Shieldhaven

I definitely don't see it as that severe of a punishment. It's a conversation with Mirdoth, like any other - you might take a hit to Threat, but it's probably early enough in the game that one point of Threat isn't the end of the world. (If it IS the end of the world, you probably need to handle other parts of your early game differently, but I ain't the boss of you.) My advice would be to get serious about building your second city a little before you are running

I don't have as much experience with this game as a lot of the folks here, and 1.4 is the first version I've played, but I've posted a review of Sorcerer King . Spoiler: I like it a lot. Congratulations to the devs for a lot of great work!