Is it me or is the AI expanding alot faster/more since 1,07? I haven't bee playing that long, but it seems that before the patch I could chill out and explore more. I tend to only colonise on places with a decent amount of resources. I was playing on easy before because I didn't know the game yet and I wanted to get the hang of it on my own pace, and I seemed to be doing find. But since the patch, whenever I get my first pioneer out, the AI has already nearly blocked me in with 1-2 settlements and they are just pumping out pioneers like there's now tomorrow. This seems to make no difference on beginner either. And when I want a treaty or something, they are already skyhigh in "perceived value", eventhough they usually have a worse army than me. And they don't really seem to develop cities, they just put one wherever there's 1 recourse of whatever. I enjoy this game alot, but if it's gonna be a game of rushing the most cities out asap, then the fun goes out the window for me.

And also, couldn't I teach summon magic before when creating an avatar?