Ara: History Untold News

A Guided Tour of Ara: History Untold v1.3 - The Diplomacy Update

A Guided Tour of Ara: History Untold v1.3

(TL;DR Note from the CM: Excited to announce that v1.3 of Ara: History Untold - The Diplomacy Update will be launching after 12PM Pacific Time on Wednesday, March 12th. Please see below's guided tour of the updates new features from Creative Director Brad Wardell, with full patch notes to follow before Wednesday's update!)

[h2]The Diplomacy Update
[/h2]
Ara: History Untold v1.3 represents a major advancement in gameplay, emphasizing improvements in AI and expanding diplomatic interactions. Here, we'll delve into each new feature, our design intentions, and how we envision these additions evolving in the future.

[h3]Demand Tribute[/h3]

Nations demanding tribute to maintain peace isn't new to 4X games. However, in Ara, we aimed to provide alternative diplomatic means to secure resources without resorting to war. This feature particularly benefits players pursuing economic strength over military power. We look forward to observing how this mechanic influences player strategies, especially since interactions with one nation can subtly affect how others perceive you.

[h3]Bribe
[/h3]

Bribery allows you to incite conflicts between other nations, leveraging existing tensions to your advantage. Early in the game, bribes can effectively set nations against each other, but as diplomatic relationships grow complex, manipulation becomes more challenging. Bribery, therefore, introduces another strategic layer, shaping historical rivalries and alliances.

[h3]Diplomatic History[/h3]
Introduced in version 1.3, the AI now tracks historical relationships, influencing its future interactions with you and other nations. This context appears as a "history" log, adding depth and distinctiveness to each nation over time. We plan significant expansions here, with potential enhancements tied to GPU memory and localization demands, making your diplomatic choices even more impactful.

[h3]Military Aid[/h3]
Inspired by historical precedents like Lend-Lease, you can now provide military support to nations at war. Sending forces can indirectly manage threats without direct involvement, adding strategic depth and enhancing diplomatic influence.

[h3]Nuclear Weapons[/h3]
Some people just want to set the world on fire. And in Ara 1.3 you and your opponents can now do just that.

Here is how it works:

Once you have the technology and gather the necessary resources you can build an ICBM:

ICBMs are Special Projects. Once you build one, it goes into your global inventory.
You can then select the target city you want to destroy:
And then send it on its way:

Nuclear strikes eliminate all units and improvements in the targeted region, leaving it—and adjacent regions—uninhabitable for several turns. However, expect severe diplomatic repercussions.

[h2]What’s next?[/h2]

We are developing a detailed roadmap with immediate priorities and broader long-term goals. Version 1.3 emphasizes Ara's unique approach to historical strategy, distinctly separating it from other games in the genre. Your feedback remains vital as we refine and evolve the game. Here are the key areas of focus:

[h3]User Interface [/h3]
Ara’s complexity makes it challenging to represent the evolution of modern society through goods and services intuitively. Our UI goals prioritize clarity, efficiency, and reducing unnecessary interactions, enabling smoother gameplay.

[h3]Late game AI[/h3]
With significant AI updates already underway, we aim to differentiate the gameplay experience across the game's three historical acts:

Act I: Survival, domestication, and settlement formation.
Act II: Development of trade, governance, and social institutions.
Act III: Industrialization, globalization, and environmental transformation.

Balancing these diverse historical phases is complex, and our goal is to craft an AI responsive enough to navigate these transitions realistically.

[h3]Nation Distinctiveness[/h3]
As version 1.3 hints at, we want the nations to be much, much more distinct. Under the covers, they are actually pretty different. Each AI player does actually play the game somewhat differently. However, the game must communicate this more for it to mean anything and one way to do that is to make sure the nations have unique content.

[h3]Performance[/h3]
While Ara is already well-optimized, managing millions of individual AI-driven entities is demanding. Every citizen is meticulously simulated, from their profession-based clothing to their unique histories. As the game progresses, optimization challenges increase dramatically. Addressing these performance issues remains a critical near-term goal. Just imagine if we had enabled city car traffic! slightly smiling face

Thank you for your ongoing support and valuable feedback. We genuinely appreciate your engagement and look forward to evolving Ara: History Untold together.

Until next time, cheers!
-Brad Wardell

Coming soon... Ara: History Untold 1.3 - The Diplomacy Update (Featuring Nukes!)

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt had a famous motto when it came to diplomacy with other nations -
"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."

Our upcoming release, v1.3 "The Diplomacy Update" features several new ways to influence and interact with other nations - as well as the biggest stick of them all: Nuclear Weapons.
Highlights from the update:

Nuclear Capabilities: Players can unlock technologies to build nuclear weapons and defenses.
New Diplomatic Options: Players can engage in bribery, demand tributes, provide military aid, with new ways to gain insights into other nations' opinions.
Diplomatic History Tracking: Players will now be able to view their diplomatic history with other nations, providing context for relationships.
New Events and AI Behaviors: The update also introduces new diplomatic events that influence AI behavior, particularly regarding war preparations.

