The AI in this game can be brutal, it has no difficulty settings (currently) and they will try and destroy you within the first 5-10 minutes of the game.

Currently there are three game modes, All, Free for All and use game map settings.

If you're using all, the AI will only attack you, so only use this in a 1v1 unless you're a masochist.

How to survive -

Build 12 peasants / gnomes for gold production, 4 peasants / gnomes for iron production and 2 peasants / gnomes for mana production at all times. You can produce more later on once you've established yourself.

Build a farm / shelter when you have about 6 peasants and then a barracks / war camp soon after that and then a second barracks / war camp

Field up to 12 units of melee as soon as possible whilst building a training ground / corrupted woods. Once built, build Russelaunt / Laurianna and continue fielding troops with the secondary unit production building.

There, you survived your first 5-10 minutes of the game, the rest is up to you.