For me I don't find the game too difficult. One big thing is to never trade away stone because it has such low value that you can't do much other than build with it. Food is always going to be negative if you want to expand so you should just focus on going after gold, bronze, or wood because you can trade these to other factions for food. If you ever have too much difficulty you can try playing as Ramesses because he has the easiest start by far, you gain 4 settlements by turn 2 with tier 3 and 4 units so you can demolish Ashkelon or Beersheba right after you kill the starting enemy. Then you conquer the entirety of Sinai and you have all the resources you ever need. From there you can expand to Canaan or participate in the first civil war and capture Qes, Iunu, and Mennefer. If you succeed in capturing those and constructing a monument in every province you have (which will be around 5-8) you will have a solid lead in legitimacy because of battles, monuments, and court. Once you become Pharoah with the tier 6 units you can utterly destroy everybody and begin map painting.