How Ara: History Untold’s First Major Update is Packed with New Features
Summary
- Update 1.1 is available today for Ara: History Untold, bringing many new features to help streamline your strategies.
- Creative Director Brad Wardell shares some behind-the-scenes info on what went into bringing “The Invisible Hand” update to Ara: History Untold.
- Ara: History Untold is available on Windows PC, Steam, and with PC Game Pass.
The day Ara: History Untold shipped we were told this was just the beginning of the game’s journey. Now, Oxide Games is following up on that promise with a slew of improvements to Ara: History Untold with its major 1.1 Update, “The Invisible Hand,” which includes many refinements to micromanagement, the Battle Viewer, unit upgrades, and much more to create an even more engaging and accessible grand strategy experience.
During our hands-on time with a preview build of this update, we were able to engage with many of these new features and found that they all help to refine Ara: History Untold’s already captivating approach to a grand strategy game. The most compelling improvement we found was the inclusion of the National Economy Screen. This new feature is designed to streamline resource management and reduce the high level of micromanagement that occurs, especially in the late stages of the game. Now you can manage all your city improvements in one place.
“The goal here is to let players quickly set up crafting projects, add supplies, and adjust harvesting options at a glance,” explains Creative Director Brad Wardell. “Additionally, you can also set up policies that automate providing supplies to improvements to use, so dwellings can start using furniture, lighting, or entertainment as soon as they’re available. This should help players stay focused on their broader strategy rather than on constant micromanagement.”
During my time with this feature, I found that I was utilizing the National Economy Screen very frequently and welcomed this much-improved feature as part of my micro phase and helping manage my numerous resources and improvements. Being able to simply scroll down a list and assign these improvements or upgrades takes what used to be a several minutes-long process down to just a few seconds.
Amenities are also getting some attention in this update, giving us more strategy options and filling in some gaps on the types of resources players would expect to provide for their Improvements.
“We’ve added new craftable items such as Anvils, which boost blacksmith productivity, and Mining Picks, which enhance resource harvesting,” details Wardell. “We’ve also added a range of amenities, from toys to PDAs, that give players diverse options from across human history to influence how their nation evolves.”
I’ve also enjoyed experiencing the new Battle Viewer to get a clearer sense of how my units are faring in battle (e.g. how archers and cavalry match up against each other). Since there’s a wide variety of combat units who each have their own ranges of strengths and weaknesses, it’s nice to now have a better sense of why I may have lost an encounter and seeing how the Armed Forces Composition is factoring in the victor.
Related to that, another aspect I enjoyed having with this update is the ease with which you can now upgrade your units out in the field and quickly redeploy them elsewhere. Again, it feels like Update 1.1 has found new ways to speed up and refine its grand strategy experience.
“This update allows players to both upgrade units that are formations as well as reform them which results in the units going back to their reserves, allowing them to be redeployed elsewhere,” explains Wardell. “More importantly, however, is that players can keep a given group of units, with their experience, going throughout the game and upgrade them all the way from say Spearman to modern Infantry over time.”
Another feature that is rolling out with this update is the inclusion of some modding aspects. Now, players can adjust balance, game rules, make new items, and improvements that Wardell describes as just the first step in what the team at Oxide wants to do with modding (and looking forward to seeing what players can do with it).
The 1.1 Update also now includes the option to choose a unique map composition of the Earth to play on, giving you some familiar geography to play with. For example, I went with Howard Florey (Australia) knowing I’d be a little landlocked from the start but essentially have most of a continent to myself to ease with the early phase of the game with limited resistance.
Clearly, Oxide Games has their ear to the ground and is taking all the fan feedback into consideration here for this impressive first major update to Ara: History Untold and starts to lay a lot of the groundwork for what can come next. Wardell was eager to share more details on what players can expect soon.
“We have an integrated mod manager in the works that will make it easy for players to share and use mods within the game. We’re also working on allowing players to craft equipment to supply their armies — historically, two similar armies can perform quite differently in combat based on how well equipped they are. We’re also working on diplomacy to give players more tools to affect relations and provide additional strategic options and improving the AI.”
“And this is just the beginning,” Wardell says. “Now that the game is out, and we’ve gotten so much positive and insightful player feedback, the velocity of improvements to the game is increasing. I feel like we’re really hitting our stride.”
