Start Workshopping

Your opening build queue is going to be critical to trying to get out of the First Era as quickly as possible. When given the option to pick your first Improvement, go with Workshop. It will be necessary for you to craft essential supplies that can then be used to help boost yields on your other Improvements, and the Workshop is the place where a lot of this magic happens. This also starts to shore up some trade goods that may come in handy later as you meet other civilizations.

Attaching Amenities

Attaching Amenities to your City, like Jewelry, Feasts, or even Craftable items like Baskets, can help give you a boost to your Quality of Life scale. One of the biggest keys to success in Ara: History Untold is finding every possible way to improve the lives of your people, and utilizing your Amenity boost can help increase traits like Happiness, Prosperity, and others which will feed into not only faster city growth, but helping you accelerate progress to kick off a Golden Age (more on that in a bit).

Research What You Really Need

The Technology tree is full of options – take the time to hover your mouse over these items and read “the fine print.” You’ll see that many of these Technologies also unlock new items to craft at your Workshop, but also unlock critical Improvements that you’ll want to take advantage of as soon as possible (and not pass up when you move out of the First Era).

For example, Ropemaking unlocks Logging Camps – that’s a critical Improvement that’s needed to collect Timber. Others like Grain Storage unlocks the Granary which boosts Farm production all-up, and Pottery unlocks the Ceramic shop which unlocks even more options for Crafting. So, read the fine print and choose a Technology that can help you with boosting your Improvements in this early phase.

Pay for a Rush Pass

If your Projects are not completing as quickly as you’d like, you can always drop some Wealth to reduce the number of remaining Turns it will take for them to complete. You can’t tap this too many times in the early phase of the game; you start with some Wealth, but not that much to throw around just yet. But if you find that you need to get your foundation established and you’re several Turns in already, consider paying for the boost to keep the line moving.

Expand!

By around Turn 11 – 15, you should be coming across your first Claim Generation. Play to the map that you’re given and consider what’s in front of you. Do any of them contain unique Materials (e.g. Horses) to Claim? Do any of them offer a higher production yield to certain Resources? Because this early part of the game is all about getting a foothold, make sure you’re not neglecting a critical need. For example, one time I was several Turns in and discovered I was short of Timber — I had neglected taking that into consideration when choosing which Claims to select. Don’t be me! Have a balanced approach when selecting a Claim.

Settler By Turn 30 (At the Latest)

By around Turn 25 you should be close to maxing out some of your Improvement zone opportunities – time for expansion! Not only so you can continue establishing a foothold in your region, but also ensuring your second City can complement any resources or strategic options that your starting zone may not have (e.g. if you’re not near the sea, make sure your second city is). Get the Settler started in your queue no later than Turn 30 and set them off to Settle a new city – just avoid any hostile Tribes along the way. And tigers. Oh, and lions too.

Enter a Golden Age

Feed your Golden Age bar by increasing various Quality of Life stats for your Citizens like Happiness, Health, Knowledge, Prosperity, and Security — you can find this in the lower-left corner of your screen. All your various Improvements tap into one of these stats in some form or another and the Golden Age bar is keeping tabs on all of these, adding up how much bonus attributes you’re bringing it.

This is also where Crafting comes back to play a central role, like when I talked about Amenities earlier. Being able to attach Crafted items like Jewelry (which boosts Prosperity and Happiness), Feasts (boosts Food and Happiness), and Baskets (increases Prosperity), all help to fill up the Golden Age bar. Once kicked off, you’ll get a Prestige bonus from all sources of Prestige (like Archery and Animal Husbandry) for 25 turns – which is going to be helpful several Eras from now as you’re faced with advancing out of Act 1 against your other opponents.

Try for a Triumph

Speaking of finding ways to boost your Quality of Life bar, if you can manage it, try and pour some Crafted resources into developing a Triumph. For example, Stonehenge can give a significant Knowledge boost, which then feeds into your Golden Age bar, which then helps your placement amongst other Leaders.

Be a Good Neighbor… For Now

It probably goes without saying but try not to pick any fights. Or at least don’t until you’re certain you can win. Or better yet try and be friends with everyone that you meet in the early going. I’ll repeat it again: You should be focusing on establishing your foothold in the region with resource growth, Improvements, and Claim generation, not having to deal with skirmishes. That being said: It wouldn’t hurt to have Archery as your second or third technology researched so you can ward off any unwanted raids on your city and to clear out any hostile creatures.

Why Not Go for Six?

As you’re nearing Turn 50, you should be close to finishing up your fifth Technology research – thus kicking off the choice to advance to the Next Era (Bronze). If you’re in a good position among the other Leaders, try for clearing off all the remaining starting Research options because they will be beneficial for you long-term, allowing for a greater number of Crafted Goods to create and Improvements that will be needed on other terrain as your empire grows.

What’s Next?

Following the guidance throughout this piece should have you advancing out of the First Era by about Turn 50 or so. Once done, the next phase of the game will continue to be a mix of what you have been doing (establishing a foothold in your region, mustering some troops for defense, crafting items for potential trade and yield boosts). Your key, at this point, is ensuring you’re putting yourself in a good enough position to survive out of Act 1 – it’s effectively a race to the Iron Age to ensure your spot in the pool. Hopefully I’ve helped you do that here today. Good luck!