Yes, but I had a large map, 7 opponents, and every nation I met declared war on me within 1 turn. Didn't help much... I had no room to expand into, and outright warfare everywhere.
I'd prefer larger maps too. Bigger = more fun, in my opinion.
That's been pretty much my experience so far with FE in the games I've had a chance to try.
I think the game is cool - I just wish I could explore more of the tech and stuff before sending my stick-swingers against their club-pounders and hoping my champions are good enough.
If it's starting point spacing - that's cool too. Whatever it is, map size, start point spacing, both, I hope future updates attempt to address the issues.