No research available -- says need scholars, and "scholars" does not appear in manual (perhaps city level "x"needed)
No achievements for hero (some splashscreens indicate they exist)
No inns found yet -- so no quests
These are all intended, the campaign is a linear story, rather than extension of a sandbox game. There's no tech research, you get given techs at various points. Likewise there aren't any goodie huts with loot or random quests, both of which exist normally in the sandbox mode.