You can check out the new features in Update 1.1 today in Ara: History Untold on Windows PC, Steam, and with PC Game Pass. For the latest updates on Ara: History Untold, be sure to visit the game’s official website and Wishlist Ara on Steam for the most up-to-date information on the game.
Ara: History Untold Deluxe Edition
Xbox Game Studios
The Deluxe Edition Includes
• Ara: History Untold Base Game
• Exclusive Leader Collection – featuring five exclusive leaders not included in the base game including: Charlemagne, Genghis Khan, Yoo Gwan Soon, Hildegard and Boudicca.
• Modern Leader Skin Set – enhance five Ara: History Untold leaders (Elizabeth I, Genghis Khan, Nefertiti, Sappho and George Washington) with the Modern Leader Skin Set, featuring modern versions of their in-game costumes.
With your pre-order of the Deluxe Edition receive the Gilded Leader Skin Set.
Ara: History Untold Standard Edition
Xbox Game Studios
Ara: History Untold is an evolution in historical grand strategy, featuring beloved classic PC strategy mechanics alongside innovative gameplay like a national crafting economy, true simultaneous turn resolution, a non-linear technology tree, and cloud-backed synchronous/asynchronous multiplayer – all with an expansive and vibrant presentation where you can zoom out from surveying the very edges of your empire all the way down to your citizens living their daily lives. In Ara, there are no pre-set paths to victory, leading to endless possibilities. Your choices will define the world you create, your experience, and your legacy.
Explore an Immersive Living World
Explore a dynamic living world filled with life and charm across sweeping landscapes ranging from tropical jungles to sand-swept deserts as you discover the resources you need to develop your nation. Witness the world come to life in vivid, realistic detail as citizens move throughout the world and react dynamically to times of health and sickness, war and peace, wealth and despair with unique biomes, cultures, and eras representing the diversity of human experience.
Build Your Nation
Serve your people and grow your prestige with numerous Improvements, from forges to libraries, citadels to cathedrals, public parks to industrial factories – as well as a global variety of the greatest architectural Triumphs ever conceived and built by human hands.
Guide your people through the eras of human discovery
Nurture your people’s brilliance and invention as you progress your Nation through twelve unique Technology Eras, making the hard choices about where to focus your Nation’s greatest minds. As you near the end of each Era, you’ll have to decide how fast to push your scientists along the path to the future – at the risk of the present.
Oversee a rich and detailed national economy
Harvest the bounty of the natural world and deploy the labor of your people with a depth-filled National Crafting system. Will you manufacture Amenities – like lavish feasts – to provide your cities and citizens with powerful benefits, or invest in the creation of Equipment – the weapons of war – to prepare your Armies to defend your nation or conquer your rivals? Whatever paths you choose you’ll need to carefully optimize your resources and production to achieve the most efficient systems if you want to outpace your rivals to fortune and lasting glory.
Rule Your Way
Choose from dozens of history’s most influential figures to embody as you reshape the world through your choices. The unique and varied global Leaders and Nations in Ara emphasize a wide variety of different playstyles. Experiment with gameplay-impacting Traits and powerful Leader Abilities drawn from the effect they had on world history. Whether friend or foe, each Leader has a distinct personality based on their historical background that informs their AI behaviors.
Experience True Simultaneous Turns
Every turn each nation’s actions and choices resolve simultaneously, leading to suspense, anticipation, unique outcomes, and surprising twists on the classic turn-based formula. The fate of your people will be determined by your decisions and your ability to predict your opponent’s next move, putting your skill as a leader to the ultimate test.
Defend your people by land, sea, and air
Warfare in Ara is presented in the Living World, as thousands of years of military conflict reflect the progress and martial prowess of your people. Develop technologies to advance your weaponry against your rivals, hone your wartime economy and industry to gain the edge, and outthink your opponent’s strategies as maneuvers resolve authentically at once thanks to the power of True Simultaneous Turns.
Prove Your Worth in Online Multiplayer
Combining the speed and surprise of True Simultaneous Turns with the power of the cloud – multiplayer in Ara is fast, seamless, and able to be enjoyed asynchronously with a wide range of options to tailor you and your friend’s experience to the way you want to play together.
A Microsoft Account is required to play online multiplayer.
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