Makes no fun anymore after 227 hours (80% waiting time)

[Henryk]

As a fan of CIVILIZATION, I was really excited about ARA HISTORY UNTOLD. However, that excitement quickly faded. Even the latest patch didn't change much:

- The developers still hide a roadmap. So, as a player, you can't look forward to upcoming features.
- At first, the game responds quickly to inputs. However, later in the game, you have to wait 5-10 seconds after each click. This is very annoying and takes up most of the time.
- Due to the many unnecessary clicks (e.g., upgrading each building individually), you completely lose the strategic focus.
- Another example is that new resources suddenly appear in the region where you already placed buildings. This is annoying, but also happens in other games (except Humankind). However, you can't just replace the existing building with a mine. No, you have to destroy it first and, despite numerous clicks in between, later remember that you wanted to build something else in that exact spot.
- The battles are simply not fun. Zero immersion. So, why should I bother with the military?
- Many resources have very similar effects. So, they could just be left out.
- Almost all decisions make little difference in gameplay. So, why should I bother thinking about them?
- The existing military units cannot be updated. So, you have to deploy them first, upgrade them, and then disband them. Again, many clicks with waiting time and no sense.
- Even if you start with 36 nations, only 9 remain in the last act. Without much effort. Why can't this be configured or turned off entirely?
- Diplomacy is almost non-existent.
- ...

As you can see, I am just totally disappointed with this game and especially with the lack of outlook from the developers. This will not create a Civ competitor, which is so necessary for us players and could certainly be financially profitable for a studio.

Dear developers, start taking us players seriously, involve us in the planning and the next steps early, and stop this unnecessary secrecy. What exactly can we look forward to in the next patch and the next DLC, and when are the respective releases planned?

[skielb]

I completely agree to your points concerning
- roadmap,
- building mine on newly discovered resources above existing structures without having to destroy them first and
- upgrading reserves.
- more options for how many nations are removed after each act

Upgrading structures has become easier if you do in the new production planner, but an upgrade all button in the selected category in the planner would be even better.

Battles are simplified but until now I feel I saw more overall surprises in wars than, for example, in Civ6. Mid/late game I see that AI armies tend to be too weak, but I hope this will be improved in later patches.

Your main problem with the long waiting time sounds really bad. My system is below recommend (GFX 1070) and I noticed lags starting in mid/late game. But reducing the graphics settings solved it always for me until now. Only moving armies stays somehow lagging at the end (but not like 5-10s). On the other hand, I am still impressed by the fast turn resolution time of few seconds even close to the end.

[divineshadow]

The solution is simple. If do not not enjoy the game, don't play it. The constant whining is not helpful to anyone. There are many examples in the discussions where players have generously given detailed feedback to aspects of the game which need improvement. The devs have made impressive progress with release of 1.1 and continue working to refine ARA in future updates. Just as I won't buy Civ 7 because of the mechanic of starting as one Civ and morphing into another, if you don't like the culling system, then this game may not be for you. ARA is a good game with the potential to become a 4X classic. And while the Devs likely won't change core aspects of the game, constructive feedback will benefit everyone.

[=7CAV=SPC.Henson.K]

I still think this is twice the game the Civ series has ever offered. Being able to form units with multiple and different sub-units alone makes this a better game. We'll see down the road if they implement more QoL improvements. A road map would be nice.

[Redeemer]

@ Henryk I agree with everything you said except maybe performance issues. Some notes:

In 1.1 they added a way to upgrade units or so i heard. I dont know how easy/intuitive is to use because I havent played 1.1 yet. Im not interested in the game. After at least 3 or 4 more major patches i may consider playing.

As for the performance issues, i havent encountered any. I create games with maximum map , maximum players etc. Yes i have quite a beast of a pc but at least this says that this game is playable. It just requires a strong pc. Unlike some other games where you can't escape the lag no matter what!

If you are that disappointed a negative review is your weapon of choice. This will save you from the other poster's "bullying" and if it also comes after a lot of played hours it will have weight

[vivas]

Originally posted by Henryk:

This will not create a Civ competitor, which is so necessary for us players and could certainly be financially profitable for a studio.

Except i don't want it to be a civ competitor or clone, i want it to be Ara, the game i prefer over Civ6, eventho i played civ from civ1 on.

[VDmitry]

I certainly don't have to wait 5-10 seconds per click.

A single click for the upgrade is very nice, not sure what you like more. Option to upgrade all? That's rarely used as it would fill the queue in all your cities and also requires lots of resources at once. Not really a feature I would use often.

[Henryk]

Why it's not possible to upgrade all buildings per type? If there are not enough resources, upgrade only the first ones. Or is someone really caring about where the same kind of building shall be upgraded?

