How do you make nations more unique?

When we began discussing Ara: History Untold 2.0, we asked: how do you make 40 different civilizations feel genuinely unique while maintaining strategic balance?

The answer went deeper than a few superficial differences. We discovered that giving players ways to leverage systems and explore new tactics yielded the most rewarding experiences. Distinctive traits and unique units give Nations personality and don’t just challenge the player to find new routes to victory, but to be on the lookout for their opponents' approaches.

This journal documents our journey through the systematic overhaul that transformed Ara from a game where Nations were largely cosmetic variants into a rich tapestry of truly distinct playstyles and historical authenticity. This effort became the single largest content expansion in Ara’s development history, and it’s part of a FREE update.

The result:

• 40 new units, unique per nation

• Leader overhaul

• AI personalities

Let’s take a look!

Chapter 1: Unique Units

The Historical Imperative

Throughout history, civilizations have left their mark through military innovations. From the Roman Legionnaire who was more than a “better spearman”, to the Minutemen who earned their name as more than just an effective militia. While tactics, armament, and army composition often followed trends, distinctive and capable units could sway the course of a battle.

The challenge was to capture this essence with a game system that rewarded strategic depth while remaining authentic to history.

40 New Units!

Each nation featured in Ara: History Untold received a unique military unit, carefully researched and designed to be both historically accurate and offer compelling gameplay. While distinctive units are often only relevant for a tech era or two, properly leveraging them and taking advantage of their strengths can go a long way to securing a foothold in a game of Ara.

That’s enough preamble. Let’s dig into the new units!

Ancient Era: Foundation Builders

Ancient Era units come from some of humanity’s first notable organized military forces. Each reflects the distinctive geographical, cultural realities, and tactics utilized by their civilizations.

Bronze Age: Early Technological Pioneers

Bronze Age units feature some of recorded history’s first complex roles, where many disparate parts come together to create intimidating and efficient soldiers. Each reflects a pivotal moment for their nation when their military prowess was not easily opposed.

Iron Age: Classical Powers

Iron Age units come from a time when a nations turned into world-spanning empires on the back of military conquest. Units here are some of the most recognizable from human history.

Medieval Ages: Specialized Advantages

Units from the Medieval Ages are characterized by their increasing specialization and the ubiquity of common armament and tactics. Units here often represent simply the best of a type, units that are unrivaled even by units with the same arms.

The Renaissance and Beyond

As history progresses, armament and military roles have become more homogenized -but there are still some standouts. These nations may have to wait for their distinct advantage on the battlefield, but they say patience is a virtue.

History vs. Gameplay

Creating 40 unique units presented quite a challenge. Minor statistical variations could have achieved the base goal of providing unique units to every Nation, but that wouldn’t feel authentic or be particularly engaging. So when designing these new units, we favored:

✓ Historical Authenticity: Every unit was designed to reflect the genuine historical military innovations, equipment, and tactics that went into the unit.

✓ Strategic Differentiation: We sought to understand what made each unit distinctive and translated that into gameplay. Some units, like Samurai and Conquistadors, are slightly more powerful than similar units but at a higher recruitment and maintenance cost. Other units like the Hwacha Rocket Carts and the Tomahawk Warriors have advantages of greater speed or range, but are usually at some cost.

✓ Considering the Leaders: Units don’t exist in isolation; they’re a tool deployed by Leaders. So while working on this major content update, we also considered the leaders, their abilities, and their playstyles, and how the unit would fit into that leader’s plans. Legionnaires start as a slightly more reliable melee infantry, but when deployed by Julius Caesar, that minor bump in strength quickly benefits from the bonus Strength they get on leveling up. The Levy Spearmen become a key part of Sennacherib’s early expansion strategy to wage successive early wars without them becoming too costly to get an early start on empire development and accelerate the Golden Ages.

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Chapter 2: The Leader Overhaul

Rethinking The Leaders of Ara: History Untold

The first clear choice any player of Ara: History Untold makes is who they play as. With 40 Unique Leaders, there are plenty of options that span ages and geography. Perhaps someone wants to emulate Alexander the Great and conquer the known world, or maybe they’d prefer to build up an empire of gold through trade with Askia Muhammad I.

