I have played MTW and RTW to death and have finally purchased MTW:2. I find it much cheaper to play games about a half-decade behind the rest of the world. I have the gold edition ordered and on the way. I had a few questions

1) Do i need to patch both the vanilla game and kingdoms separately?
2) What's the best way to get started as a new player? A vanilla game or one of the kingdoms campaigns?
3) I have seen frogbeastegg's guides to the kingdoms campaigns. Is there a similar document for the vanilla game? I enjoyed RTW so much more after reading her guide to that game.
4) Any quick pointers not covered in the manual that a TW veteran but new to this game NEEDS to know?