Haven – "Everything is mixed up, truth and falsehood" [Campaign 3 – Mission 2]

Well, I tried to follow the instructions as closely as possible. It seemed to me that the growth rates for me and my opponents were so different that, having 4 cities, I recruit three times fewer troops than my opponent, who has 1 city. There are other oddities, but it would take too long to write about them. Maybe I misunderstood something? I don't want to abandon the game; I'm eager to complete it, but such difficulties at the very beginning kill all the enthusiasm. I played the previous installments, and everything seemed fine there... Maybe I should try to bring my warriors up to a million? But that would take a year of my life.