You poor devil! You have opened Pandora's box and soon your life will be ruined...
Actually you'll find that you've discovered a rather addictive game that through the tireless efforts of it's loyal supporters will give you years of pleasure. You'll also find that here, there are many folks with years of experience who are more than willing to offer good advice as I'm sure you've already noticed.
The big thing is to just play, learn and have fun. One of the things that has kept me hooked for ages is just the ability to create new engagements on new maps so long campaigns are a blast and things don't get stale as you sometimes find in other games.
As for newbie strategy, I'd suggest that it never hurts to flirt with the Gods of the Tubes as experienced artillery support is a real plus if you get into any self generated campaigns.
Good luck - Steve