I am surprised by this request to simplify the game.
Admittedly, it’s not easy to handle (I’m not a hard core gamer) but I’m stubborn. If I don’t succeed well I wonder what I did wrong and I try again. Because a game is designed for the players to get by so I have to be able to do that too.
When I started, there was no Idilic valley. When this map was in play, I tried it and found it boring: too easy, everything is available in abundance. I made the arid map and I found it amusing because I had to review my way of developing my city with rather narrow buildable land, very little fertile land, etc.
Rather than claiming more ease, it is necessary to analyze the reasons for our failures in order to no longer suffer from them.