Getting my butt kicked on Novice

LOL play on extreme.  Maybe I should be playing on Novice.  How many turns did this happen to you?  Were you able to grow yor city into level 2?  Did you start your starting city near a fertile land?

It was after a fair number of turns I guess. Probably over 100. I must be building up stuff badly.

I have hit level 2 towns.. but didn't make it to level 3 last game.

I also do start my main town near fertile land, but hard to find a second.. so I build them near other resources, to grab them before everyone else and their dog do.

Set the map bigger, that'll give you more room to work. Also if you find resources hard to find start doing adventure tech research, one of the options makes extra resources appear and it helps a lot.

Finally - just to be sure, you are building the farm upgrade on the fertile land tiles (and other upgrades on their tiles) right? You'd be surprised how often people don't realize that you have to do that. (Click the fertile land once it's in your city bouandry and click "build").

If your armies are in trouble, make sure you're doing warfare research for new equipment and squads. Then when you go to train units, you can design ones that use new weapons and are stronger.

And spam cities.  This will allow you to control resources but also create a ZoC to keep critters and others from bothering you.  Don't sign non-aggreession treaties.

I disagree with this. They can save you some worry. If you're about even with one enemy and want to wipe them out, by all means NAP with the person you don't want to fight at the time. That way you're good for 20-60 turns or so or whatever it is to focus on your enemy.

NAPs in this game are not like NAPs in Civ. You can't break them whenever you want. What they are, though, is a free pass to ignore that enemy and focus on other things instead, and when used strategically (especially once the AI gets less dumb) it can be highly advantageous.

The reason I say don't, is that a trade and tech treaty have always sufficed to me.  All I need is a positive relation.  Also, the AI has a tendency to stack troops in places I want to interact with.  If they do this, as they do with caravans, you start to lose pieces of the game.

I'd say...

1. If you use Adenture tree, use it only for the techs that reveal new resources and never the Heroes or Quests. That will reduce the "noise" of lots of hard monsters making it more difficult as the exploration branch doesn't create new monster spawns.
2. Having your Sovereign running like crazy to explore while you have a Pioneer being built is good too. Fertile patches are best, gold mines second. I'd put iron mines third and everything else as you see it.
3. Go for Party tech in Warfare. That and some savings (and the default equipment options) are the foundation for some nice armies. You may have to stop developing your cities sometimes. Experienced troops aren't so important when what you really want if offensive power. Weapons and armours are good. Cavalry only if you see the resource.
4. City bonuses? If you have Lost Libraries and similars, tech bonuses are fine but most of the time, gold option seems best to me. As surprising as it may sounds, I haven't tried the Guardian option yet so not sure about it.
5. Get some Champions. Farmers are top prority (unless you have tons of Fertile lands) but you shouldn't risk them in battle. Any other champion should be go with your Sovereign and be turned into Channeler as soon as possible, so they have more level ups to get extra Essence, Intelligence or HPs. Having some Channelers will reduce the need for Archers and with some magic research you will get magical area artillery, so it's important to be able to hunt down bandits and similar easy preys to level them up.
6. If you get any summoning spell, they are of the best things to can get. Even the humble Summon Familiar can give you a nice meat shield (and fast way to increase the rating of your army).
7. If you invest something in diplomacy, getting Diplomatic Capital will give you the option to get another balancing factor against the other factions. If you have more than them, they will respect you for it.
8. Non Agression Pacts are you friends if you can get some.
9. If the game lasts enough, Dynasties also improve relations. And if those dynasties involve grandchildren, more bonuses.
10. Avoid Kraxis at all costs. Those guys, at least in my games, get powerful very fast.

imho and considering the current AI in Normal.

Similar thread with a lot of good ideas in it:

https://forums.elementalgame.com/393536/#2741195

Maybe I understood it  wrong, since english is not my first language but do I not loose own essence when I turn champions into channelers? So is it maybe not a bad idea to do it?

You do lose essence for Imbuing Champions. But it's easy to get back, and casters you make are almost as powerful as your sovereign. It's an easy way to make every army 3x as powerful.

Ah see, but how can I get it easy back? I think this far the only way to get some is to level your channelor up or? Or is it not permanent removed?

The Essence used in imbuing champions is permanently lost (3 for use). But nothing that some level ups cannot solve (hunting down the nadits and similars, for example). And it's worthy the effort. WIth your Sovereign you could eventually summon a Fire Giant. With three extra Channelers properly leveled up, you would get to summon three extra more Fire Giants. Plus if they are in the same army, imagine them casting Chain Lighting one after the other and decimating the enemy before it gets the chance to react. Or imagine that it's done to you!!!

Magic research has a tech to increase the Essence bonus of your magical units and you can even get a building for your cities that also increases the Essence score (as long as they aren't destroyed). But they are bonuses to your current score, not additions.

Ah thank you, guess the essence bonus explains why one of my childrens had just an insane amount of Mana compared to myself. I guess in that case it is a good idea to start with high Essense or Wisdom when a Channeler is created. MAybe I was just all the time to much worried about loosing my Mana for no reason, since not noticed that you can actually level it up by the units you gave it to.

im finding the same playing on easyest level and thinking im doing well then around turn 100- 150 i get stompted, and my armys seem pittiful and weak and all of a suddin not enuff metal or gold or anything to stop the incoming hordes of doom! im guessing im teching up wrong as well!

 "use it only for the techs that reveal new resources and never the Heroes or Quests. That will reduce the "noise" of lots of hard monsters making it more difficult as the exploration branch doesn't create new monster spawns."

i didnt realise that seems like a good tip thanks wintersong! i will try those