Really? Most people think the AI is too easy, including myself.

The campaign story popups (re-readable via the campaign log) should indicate that you need to send some troops back around to the four cities, then reunite with your main force from the west side of the Obsidian Wall.

Here is a map indicating the path to take. Sending troops to the fire shard at the final location will open the wall.

I don't know how you play the game but it's the opposite for me. If you know what you're doing you should have three cities within about 25-30 turns.   The AI simply can't catch up with you then.  This is also why most people complain that the AI isn't strong enough.  Focus on improving your strategy and you'll come to realize this soon enough because right now, it sounds like you're just not using your resources the right way.

I will keep trying because I feel there are enough elements in the game to make it interesting to me.

I tried playing on a bigger map (with only two enemies) in the hopes that things would not be too crowded.

It drives me crazy. One start and there are literally a dozen resources in one small area. I run to a a spot near fertile land to plant the flag and get a warning from an NPC minor kingdom already nearby.  I tried running immediately there and starting before the other city boundary could suck up the nerby mine (I get the farm) but then cannot grow on that side at all. with three, countem three 'wasted resources in a 'hole' between us. Neither of us can build on the resource because its too close to either of us.

WIPE and restart. This time there is one resource in sight. An iron mine. No fertile land so necessary for growth in the beginning. Barren land for as far as I can see. I explored until I found an agressive enemy ZOC on one side and an already well establizhed ZOC of a minor on the other.

I went to a bigger map in the hopes that the enymy/npc cities would begin far enough away that I would have time to establish. I had a bunch of different resources clustered near my opening location. I plant the flag and begin growing. Its not easy because there are so many libraries and advanced resources (have to have tech to use them) and then the city is a mess because the game automatically includes the resources in my city and effectively chokes itself on the 50 tile max. I train a pioneer as soon as possible and sent him out with my SOV.Barren wastes to the east. I found a couple of metal and coin caches and some midnight stones I have no idea when I will get to use. BUPKIS> I reach the coast and find a lone iron mine, But since there is no fertile land anywhwhere to be seen, why bother, I think. SO I head west since the north is totally blocked by mountains. Nothing. Nothing. I beat up a few level one nasties and get to level 3 with my sov. Yes!

I avoid some more powerful units and then I get hit up for tribute demands from the Fallen enemy. I even trained up diplomacy 2 or three times to stave off instant war. Nope. WHen I tiried to offer a treaty, He had several hundred in coin and materials compared to my paltry nothings. I had trained up the ability to sell off one of my hirelings. Worth 115 to his hireling worth 896. So there was nothing I had of equal value.

First its 32 gold, then 46 a couple turns later. VERY soon after the first demand was met. Meanwhile my pioneer is running all over trying despreartely to find another location for a city. Never did find one before the darkling lord sent his troops to wipe me off the land.

The only time I have ever been able to get more than 2 cities started was in campaign where the AI basically leaves you alone.

I read  a review that said grabbing all the element books was a waste because there is no difference between a boulder dropping on the enemy vs a lightning bolt other than grapics. I know what he was trying to say but let me tell you this... I created a Sov (BTW how do I delete LAME Sovs I created?) based on a dwarf char I used to play. He was of the Miner faction and str and then dex as primary with int (for MAGIC, MAN!) as a secondary. stat. ONLY took Earth spellbook and enchant.  I worked first on civ to get started, a bit of diplomacy and then combat for weapons and armor. Worked magic up to LEVEL 6 spells. The only direct damage spell I could find was BOULDER (sorry, but avalanche seemed worthless on the tactical maps since there arent really any choke points and mud .. wow. 25% slowwer. It takes the baddies that much longer to kill me.)

AND.. the boulder only has a range of 3 and missed at least half the time (at essence 18 int 16), so no real help. UNLIKE the wonderful AOE spells in the other books. 

Yes. I tried a couple of the premade sovs. Dont like the way they are set up with weaknesses. They sound pretty crippling. But I really dont know since I dont last long enough to guage what really works and don't as far as talents/weaknesses are.

