In 1.2a, I think there are way too few world resources to populate the barren world.
For example: http://i.imgur.com/Xaao5.jpg
This not only makes the world a pretty boring place to explore, but it also causes the AI to never expand to new cities. I played a medium map with 4 enemy factions and 300 turns into the game I suddenly realize that the enemy only has one or two towns each.