Why it's no possible to set templates for boosts like the new templates from the last patch?

Even if there wouldn't be a delay starting in mid game of 5-10sec per boost selection, update of the city production queue ... the same goal could be archived with fewer clicks.

I've tested to reduce graphics but it didn't helped. It looks not like an UI issue, but a CPU one ... like a background thread is calculating the AI players and when it's finished for some seconds the clicks are as fast as before.

But as I mentioned a good game doesn't need to have so much clicks. Only if the studio is payed by clicks or played hours ;-)

Please also stop these "If you don't like the game don't play it" phrases. First the feedback shall help the developers to improve their game. And we all will benefit from these improvements. Second the feedback is also important for people think about to buy the game. They shall know how time consuming some parts are. And third it's only feedback. So let's try to be tolerant and accept others feedback.

And last by not least I cannot believe that all these issues raised by the community where not seen duing the development or testing phase. I'm sure most of the users would accept a later release to get a better quality right from the beginning.

[skielb]

Regarding the graphics settings:
Likely you tried it already, FPS limit of 30 and turning off direct shading had the biggest impact for me. I remember someone proposed in a discussion some time ago to put Ara on high priority in the task manager. Not sure if this could help.

Else I would recommend to describe your problem and computer specs in the tech support section here in the forum.

[Frelorn]

Originally posted by Henryk:

As a fan of CIVILIZATION, I was really excited about ARA HISTORY UNTOLD. However, that excitement quickly faded. Even the latest patch didn't change much:

- The developers still hide a roadmap. So, as a player, you can't look forward to upcoming features.
- At first, the game responds quickly to inputs. However, later in the game, you have to wait 5-10 seconds after each click. This is very annoying and takes up most of the time.
- Due to the many unnecessary clicks (e.g., upgrading each building individually), you completely lose the strategic focus.
- Another example is that new resources suddenly appear in the region where you already placed buildings. This is annoying, but also happens in other games (except Humankind). However, you can't just replace the existing building with a mine. No, you have to destroy it first and, despite numerous clicks in between, later remember that you wanted to build something else in that exact spot.
- The battles are simply not fun. Zero immersion. So, why should I bother with the military?
- Many resources have very similar effects. So, they could just be left out.
- Almost all decisions make little difference in gameplay. So, why should I bother thinking about them?
- The existing military units cannot be updated. So, you have to deploy them first, upgrade them, and then disband them. Again, many clicks with waiting time and no sense.
- Even if you start with 36 nations, only 9 remain in the last act. Without much effort. Why can't this be configured or turned off entirely?
- Diplomacy is almost non-existent.
- ...

As you can see, I am just totally disappointed with this game and especially with the lack of outlook from the developers. This will not create a Civ competitor, which is so necessary for us players and could certainly be financially profitable for a studio.

Dear developers, start taking us players seriously, involve us in the planning and the next steps early, and stop this unnecessary secrecy. What exactly can we look forward to in the next patch and the next DLC, and when are the respective releases planned?

Thank you for the feedback. The team is working very hard to make improvements to the game based on player feedback. Many of your suggestions are already either in the planning stages or being actively worked on by the team. As we continue to work on the game, the team will continue to gather feedback like this to help us improve the game.

[wintersmile]

how can we buy the game after this feedback omg :(

[skielb]

Originally posted by wintersmile:

how can we buy the game after this feedback omg :(

Everyone has to decide for himself. But look at this post from another angle: 227h of gameplay, despite having a very specific lagging problem that would drive me crazy if I would have it, shows that the game also must have something addictive :)

[Frogboy]

I would really want to know the map settings and user system. I’ve played many long games and even in the Information Age with 15+ cities I’ve never noticed lag from the UI.

On the other points, v1.1 came out less than a month ago and it added upgrading units. I suspect upgrading reserves will come soon but this the fact the game lets you keep units in reserve at all seems like a fairly nice innovation in the genre.

[Henryk]

Originally posted by Frogboy:

I would really want to know the map settings and user system. I’ve played many long games and even in the Information Age with 15+ cities I’ve never noticed lag from the UI.

On the other points, v1.1 came out less than a month ago and it added upgrading units. I suspect upgrading reserves will come soon but this the fact the game lets you keep units in reserve at all seems like a fairly nice innovation in the genre.

Huge map, Inland sea with 36 nations at the beginning, 12 at late Game.

Laptop MSI GS66 Stealth 10UH (Intel i9-10980HK, 32 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080) ... waiting for RTX 5090 ;-)

As I mentioned the Laptop ressources seem not to be the issue. I could easily scroll in or out, jump between the cities in Ara ... But updating the city queue, changing amenities, updating buildings, upgrading units... there is always an increasing delay which gets frustrating at one point.