I was wondering if I was the only one plagued with bad luck but at least someone replied that he has similar problems to mine.  It boggles my mind how someone is playing this game into the late stages without cheats to tame the AI. Sometimes I wonder if those crying the AI is far too easy is because either they are leaving out all the times they got their butt kicked and restarted, or because they are 15 and need to boost their ego by simply claiming its a cake walk.

I will try again in the next few days to vary the size of the map and restart until the map is niether TOO clutttered with resources nor bare as my head will be once I pull out the last of my hair trying to get a handle on just how to play this thing.

And I know it has been said but I really have to say that the lack of documentation really is sad.   Maybe in a year someone will do a strategy guilde like PRIMA does so we can have some kind of idea where the various tech trees lead to and we can actually plan a startegy.

THANKS for any and all suggestions, I truly appreciate those of you tring to help out.

1. The borders of minor kingdoms don't grow.  b. Your cities do not have to touch a resource to make use of it.  As long as it's in your territory, you can click it and build the appropriate building on it.

Was an error in the earlier versions, is fixed in 1.7.

Build it anyway, then send a caravan back to your capital to increase its food production.  Also, nothing says you *have* to level the town up, if you just plunk it down to grab a resource that's fine.  There's no maintenance cost, so all it costs you is the 8 turns to build a new pioneer, but it's generally worth it just for the resource.

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Suggestion: at the beginning, build a couple of peasants in your capital, while you hit nearby goodie huts with the sovereign.  Recruit any heroes you see, and marry as appropriate.  Put all your leveling points into essence initially, and imbue a few heroes, and have them level their essence too.  After your capital is done your two peasants, build a pioneer or two, and have them settle any good spot your sovereign and heroes have found.  If there is a kingdom/empire very nearby, and you've got a couple of decent Adventuring heroes, you can try rushing them if the difficulty level isn't set very high.

Make sure you keep a decent army of heroes and/or summons and/or units and you *shouldn't* get threatened so much.

Finally, a tip from personal experience: Archery is surprisingly effective.  Most monsters have low defense, and a high-strength hero can easily have a ranged attack in the high teens.  A few archers with a couple of melee types, and a caster for some crowd control - preferably a royal son/daughter as those appear to regenerate essence during combat - with freeze, ice stab and that spell that stops counter-attacks for a round, and you can farm even fairly high level monsters for cash.

THANK you FELIDAE and FEARZONE. 

I will try landing on the beach again. I thought there just wasnt a beachhead there.

I *loved* the archer units I got in campaign.

Question regarding imbue: I tried imbuing Janusk When I had 14 essence. It costs 4 which brings me to 10 and I guess I picked all the wrong tactical spells becuase he could not cast anything.  Is imbuing really worth it? Arent you gimping your Sov by doing so? Since mana doesn't regen in the field, isn't that a lot of time sending your stack back to friendly ZOC to refresh?

Most of the Sovs I have made are primary channelers which means that if I imbue the others, I can't cast AND I have no defense when the enemy reaches me.

I like the sack and raze tip. I will try that when I get a chance.

Thanks especially for the tip about resources still being worth a city.

Thanks for the tips, but i have a new question.

When I imbue it cost 4 essence not 3. Why is that?

I believe it costs 4 in the campaign, and 3 in sandbox mode.

How much casting capacity you actually lose depends on how many multipliers you have from temples of essence, shards, and techs.  So for my previous example of 4 cities each with a temple of essence, a caster with 15 base essence would have a casting capacity of 45 mana; imbuing for 3 essence would give the sovereign 12 base essence for a casting capacity of 36 mana; so the actual cost in terms of casting capacity is 9 points.  At least, I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

Summons are the best magic currently, I find. They're not a match for squads mid/late game, but rather powerful early game (not even counting the Empire summon that does 10 defense-ignoring aoe damage, which is just imbalanced). Damage spells suffer from several problems - bugged scaling with shards, 0-N damage that can still get unlucky and miss no matter how good your stats are, and most importantly: horribly slow mana regen. You just can't afford to cast enough damage spells (especially when some just get unlucky low rolls), summoning something that can keep fighting without mana is more efficient. Of course all that is subject to change when they completely remake the magic system, probably in 1.1?