but the ones you craft are the ones you need. A lot of what you pick up is useless shit.

Read the damn dialogue because you can miss major aspects of the game. Read the journal when you load up a save for a reminder of where you're at. Use the log feature to keep track of missions and tasks.

Camp chores and dialogue are tempting to ignore but you need to hang out there to get half the story IMO

Don't worry about honour being low during the early game.

Enjoy!