Yet, there was a consensus that the Leaders failed to deliver on this promise.

Leaders Reforged

Since Ara: History Untold released, it has seen new leaders and a few Leader Feature and Leader Trait updates, but nothing on the scale of the 2.0 update. Every single leader was reevaluated and updated to capture the unique strategic doctrines and cultural philosophies that defined their roles in history. We wanted to avoid simple numerical differences or passive rewards. Focus was put on making Leader Features that rewarded and encouraged unique playstyles. Leader Traits were reassessed as a way to complement and reinforce similar playstyles.

Now to unveil our new leaders!

Harun al-Rashid

House of Wisdom
+3% Paragon Spawn Chance for each active Research Agreement
+50% Research in your Capital for 30 Turns after gaining a new Paragon

Harun al Rashid further enhances his chances of gaining a Paragon with the Traditional and Innovative traits, while Lavish and Charismatic further reward diplomatic play. Harun al-Rashid is a unique Leader who can utilize friendly relations to pull ahead technologically and build up a thriving society.

Eva Peron

Share my Glory
+100% Growth in all Cities during the Golden Ages
+10 to all Quality of Life Stats in non-Capital Cities for 20 Turns after completing a Masterpiece

Eva Peron can play wide while focusing on generating prestige through Masterpiece creation. Charitable further incentivizes a wide playstyle by increasing the chances of gaining a Paragon with each city controlled. Persuasive enhances Golden Age buffs by extending their duration, and Independent adds a bit more housing to the non-capital cities. Eva Peron plays best by focusing on keeping her people happy and reaping the benefits of a productive and happy nation.

Sennacherib

Wolf on the Fold
+50 Golden Age Points after winning a war
+100% Build Production for 10 Turns in non-Capital Cities after winning a War

Sennacherib relies on a fast-paced and aggressive playstyle. Overwhelming foes for a few easy victories can accelerate achieving a Golden Age, and if timed properly, the bonus Build Production Wolf on the Fold, along with the buff from Productive and Rash, can let Sennacherib funnel victory right into rapid development. The Aggressive trait, giving a short but powerful boost to declaring wars, encourages Sennacherib to stay on the offensive.

Howard Florey

Medical Genius
+10% Production in Cities with Health 70 or higher
+5 Culture in your Capital for each Research Agreement

Howard Florey, as a historical figure, provided a unique challenge to capture. He became a flexible leader who favors building tall with multiple ways to boost his Capital, including through Collaborative that now boosts Production for each Alliance maintained.

Itzcoatl

Flower Wars
+5 Prestige each Turn a Force is in combat
+100 Growth in all Cities each Turn a Force is in combat

Itzcoatl thrives on violence. With the Aggressive trait and rewards for being in combat, Itzcoatl can pursue a lucrative strategy of cycling through skirmishes to keep forces occupied and cities growing. Don’t underestimate his ability to build influence with Disciplined and Spiritual, boosting the culture of his cities with Military and Religion improvements, respectively.

Leopold I

Nestor of Europe
+5 to all Quality of Life Stats in the Capital for each Alliance maintained
+2 Prestige per Turn for each Alliance Maintained

Leopold I is a strong pick to build tall and manipulate global politics. Charismatic and Mercantile provide further benefits from strong bonds with other Nations. Adventurous allows Leopold I to rush his armies to vital positions before joining allies' wars, or can be leveraged to monitor aggressive states.

Irene Sarantapechaina

Iconophile
+0.01 Influence for ever Religion Convert a Turn during Golden Ages
+0.01 Wealth for every Religion Convert a Turn during Golden Ages

Don’t let the decimals fool you, when talking about Religion Converts, you’re talking about hundreds, if not thousands, a turn. While not equipped with a strong method to produce easy Golden Ages, creating one, along with establishing your Religion as dominant in every reachable territory, is a solid way to create a lucrative pipeline. Irene’s unique mix of traits lets her remain flexible, especially as she searches for methods to earn Golden Age Points. Spiritual and Resolute continue to reward religion-focused gameplay, while Lavish and Aggressive give options for dealing with neighbors.

