Human/Merchant Build Help!

[barbrolie]

I've been reading this thread, and I think this quite hasn't been answered: can someone help? For a human/sage in a ghetto, what is a good build going into war? And what is the appropriate set of buildings to upkeep if chained? And if not chained?

And how is that different for a Human Merchant?

Please dumb your answers down for me :)

EDIT: I understand what some posts have said, that it's very context dependent, but as a general rule of thumb. In my KD around 15 people are fairly clueless, and I don't want to overburden them with choice till they find their bearing.