by gmg159
Are you playing 2 player against AI or 3-4 player...I recommend 4 or at least 3. With 4 players you should get more leech which you can use for spades or coins.Very generally as you are still learning the game, I wouldn’t worry so much the 1st 3 rounds about score as I would economy. You are right that TP’s aren’t a great return, but they are a stepping stone to more important buildings. The best way to get a good economy is building a lot of dwellings and sometimes 1 bigger building early. You will need some coin through power actions, bonus tiles when passing, and even the favor for 3 coins. And if the 7 coin power action is taken, converting 1 power to 1 coin is quite common.
Now how to get green hexes to build on....the temporary shipping can be a great way to reach green hexes without any extra work digging. In general digging through the bonus spade or the power actions are the best, and you really want to only be digging the gray and red hexes. Spending resources to upgrade digging or spending 3 workers to dig is way too expensive in the 1st 3 rounds...after all 3 workers to dig and another to build costs you 4 workers and 2 coins for a dwelling, which is as much as that dwelling will produce over an entire game. Also check out the cults and opportunities to get a free spade or two from cult bonuses, these are extremely valuable early in the game.
Finally take all the leech you can in the 1st half of the game, it will pay for itself in the long run.