Hello, welcome to Torn City! Im George, feel free to PM me if you need help or ever have any questions. I also urge you to add me as a friend to save my name :)

1) GET TO LEVEL 15 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Getting to level 15 unlocks the travel agency. This allows for traveling, where you can fly all over the world, buy plushies and flowers for cheap, and sell them for thousands more back home, or traded for points in the museum. Traveling also allows the ability to travel to Switzerland for rehabilitation, and China for the fortune teller. Players can make millions of dollars a day traveling this way if done right.
The quickest way to do this is through leveling targets. These are (moderately) high level players with very low battle stats for their level. Attacking and leaving these players will greatly reduce the time needed to get to level 15, and I recommend using ALL energy doing this. But although they are weak, they are not completely defenseless and will require at least a little of each battle stat to defeat. Until you get about 300-1000 stats, or if you are consistently losing, I would recommend training instead.
Here is Triplicant's leveling target list, sorted by level.
Once you find some leveling targets that work for you and you can reliably defeat, add them to your enemies list. This will do two things. It will save their name to keep them separate from other leveling targets on the list, and it will also, if you go to the enemies page, easily show you when they are okay and able to be attacked.

2) SELLING LOSSES.
Selling losses is where older players will pay (sometimes up to 300k each, don't do less than 200k each) for you to attack and lose to them.
To do this go to forums> attacking and see who's paying the most. Then you attack and lose to them on purpose. Depending on their instructions, you either just wait and they'll pay you, or send them a message detailing how many attacks you did. (Be sure to have plenty of small first aid kits on hand first)
Although this is a quick and reliable way of getting money as a very new player, I do not recommend this unless necessary, as it will take its toll on your battle stats/leveling progress. Using Xanax you can attack and lose a few times, buy more Xanax, do it over and over, and soon you'll have enough to train with and attack leveling targets.

3) CONSIDER DONATOR/SUBSCRIBER STATUS
Although it may be expensive for new players, (they can also be bought individually for $5 each in the Donator House, supporting Torn), it will be worth it. Among its many perks, the most important and helpful is its increased maximum energy and quickened energy regeneration.
(100max -> 150 max), (5 energy/15 minutes -> 5 energy/10 minutes)
Subscriber also has monthly gifts (books, etc) which are VERY helpful, and a daily point giveaway.

4) BUY/RENT A PRIVATE ISLAND
Private Islands, also known as PI's, are extremely helpful in Torn. Living in a PI can GREATLY increase maximum happy (happy effects gym gains significantly), and once level 15, a private island with an airstrip will reduce travel time, and increase travel capacity. Travel capacity is the number of items you can bring back from abroad. This can be increased with an airstrip, books, company specials, suitcases (highly recommended), and the Excursion faction upgrade.

5) FIND A FACTION
Faction membership is imperative. They can loan you weapons and armor which you could not otherwise afford, provide drugs (though usually not Xanax), medical supplies, temporary weapons, help you with any questions you may have, and let's not forget the upgrades! Faction upgrades can increase passive stats, stat gains, medical product efficiency, reduce overdose chances, increase travel capacity, and much, much more.
It is very important you find a faction with good perks that suit your play style. Generally, the factions with the highest respect will have the best perks, although some will have requirements a new player won't be able to fulfill. Respect can be used by factions to upgrade their upgrade tree, unlocking some of the MANY upgrades available.

6) YOUR SEASONAL FREEBEE
This can only be used 4 times every year, once per newsletter, but it can be very helpful. If you go to settings>email subscriptions and get Torn to resend the last newsletter, and scroll all the way to the bottom, click the freebee link, you get 250 FREE ENERGY credited to your account. Although many people will say to save until you are fully stacked for a happy jump, it can be just as helpful to use first thing in the game, to sell losses for more Xanax, for example.

7) FIND A JOB
It may be hard, and not in your best interest, to right away work for a company. I would actually recommend working for the army until you get the 300 INT needed to work for education. Then just stay in education for a while. It is (without buying expensive company trains) the fastest way to grow work stats due to its job specials.

8) ALWAYS DO YOUR MISSIONS
Doing missions is a must every day. Doing the missions you get (1 per day at exactly 00:00) can provide you with invaluable missions credits, which can be used to buy specialty ammunition, gun mods, and books, all very helpful and untradable, meaning that they CANNOT be bought on the item market, private bazaars, or from other players.

9) TORN TERMS
Many players will use 'Torn terms'. (Some of which I've used in this guide).
Andyman's guide I find very helpful, which can be found here.
Andyman has also written many other very helpful, informative guides to many aspects of Torn, which I'd also recommend you check out.

10) MERITS
I recommend starting with upgrading education time reduction until it is maxed out. From there, merit upgrades vary greatly from player to player based on play style and strategy.

