Another update before I crash.
I only researched my 'Notable Locations' up to level 2, due to needing a LOT of other techs and the fact that tech advancement seems much slower now. That being said, the gildar rewards seemed reasonable, seeing that the 'gildar' multiplier structures aren't applying bonuses (Derek has posted this in the changelog). My empire has been floating around -2 to 2 gildar per turn production, even with around 18 caravans doing their thing, so the goody huts have been keeping me in the game.
I've ended up passing on a LOT of heroes because they want too much money (200+ gildar) this time around, due to the lean gildar situation.
I'm guessing that once I research level 3 notable locations, I'll begin to find those huge hordes of gildar. As it is, I've found 150 gildar a few times in the level 2 huts.
I'm around Spring of 190 (whatever that means). My total population is around 450 or so, and I've noticed that the smaller cities are growing very slowly now. Before, each city would grow at around 2 people per turn, now it's more like 1 every other turn. I even hit a point where my total population, over 10 or so cities, was only growing at about 5-6 per turn. So my capital city is a LONG ways from levelling up at this point (it's around 153 citizens as I post this). I haven't researched much by way of Prestige boosters (I just have the inn), dunno if that's part of the problem. I'm ranked 57 in faction power, with the other four factions I've found being no higher than 17 by comparison. I eliminated a fifth faction, and the other five factions are unaccounted for (on the half of the map I haven't been able to explore as of yet).
I had one minor crash (was trying to reload a saved game when it happened), but I simply restarted and reloaded again, no worries. About 5 hours straight (with the one crash somewhere in that stretch). No slowdowns, but occasionally the map hangs when I'm trying to scroll. A couple of seconds later it starts scrolling again, though.
Good news for you 'mount animation' haters. I've taken mounted units into combat (Sovereign & Heroes on Wargs), and they are NOT hanging up the game in any way. Attacks & moves involving mounted units are now almost as fast as regular units. No lags whatsoever that I've seen, and I've had mounted units in several dozen fights (some involving 11 grouped monsters on the other side).
I've been using all my character points for special abilities, i.e. the options ghat produce 1 gildar, tech, arcane knowledge, 2 food, and 2 mana. The War Staff seems a little overpowered for the early game IMHO. Perhaps if there was a lesser warstaff (that did 8 or 9 damage instead of 15), with the Greater (15) Warstaff appearing later, that might be better. 15 attack will kill about anything in the early game without too much trouble...
BTW, I just checked. Warstaff is NO LONGER included in the Sovereign Creation interface at this time as far as I can tell. I'd argue that the other items cost too many character points. 10 points for a padded cuirass for example, which only gives you 2 def - for those same 10 points you can get a +1 bonus to Tech (and hence research better gear sooner), assuming you don't mind holding out for the first few turns. Plus the cuirass only costs about 32 gold or so gold, which is about 1/3 of your starting gold.
Wealthy only costs 5 (this seems about right), but that's an extra 1 gildar a turn for the rest of your GAME. In about 32 turns, choosing to be Wealthy will end up paying for that cuirass, for half the character points.
Also, Longstrider Boots seem a little pointless. They cost twice as much (10 versus 5 for the Traveling boots) for the same bonus. And 5 Character Points vs. 17 gold (on turn 2) for Traveling boots is a no brainer for me (I'll spend the gold). Plus, what's up with only the race of MEN (and none of the other races) getting Traveling boots in the first place? This seems arbitrary and capricious.
I'd guess there might be an early game strategy where you armor up, buy a staff from the store, and attempt to take out a nearby player within the first 15 or so turns, but that seems like a dicey proposition to me. 6 Def for 36 character points, plus maybe another 5 for Combat Spells, leaving 9 for a +3 to stats? I'd argue that getting the War Machine Trait, and spending your 100 gildar on armor would give you more bang for your buck. So yes, I'd suggest that Sovereign creation points for equipment probably should be tweaked downward IMHO.
BTW, War Machine/Tools of war makes Spears available in your shop, which currently is 9 attack for 25 gold, as well as some armor...
A simple formula: maybe 1 character point for every 12 gold you'd otherwise spend? And unused character points can be traded in for 12 gold each? That'd be 600 extra gold if your character spent no points on attributes...
Note that Club and Staff are now cheaper (1 and 2 Sov creation points, respectively, and staffs cost 20 in the shop).
With the 'lesser' number of stats to advance now, and 3 advancement points per level, leaving the starting stats around 10 (or lower) isn't too much of a disadvantage in my book. You can push the stats up as you level up, fairly quickly, and those extra arcane & tech points make up for things (techs/spells show up sooner, which ALL of your units benefit from, not just the Sovereign). Especially now that the start game is SO MUCH SLOOOOWER.
That being said, the disadvantages still look too scary for me, so I haven't taken them. The one that reduces production while your sovereign is in a city is probably the 'least scary' of all of them.
That's all for now. Off to bed!
