First I start off by placing my great tree in a place that is connected to the middle of the map.
Then I try to find a place close to that proximity that has at least 2 forests and 2 gold veins.
After that I place my Golden Sprouts and my Ancient Forests in front of my great tree (I think of them as a "un-attackable" defence).
After I have at least 5,000 Gold and 5,000 Wood I begin making troops. I don't build tree houses until this process due to the fact that during the resources process I'll need all the buildings I can get @_@
Now that I have my troops ready (primarily Chimerea, catapults, and sometimes archers) I can move them nearly anywhere due to the fact that my piece of land is connected to the middle.
I dont begin reqruiting troops until I have set their spawn point. Usually its in the middle (as always) so that it can move almost anywhere. I like to think of my catapults as a second line of defence. Therefore I only make 3-4 Elven Workshops X3. This is my strategy. Its a bit complicated and only recomended for people who KNOW that their doing X_X