• Take cannabis, lots of it. if u OD, you get a merit. (I OD'ed 12th try :P) if u took 50 total, you get a merit too
• Pray at the church twice a day (with like an 8hr gap at least) for a week and a half (rosary beads will help with this)
• Use all your daily 75 casino tokens on roulette. Everyday. For 2 weeks. Enjoy
• Play Spin the Wheel every day for all 3 wheels until you get each respective honor bar (requires level 7)
• Have only 20$ on you and then get mugged. (If you only got mugged for 1$, you got the merit. good for you. now laugh at your mugger)
• Donate 100k, 1M or 100M to the church (if u donate 100M once u get all 3 merits)
• You know the 10 000 shoplift crimes merit? take 5 000 of the jackets you stole and throw them in the dump
• Use a blood bag with an incompatible blood type to yours (requires intravenous therapy education course)
• Go back to Baldr's List, Domino Effect leveling list and attack and leave anyone there.
• Attack someone in your faction and win (preferable ask them first lol)
• Make an investment in the city bank (1$ for 1 week will do)

Andyman wrote a great guide about merit spending that can be found here. I recommend you check it out! :D

11) EDUCATION
There are a dozen courses of education available in Torn City University ranging from the ability to send messages anonymously to the ability to use blood bags. My recommendation would be to start with the sports science course, as it increases battle stat gym gains. After that most people will agree the Intravenous Therapy class within the biology course is next, and in my opinion followed by combat training, as it is good to start gaining weapon EXP early.

12) ALWAYS DO YOUR CRIMES
Crimes, while not very profitable at first, can set you on the long road to the coveted 60 NNB (natural nerve bar). This, while usually taking many years, will not only allow you to get more money through crimes, but you may also be placed in a political assassination team, a faction-run organized crime in which some factions may give percentages of the money earned to the members participating.
If you are having trouble with crimes (getting lots of blues and reds), you may want to consider buying an enhancer or maybe even going down a step and doing easier crimes to build crime XP.

13) TRAINING
Once you are level 15, all of your energy should go into training. It significantly affects the outcome of attacks, which can be very helpful throughout all aspects of Torn. There are many items which will help you train, including Xanax, ecstasy, erotic DVDs, feathery hotel coupon, and energy drinks.
Happy jumps, while expensive, can greatly help with stat gains and get you started off well. IT typically involves stacking to 1,000 energy using Xanax, maxing out your booster cooldown with erotic DVDs, then doubling happiness with ecstasy. Once it is all trained, you refill your energy bar using 25 points then train some more. Be careful though, happy reset to its regular maximum every 15 minutes (synced to the clock). Make sure to start your happy jump right after the last reset to make sure you will have enough time to get all the way through it.

14) DOCTORN AND TORNSTATS
Although not necessary, it is highly recommended you get DocTorn and TornStats. These and other API extensions and websites can aid in your gameplay significantly. DocTorn includes various helpful tools including Quick Links, City Finds, player stakeout, and much more. TornStats is also providing helpful tools such as a CE calculator, battle stats tracker, net worth tracker, company efficiency tracker, weapons EXP tracker, faction spies database, etc.15) SCAMS, BUY/CANCEL MUGGING, AND SAFE MONEY STORAGE
Many players will try to scam you out of your money in various types of ways. 'Storing' money for you, 'investments', and telling you their trade feature doesn't work to get you to send them the money are all common ways people will try to scam you. A trade feature not working it 10/10 a scam. This should be reported on the bugs and issues forum page and will be immediately fixed. NEVER send anyone money or items you are not okay with losing; you may never see it again. Scamming is NOT against Torn's rules, so staff will not be able to get your money or items back if you happen to be scammed. BE CAREFUL. If someone scams or mugs you, if you want, you can add them to your enemies list, which if settings permit, will block them from trading with you, buying items from your bazaar, and buying your item market listing, protecting you from further muggings.
Mugging, buy mugging, or cancel mugging are other ways people will try to get ahold of your hard-earned money. Buy mugging is after someone does a trade with you in which you are the seller, they or a friend will immediately attack and mug you in hopes of stealing some of the money. Cancel mugging is similar, but instead of waiting until the trade is over, while you are trying to buy something, while the money is in the trade, they will cancel it, returning all assets to the original owner. Once your money is back in your wallet, they will attack and mug you, stealing a portion of the money.
Players have devised many clever ways to avoid muggings, including ghost trades (you start an empty trade with someone to store money, then cancel to get the money out), faction vaults, traveling (only works for bazaar/item market sales as trading cannot occur while abroad. also only. works while actively on a plane, once you land you can be attacked/mugged), and the most popular probably being self hospitalization. Self hospitalization is when you use the wrong type of blood bag, a SED, or have a friend hospitalize you BEFORE the trade. This makes it you cannot be attacked since you are already in the hospital, so cannot be mugged. From there, with your extra time, you can add it to a ghost trade, put it into a faction vault, etc. But be careful to turn OFF your revive settings, otherwise, you can be revived then mugged while you have cash on hand. Another way people can store money is the piggy bank item, acquired in the mission shop for 5 mission credits. you can infinitely add money to the piggy bank, but there is only one way to get money out-- smashing it. This will return all the contents of the piggy bank to your wallet, and rid you of the piggy bank for further use. This can only be bought once, so be careful not to smash it too early.

I sincerely hope this guide helps you on your journey through Torn City. Feel free to comment below for any comments or suggested additions to my guide. Please like my guide if it has helped you out, and if you have any questions or need help with anything, don't hesitate to ask me. :) This guide is also available on the Torn forums, please give it a like if you learned something :D