Before 1.08, the map was completely covered in monsters making it hard to even move. Now, the pendulum has swung to the other side and you can barely find anything.
I think they nerfed monster spawns a bit too much.
I've got my most unbelievable city spammed map ever: Ihave roughly 50 cities and own 75% of the entire Large map on turn 180, most shards and two crystals are under my control, didn't even have to fight for 'em. In fact, I've been enjoying the city spam so much I've not been doing the conquest thing like I normally do. This is the first game I've played in which only one AI has declared war on me, Yithril. I actually havent seen yithril armies because their entire country is blocked by mountains in the north (apparently they dont like to use the "Lower Land" spell from the earth book, which I consider almost essential given the way mountains are designed in this game). It's unbelievable, very few monster, although I have so many cities with caravans that every game at least one or two caravans get killed somewhere by a random monster, but they're so cheap I just replace them turn after turn; I don't even bother trying to protect 50ish caravans.
This was a completely new game since Friday's update patch nerfed my archers in the last game, so I wanted to start a new game. I haven't built archers as of yet to verify they work, but I'll build at least one to see if they work. The lack of monsters & combat has had a side-effect: my guys are not levelling up as much & my giants are weak at starting levels: fire giants at level 1 with 20 hps are weak, I've lost two already to otherwise fairly weak level 4/5 monsters. It's actually nice to have a few weak monsters, so you can level up to level 3 without losing something. I disagree with reply 10, it's always good to have some weak monsters, as you constantly recruit & train new guys that are weak ,and weak monster help level-up without dying. Weak monsters also kill caravans just as easily as stong ones.
