Yeah the "Lost Bounty" Research if i remember correctly.

 So far in version 1.09p I've played 2 games and both of them had plenty of food. At one point in the 2nd game I thought there might be to much food available. Perhaps you simply had a very unlucky map seed at the start of your game?

yes exactly Trojasmic, the resource distribution seems so much better in this build, you need need to hunt for resources, and the balance seems just about right, however metal seems very difficult to find unless you research it....

You think more food would show as the game progresses, nature being a tough one and all.

I've gotten a lot of boring and barren maps too, most of the time there's not much to fight over, and nothing interesting going on on the map even several Adventure techs in.

I think there need to be more resources, but they should be less useful. It /is/ a wasteland, but there needs to be things to fight over, a reason to explore, and just in general...something to break up all the empty terrain I'm forced to stare at.

getting more but less significant food resources would be a good way to make the food system more finely graded. at the moment one fertile land resource can mean the difference between healthy growth and economic paralysis.

i guess to make everyone happy, Stardock needs to make a slider on the world creation screen that lets the player choose food resources between few, normal, lots, etc.

same with other resources

same with monster spawn

same with champion availability

Yes!  Personalized choice is best!  A slider for resource appearance I would warmly welcome!  And I too like to mix up my gaming... particularly for a game I play over the course of years as I foresee with EWoM.  Sometimes I will want a resource poor challenge, other times I want a world which supports empire building on a grand scale (not just for me but also for my opponents).  At the moment though, all my games are the same... a grind to make the best of a barren and limited world.  My decisions are decreased, and my options are limited.  With the resource spawning of v1.09e I had many more gameplay choices and decisions to make than I have with v1.09n+.  A resource slider would help us tune the game to that which we are seeking at that moment.

To the point of the OP... I'm all for your Lesser Resources idea madtemplar0. 

Food seems pretty good right now.  Maybe some minor tweaking to make it more 'consistent' across the map, and maybe a couple of more food added to 'fill in the holes' on the map as necessary, but not too much food stacked in one place.

Any 'tweaks' should be in the form of housing.  if 40 citizens per house isn't cutting it, make it 50.  That way, you food goes a little farther.

The resource I've been hurting for a LOT lately is materials.  Perhaps a slight increase in clay mines, stone quarries, old growth forests, etc. is in order?

Also, the Diplomatic Capital resources seem a little too rare.  I generally only see one every third game that is close enough to my capital be immediately useful (i.e. within reasonable pioneer range, say 8-10 turns).

One of the X's in 4x is Expand!  Expansion is a major draw to the genre for some of us.  If you don't want to be arsed with the handling of multiple cities you can choose to just not build them.  You can burn AI cities to the ground, you can select small maps, you can reduce # of opponents.  I think it is a mistake to limit empire building in an empire building game simply because some players don't want to deal with multiple cities.  There are plenty of options for those who want quick and simple games without having to tailor the entire game for them.    

I think City Spamming is an AI problem thats been misapplied by those seeking a game with fewer cities.  It is when the AI spams worthless cities on every plot it can reach.  Neutering the game to limit AI city spam is the wrong approach.  You'd be throwing the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.  I agree that Resource management is a good approach towards increasing strategic options and decision making.  But the maps I have been getting since v1.09n have been so resource poor that it limits my options and decisions.  In this case, resource management is not working in the way it is intended.  For the most part.. I get just the one fertile land we all start with.  No more spawns between me and the AI (Large map 10 players or Medium with 8 or less).  To get more I must conquer my nearest neighbor.  I research three resource spawning techs to no avail.  The lack of food actually encourages me towards a sprawl strategy because I need the early unit production in order to capture resources. 

I think it possible that there is a notable disparity between what some of us are getting for resource spawning.  But I think there are others that just want a simplified game with fewer cities.  And I think phrases like "to prevent stupid noob city spamming" speaks towards someone who doesn't want to deal with numerous cities, and wants to impose that on others.

This isn't even close to what I'm looking for.  In EWoM, I'm looking for 3 core cities to be established by turn 100.  3 fat cities growing towards metropolises.  Then depending upon each games circumstance, I might seek to settle a couple outposts by that point.  I think that quite reasonable, and not out of the ordinary for the majority of 4X TBS gamers.  As it stands now, I have the resource choice for one metropolis and one outpost.  Or I cap the capital at level 3 and have 2-3 outposts capped at 1-2.  With this increased unit production I go out and conquer a neigbors capital so I can get my second food resource.  That's not good.  The lack of resources, not just food, pushes me towards a city sprawl strat.  The consistent lack of food reduces my options towards early war.  The lack of all resource types limits my expansion decisions to near nil.  This lack of resources to claim, compels me to build my cities closer together than I would otherwise prefer. 

I disagree.  Empire building is exactly what the concept of this game is.  We are rebuilding civilization here.  Not building isolated outposts in the wild.  Isolated outposts are represented by Minor Factions, Lost Libraries, Arcane Temples and hopefully more stuff in the future.  Civilization had been destroyed, the land made barren.  Time passed and the land gradually becomes fertile again (look to Mt. Saint Helens if you need a real world model of rebirth after utter cataclysm).  The land begins to renew as the survivors exponentially increase their breeding rates.  And now, in the case of the two leggeds, they search for signs of civilization reborn.  As we build our cities, people come flocking in from the wilds (city prestige).  Our settlements bring life back to the land... quite literally in a gameplay sense.  From our cities spreads life.. barren land turns to grassland.  Some leaders will be less empirical than others I'm sure.  Sometimes I will want to RP a faction of woodfolk who are just interested in establishing a small civilization to protect their own against murderous beasts and men.  Other times I will want to play a faction which is bent on conquering the world to unite it.  etc.  Whatever I RP, the point is going to be to restore civilization in one form or another.  I'm not interested in creating a minor faction hybrid which is sorta what the lack of resources limits me to.  *Note:  I think some of us may be getting different resource spawn rates than others.  As I said in my post open, I am looking for 3 core cities by turn 100 with the potential for a few outposts as situations dictate.