What did everyone think of their first game? Was it challenging? What were the interesting decisions you had to make? What strategy did you pursue? How well did it work? Did you feel that there was some moment where you could have or should have changed strategies?

I haven't finished a sandbox game yet, but I've invested several hours into one. I'm playing a small map on fastest mode, so maybe I'm well into the game? Not sure...

Anyway, I've been focusing on the Adventure track, hoping to build up some uber-powerful champions. So far, champions feel underwhelming as has been noted in other posts. They don't seem strong enough to venture out into the wilds past big stacks of spiders etc to get to the interesting dungeon/quest locations - not without lots of military support, which seems to defeat the purpose of adventuring.

Anyone had any luck with this strategy?