5 steps to being able to defend yourself from big players

step one : take a week, keep your gates closed and do nothing but farm npc's, answer mail and build warriers

step two: build a few traps, then archertowers, build your first batch in one group of 1000 f at all possable, use the speed up item if you have one... the more you build in the first group the better if you are using the speed up item

step 3) spend half your resources building archer towers, the other half building archer up to 50k

so now you should have 100k warrior, 50k archers, and about 7k AT
and a good supply of food

step 4) open your gates, train your other troops for whatever plans you have in mind, hide your scouts if you are building them untill you have 80k or more

step5) keep your barracks busy, keep your gates open, and if you are underattack announce the specifics in chat imediately, co-ordinate your own defense. make peoplearrive just before attack lands to supprise the enemy