John A. Macdonald

Boreal Forest
+10 Harvest Production while not at War
+5 Established Relationship with all other Nations for each Turn since last Combat while at war

John A. Macdonald is a peacemaker on the world stage. Even at war, playing tactically and showing restraint can let him build up even stronger relations or sway his enemies just enough that they become open to peace talks. Pacifist reinforces Macdonald’s peaceful tendencies, while Adventurous lets him make sure troops are consistently positioned for rapid response.

Boudicca

Lady of Vengeance
+2% Force Strength for each turn since last entering a Defensive War
+1 Prestige per Turn at War while War Weariness is under 50

Boudicca is not a leader you want to get stuck at war against. She’s encouraged to keep relations strong enough with other nations that no one else is inclined to declare war on her, allowing her troops to get tougher and tougher as the war drags on. Collaborative further incentivizes some diplomacy, while Formidable and Unyielding make her difficult to rush.

Wilma Mankiller

The Word for Water
+10 Health in each City for each active Alliance
+2 Culture per Paragon in all Cities when all Paragons are tasked

Wilma Mankiller favors diplomacy and focusing on the health and happiness of her people. Sage, Traditional, and Charitable all encourage careful city development. Alliances help keep cities healthy and growing. Wilma Mankiller charts her own path and can subtly pull ahead through Influence.

Confucius

Five Constant Virtues
+10 Golden Age Points after unlocking any new Technology
Quality of Life Stats can not go below 25

Confucius’s strongest elements remain largely unchanged. His traits now better complement his playstyle, with Sage and Innovative providing additional bonuses for pursuing Science and Learned helping keep Research boosted through golden ages. Confucius focuses on some of the core aspects of nation development, making him a good choice for a more relaxed experience.

Wu Zetian

Imperial Examinations
+20 Prestige after gaining a Paragon
+30 Established Relationship with other Nations with Nations who aren’t at War while a Force is in Combat

Wu Zetian can make the most out of any situation. While in combat, between boosting relationships with her Leader Feature and boosting Paragon Spawn Chance with the Cunning Trait, she can leverage dragging out conflicts to her own advantage domestically and abroad. Innovative gives her another avenue for gaining additional paragons and Charismatic lets her use her relationships to boost Golden Age progress.

Osh-Tisch

Bade Warrior
+100% Force Heal Rate in owned Regions
+2 Health in each City for each Force you command while at War

Osh-Tisch serves as healer and warrior. Their ability to keep units' health up makes them intimidating to invade, along with Formidable, boosting their strength at the start of any war declared on them. They aren’t just warriors, though. Traditional, Sage, and Efficient give them unique ways to build up cities and become surprisingly competitive in ways other than war.

Chapter 3: AI Personalities

Getting the players to play differently from one another can be a double-edged sword. In the world of Reddit and Steam, you will see posts saying “AI is broken” because one of the AI players did something they didn’t like. But we’ve decided to plow ahead because we know, or at least hope, that most players will appreciate it if different AI leaders/nations play differently. Thus, you may make nice with Genghis Khan, but sooner or later, he will want to destroy you.

Let’s take a look at what we did:

Personality-Driven Diplomacy

The new AI system abandons simple scripted behaviors in favor of complex personality-based decision making:

Relationship Dynamics by Leader Type

Advanced War Logic

Cultural Development AI

AI civilizations now make strategic cultural investments:

• Purchase Culture Traits based on the overall strategic situation

• Invest in Regional Claims when territorial opportunities arise

• Balance cultural and military development based on difficulty and personality

Difficulty Scaling

We implemented a new feature called Adaptive AI, which we’ll be talking more about. But we have tried to make sure that it adheres to this system.

Bringing it together

There’s so much more we’d like to do. History is just such an amazing canvas to work with. But we are pretty confident that players will notice, very quickly, the changes we’ve made to make the players feel more distinct.