New to MTW2

[Mahrabals apprentice]

I have just this week begun playing MTW2 (and am installing kingdoms as I write this) I have played around a bit with a few factions and need a bit of advice.

What are the best ways to grow my economy? I try to get ports built as fast as I cna in cities, along with the market line of building and merchants. Are the number of merchants I am allowed linked to the number/level of markets I have? Is it a good idea to build farms for the income or does large populations become a problem later on? What exactly does a merchants guild do for me (I built one in Milan, assuming that I wouold build more skilled merchants, but they were no better than the ones I could produce before). And how do I get my merchants to increase in skill?

Choosing the right faction for me. Based on how I played MTW and RTW I want to build good defensive armies comprised of powerful heavy infanty, backed up with good ranged units and some heavy cavalry. I would also like to be catholic. I have tried England (not got past turn 30-ish) and found their infantry was mediocore at best, do they get much better later on?

What is the latest patch for the game?

Are there any major bugs I need to know of? (I am aware there was a bug where units with 2 handed weapons would not kill because of their animations, is this fixed?)

EDIT: 1 more question. How I change the game from turns to years?

Thanks