...and as usual, the build also features dozens of bug fixes, additional performance optimization, and numerous quality of life improvements and adjustments based on your feedback - including the much requested region renaming feature, difficulties being made visible on save games, and "Auto-Explore" enabled as an option for naval units.

We'll be releasing more details and the full patch notes early next week, but in the meantime, here is a little tease of our new Nuclear ICBM technology from a small secret testing ground in an undisclosed desert...

Harriet Tubman is now available in-game! (and update on Ver. 1.3)

Excited to announce in honor of Black History Month, American abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman is now available as an alternate leader for the United States, with a set of traits and abilities based on her incredible life, and is being provided for free to all Ara Players!

While you're here, wanted to update you that version 1.3 is deep in final development now, with a planned release in March. 1.3 continues to address feedback, balance, with several new features including one that should prove somewhat... explosive.

Version 1.21 Update

The latest update for Ara: History Untold introduces gameplay adjustments to enhance balance and pacing, alongside several bug fixes and improvements. These updates aim to refine the overall player experience, with continued improvements based on player feedback.

[h2]Gameplay Adjustments[/h2]
[h3]Updates to Cities: [/h3]

Cities now generate slightly more tax revenue than before to make getting money a bit easier.
City food consumption now grows slightly slower as cities level up based on player feedback.
City population requirements have been adjusted based on player feedback, in general, the cities will grow more slowly than before.
Resolute Scripture now only applies to City where Religion is Dominant.
Updated Angkor Wat buff to apply universally within the City.
Updated Reflecting Pool to provide a +15 buff to City Happiness instead of Security.

[h3]Updates to Units:[/h3]

Embarkation Pass has been added as an unlock for Sails.
The Battleship has been moved to a later position in the tech tree.
The Destroyer has been shifted further into the tech tree.
The base strength of Swordsmen has been increased from 7 to 8.
Swordsmen no longer deprecate with Bureaucracy; they will phase out with Cannons once players unlock superior Infantry units.
Elephant Ballistae have been updated to Ranged units.
Navy Upgrade Groups have been streamlined to ensure ancient ships have late-game counterparts.
Naval Upgrade Trees have been revised so Warships can transition to Cruisers, and Cannon Ships can upgrade to Heavy Gunships, enabling players to continuously improve their Navies across all Ages.
Cruisers are now part of the Warship upgrade tree.
Heavy Gunships are now part of the Cannon Ships upgrade tree.

[h3]Additional Changes: [/h3]

The Smithsonian Act goal has been revised to Act 3.
The default slot for Feast is now Food instead of Money to help new players avoid running low on funds.
Dwelling has been adjusted to utilize all the Supplies available to other Housing Improvements.
Biscuits now remain accessible in Act 3.
Corrected the data for the Blacksmith -> Anvil icon asset.
Adjusted the Impulsive Trait to reduce Relationships by 10 instead of 100.
Resolved the issue with the second Expert buff in the Industrial Fishing Farm.
Hunting camps no longer have Wood maintenance requirements.
Hunting camps now provide a small Harvest buff.
The League event that gives players free Republic government tech early is now very rare.
The Library has been reclassified from the Culture Domain to the Science Domain.
Metal Pots now require only one Metal Ingot; Steel has been moved to its own slot with a larger production bonus.
Monarchy's medium tax rate has been reduced from 70% to 50% to differentiate it more clearly from the high tax rate of 80%.
Plows now offer a significantly greater Harvest buff.
Upgrade costs for Farm Improvements have been refined.
The Print Shop has been reclassified from the Impact Domain to the Industry Domain.
Production-to-Research conversion has changed from 1:1 to 10 Production for 1 Research.
The Refinery has been reclassified from the Impact Domain to the Industry Domain.
Rivers now yield a unique +1 Wealth per turn.
Food requirements at levels 5, 6, and 7 have been slightly increased.
Temperate forests now provide +1 more Wood, making them more distinctive.
A minimum of three resources of a given type will now spawn in the world, rather than just one.
The Amphitheater of El Jem now requires Horses and Wheel Items instead of Chariot Units.
The Improvement Category for the Refinery, Library, and Print Shop has been modified.
Rope's third Accelerator now provides a meaningful +40 Production bonus.
The Wealth cost of the Sneakers' second Accelerator Slot has been adjusted.

4X game Ara History Untold now has a 9,999-turn "super long" campaign

With Civilization 7 flying the 4X flag next year, arguably the biggest and most anticipated newcomer this year was Ara History Untold. While it hasn't set the world alight quite like strategy game fans hoped it would, there's still a lot to enjoy in Ara - and developer Oxide Games has just pushed out a new update that makes it even better. Alongside a slew of gameplay improvements, a monstrous "super long" campaign option, and a new Leader, the headline act of the aptly-named Modder's Paradise update is a new integrated mod manager.

Read the rest of the story...