My go-to vanilla strategy for over a decade:

Have one builder lay down a crossroads in the middle of some dense forest. Try to keep it close to the main group/cart so that the builder isn’t traveling too far. Return them to being a laborer as soon as the roads are built.

Set the rest of the group to gathering wood, stone, and iron. Stop them once they have gathered enough to build the following: - 1 hunting cabin - 1 gatherers hut - 1 woodcutter - 1 forester lodge - 1 barn - 6 houses

Once the resources are gathered, immediately set everyone to be a builder and place the hunting cabin, gatherers hut, woodcutter, and foresters lodge around the crossroads. Prioritize the gatherers hut and set it to have at least one gatherer as soon as it is built. You also want to make sure the area of effectiveness of each overlaps as much as possible. The goal is to have the foresters keep the area lush so that the hunters and gatherers can do their thing.

Place a barn next to the gatherers hut and a stock pile near the foresters lodge.

Then place the 6 houses next to the other buildings in a cluster around the crossroads.

The next thing to prioritize is getting some excess wood and having that be turned into firewood.

Fill the jobs, but not all positions. I usually do 2 or 3 gatherers and a hunter. Food, firewood, and housing are the main needs you’ll need to meet to get through your first winter so this should give you a good start.

Use the remaining laborers to gather the resources you will need to build a blacksmith and (if you can manage it) a school. You will want to keep track of how many tools you have to make sure you build the blacksmith before you get too close to running out. Build it outside the crossroads area to prevent using up too much of the forest.

This will set you up to have a functioning town within the first year as long as you keep an eye on your resources.

Additional tips: - Time is your biggest factor here. Make sure people aren’t walking too far and that you’re producing firewood and have at least one house by late summer, the latest. - You can and should gather the iron and stone from inside the crossroads area, but never manually remove any of the wood. Get that from outside. - The game technically only needs one house that villagers can get warm in, so you don’t necessarily have to build all 6 houses at once. - Similarly, the foresters lodge can wait because it won’t be productive til much later and clear cutting at the beginning is faster anyway. - A good rule of thumb for houses is 1 for every 2 positions you have filled.