Hi
I have been playing the desert Hearthlings, on normal setting, in Alpha 16. Without giving too much away there is a point where the carpenter becomes increasingly important. The forest Hearthlings have a carpenter at the start, but you have to go though Potter, Mason, Blacksmith (who takes ages) before you can have even a basic carpenter. So it takes a very long time to achieve an experienced carpenter. If the wrong Hearthling dies,you are set back and have to re earn all that experience. So I would like to suggest that the potter replaces the carpenter in the campaign in the desert, to put them on an equal basis with the forest Hearthlings, unless this was a deliberate choice to make them unequal. Thank you.
You are correct the Ryyas Children (RC) are at a distinct disadvantage compared to the Ascendancy when it come to Hard Mode.
From what I understand, Ryyas Children have yet to be fully fleshed out by the devs at this point. which is reflected in the difficulties presented by hard mode play. Since the concept for RC is to be commercial based (traders and art crafters) vs, the ascendancy military might. I am thinking that once the Devs finish polishing up core mechanics/features, they will revisit the desert kingdom to make necessary adjustments .
or just add weaponry that fits with the desert theme made by the potter 
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There’s a larger disadvantage actually.
Rayya’s can overcome the wood shortage by clear cutting and by starting with the right tools (wooden sword, hoe).
The real problem is that Rayya’s gets a +1 bonus to mind, which means it’s impossible for them to get a 1/6//6 knight or footman (the best they can do is 2/5/6 or 2/6/5 instead) and statistically more difficult for them to get high-body, high-spirit characters in generally. So they just aren’t as good at soldiering as the other races.
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Just turn on random characters. Makes the game more fun anyways the starting equipment is a bigger issue than the Body disadvantage.
I feel like the starting equipment shortage is made up for by being able to buy food and ore etc. in large volume from traders later on, and by the fact that Rayya’s maps are generally more defensible (more sheer cliff faces) than Ascendancy maps. I mean, it’s definitely an issue, but it’s surmountable.
No matter how much you can buy later on, when you start a game in hard mode, you need to get two or three clerics immediately as you can only have one footman. That’s less than ideal, especially seeing as you need quite a bit of xp and so on to get those clerics going too.
Rayya’s Children are definitely a bit harder to play, but intentionally so.
RC are also a trading people, and it’s not difficult to rack up a bunch of items to sell – and then you can purchase weapons and other necessary items. The key is making sure that you select critical items (a sword, a hoe) as part of your starting tool complement. It’s entirely possible to get by without a carpenter for quite some time (e.g. make a Mason early, give your first Footman a stone maul as soon as possible etc.).
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