Moving from a pacifist to allowing raiders, how to set it up so I can learn?

After many games on pacifist mode, I have figured out the mechanics of how to get to level 5 with 1000+ pop without losing an entire civilization due to hunger and such.

I want to do raiders now, but I tried setting up to start slow, and got my butt kicked too early.

How do you set up defenses without gold ingots regularly incoming? How do you equip barracks without iron ingots for armor and swords? Everything needed is tier 4. None of the traders incoming need anything I have available to sell. Everything I need is too expensive. Any salvage sites maintain a level 3 for maybe 3 years, but never beyond what is needed to take out the nearby raider camps. I'm so discouraged.