Played for two days a longer game on a small map.

Bugs:

• Combat: Sometimes the Control-buttons do not work in combat, or the units/heroes do not react anymore when I play "pass".Switching to Auto-Mode and switching back helps then.
• Combat: Sometimes Range-Attacks with staffs reach the units from the wrong side (shoot from above, beam comes from the left)
• Combat: The Spell "Growth" on Warg-Riding-Units has the Shrink-Animation (unit is smaller)

• World-Map: The Control-buttons (for example for Heroes "Trade" etc.) are "permeable": When you want to click the Trade-Function and an enemy-army is under the button, your mouse cursor turns into crossed swords, keeping that condition in the trade-Menu preventing several functions.

Suggestions/Wish-List:

• Mini-Map: I do not understand the mini-map, for me it is difficult to see where is what location, the orientation because of the isometric design is very complicated on the mini-Map, North is not North etc., I do not know if I will learn to handle this or if that could be improved.

• Settle/Material and food of tiles: I am missing options for the map for example showing me possible settle-locations/Material and Food-values. I play a little bit strange now to find the right place: When I move the mouse-Cursor over the settle-button of any pioneer I can see the values of any location in range of sight of any of my units.
• Streets/Towns/Moving armies: When a city has the maximum garrison inside, moving units have to walk around the whole city and can not use the street-bonus anymore. When you have big cities that can cost a lot of turns, and is not quite logic.
• Bonus for City-Level: I would like to have the possibility to watch city-Details before choosing my bonus, I do not want to note the values for grain and materials for every city so that I know what bonus would fit best.
• Garrison/wages at the beginning: In non of my games (all played on Challeging) it was neccessary to defend my cities or outposts with extra-units, the situation seems a little bit strange to me: When you are not at war with the AI nobody will attack you, and when you are attacked by "freed" monsters and your souvereign or other heroes are not there most of the time the units you can build at the beginning have no chance against  them, so it makes no difference if you build them or not. And the wages are to high at the beginning, I had three cities, and one (self-designed) unit costed more than my cities had as income.
• The AI seems to be attacked less often by "free" monsters, sometimes they build ouposts inbetween hordes of monsters. Seldom something is destroyed. I tried to avoid attacking monsters near the AI becuause I hoped the AI would get in trouble then.
• The AI seems not to be interested in collecting the items that can be found at the locations of defeated monsters?
• Hunters have a bonus against beasts: What is a beast? Are Dragons and Elementals Beasts , too? Or is it meant in the sense of animal? Same for weapons against "twisted": I am missing these infomation to be found easily in the help index.

Comments on Balance/AI/Gameplay:

I like the Design and Idea of the Game very much, but I am afraid if the game makes fun in the sense of strategic competition.

I am a little bit disappointed that strategic round based games in 2012 have such big problems to create (the illusion of) a challenging AI.

Civ V for example uses the cheapest and oldest way to make the game more difficult: Hordes of enemy-units.

In FE at the moment I see the problem that there are so many wonderful possibilities and Ideas, but I had no problem to beat the AI on the difficult-Level "Challenging" the oldest way: War.

It was no problem for me to capture any city (I still do not know for what you need siege weapons...).

The AI helped me by doing very strange things: Heroes standing around alone in forests, Pioneer-Armies, moving armies of possible City-Defenders outside the town one turn before I wanted to attack the town.

I am afraid that the game will always feel unready and a little bit schematic.

I like to play it to explore sth. different, a new game, fantastic things like the Unit-Editor, but I am not sure if I will love the game, If it will attract me strategical. Iwant to play a "Master of Magic 2012", what it feels like right know is like a "round based Heroes of Might&Magic".