Level 4 (europe) can be a little hard. What you need is a distraction. The friendly AI can provide this if you're lucky (I had an enemy AI chasing the other with a 300 strong horde). If you're not so lucky then you can provide a distraction of your own while you build elsewhere. Set off a little horde and hopefully you'll get the enemy AI chasing you.
The farmer sprays pesticides to keep the pests away and ends up killing the bees so they can't polinate the flowers... next time he'll use GM crops that don't need insect polination.
Oh joy! I can relive the repetitive, tedious, mind numbing life of a burger joint worker in my own home without smelling of burnt animal fat at the end of the day.
There seems to be many players that complain about 'noobs' and will spend much of a game flaming players.
If someone doesn't want to play as part of the team then there is nothing you can do about this. Games are place where a modicum of freedom still exists and trying to get people to conform is telling people how they should be enjoying themselves. There are enough rules in life.
Give advice for sure, maybe even show some leadership in directing troops. Just don't get all bent out of shape when someone ignores you as they're probably too busy enjoying themselves ;)
 "WarLight")
 "Extinct! Are you smarter than a plant?")
 "Papa's Burgeria")
 "Minions")