I finally managed to play Ara... how can it be everthing so wrong?

[Lazy sweeper]

Ara put limits and bottlenecks everywhere.
You can't build more than two cities
You can't build more than two melee units
You have to deploy a unit every time you have built it...
Only the scout can take stashes around the map
If a stash is in your territory you need a scout anyway AND the tile you can't use it...
You need a bunch of material for virtually everything.
Wonders require full zones, that are composed of multiple tiles, if only one tile is used, no wonder.
Enemy tribes are more than your troops, but you cant build more troops and send reinforcement, because of the troops limits...
Roads between cities must be on tiles you own...

I quit the game, its too much for me...
I thought Humankind was bad, but this is on a whole new level...

 

[Bosque]

You can build 3 cities from the start (assuming you have acquired enough food to produce a settler). You can build more cities if you have a Palace, the wonder Nemrut Dag, or a more advanced government such as monarchy or republic.
You can build as many melee units as you have resources to produce them.
You do not have to deploy a unit when it is built. I generally wait for 3 units so I can deploy a higher strength battalion instead of just a squad.
Roads can be between your own cities or another civilization's cities, and they do not have to be on tiles you own.

I admit there is a bit of a learning curve. But start on on the easiest level and you will figure it out.

 

[Kyriakos]

Imo those issues are just covering up what later becomes a far worse issue: this game is extremely easy once you understand how to build a military and have a good economy.
Most people (going from youtube videos) don't even build 3 cities btw - they win with 2. You can conquer others if you wish.

 

[Bosque]

You are right. It is extremely easy on the lower difficulty levels. If you don't find horses in range of your capital, build one settler to obtain the horses. Have a workshop produce wheels, and then churn out several battalions of war chariots and never look back.

The highest difficulty is another matter. The AI gets city walls before you can get catapults, and you find yourself hopelessly behind in prestige. Not easy at all.

 

[Kyriakos]

Iirc I played at the hardest difficulty level. Still lorded over the rest; walls did eventually get built, but I wasn't behind.
In total I played for around 10 hours so the learning curve is actually not bad.

 

[Bosque]

Did you get to the second act in only 10 hours playing? When I played the highest difficulty, I started out way behind in prestige and could never catch up.

Even if your economy and military are doing well, you get culled as having low prestige when you enter the second act.

 

[Kyriakos]

I was high on prestige but stopped playing at the high medieval age...
Maybe (if this has multiple higher difficulty levels) it was one difficulty level below hardest, I don't remember - been some time.
The game isn't bad, but it felt rather soulless. Perhaps future versions can change that

 

[Lazy sweeper]

What kind of meaning is limit units? I had two cities, roads between, horses, camels, two battalion, won a battle over some people, and then it kept outpouring rebels, no ways
to annex it. Then another indipendent village poured out berserker and annihilated my spearman-archer combo, whilst my other units blocked in the capital were
waiting for the possibility to be deployed, whilst being butchered... holy holy this is was on easy level... what was going on in their minds???

 

[Lazy sweeper]

You can build 3 cities from the start (assuming you have acquired enough food to produce a settler). You can build more cities if you have a Palace, the wonder Nemrut Dag, or a more advanced government such as monarchy or republic.
You can build as many melee units as you have resources to produce them.
You do not have to deploy a unit when it is built. I generally wait for 3 units so I can deploy a higher strength battalion instead of just a squad.
Roads can be between your own cities or another civilization's cities, and they do not have to be on tiles you own.

I admit there is a bit of a learning curve. But start on on the easiest level and you will figure it out.

Units were already produced, the deploy button was greyed out. I had two cities and two battalions of a spearman and an archer each, and two scouts, that's it... my swordsmans in the capital and horseman couldn't get out... also plenty of food but I could not produce the second settler for a third city.

 

[Bosque]

It's true that you can't deploy units if there are enemies in the city. You have to deploy them in another city and move them.
It takes 125 food to produce a settler. I am not sure, but I believe the city must also produce more food than it uses to build a settler. Sometimes it is easier to take a city from another civilization with your early units than it is to build a settler.