Lots of positives (larger battlefield, interesting maps, distribution of champions, graphics, etc..), but

BUGS:

   - Game does not reload correctly sometimes. Graphics are missing. Especially noticed in early game and with quick saves.Now I save everything manually.

   - Game still freezes occasionally and has to be restarted. Happens mostly on reload.

   - I also get strange messages from other players talking about -100000 gilders, or some such nonsense.

Gameplay:

   - End game still too drawn out, not enough movement increazses for characters. Maybe add Teleport spell (for perhps one unit?) Takes too long to clean up remnants. And many players are hostile now, so alliances aren't possible. Or allow % (pop, might, etc) victory.

   - Champion development also much more difficult. I seem to get very little XP, even with big battles. Mages don't progress. My first game I have a fire mage (Level 8, I believe) and he still can't throw a flame dart. Both games are basically over and no champions has reached level 10.

   - Champion archers are woefully weak. I found a bow early on and tried to develop a champion as an archer. Still at level 7 he was only doing 5 damage on weak opponents and 1 damage on strong opponents. And this guy is supposed to be the new Legolas?

  - Initial positioning of units for battle is a necessity. It would also be nice to be able to Pass on a unit, but not lose the ability to use that Passed move later in battle. I do see a little improvement in AI tactics.

  - The Wild Lands (?) take up a large % of the map, and by the time I am strong enough to invade them - I have already defeated the other players. So for me it is an interesting feature, but not part of the game. Maybe there should be occasional forays out from these lands that would force you to pay more attention to them.

  - The enemies are still not aggressive enough, especially the other races. They should never resist attacking an undefended town.

  - The distribution of goodies seems to be geographically arranged. In one area all you find are swords, in another it is shields, etc. It is difficult to buff up your champions with only one type of equipment. And, of course, the really useful items can only be used by Levle 7 unit - which is years in the future.

   - I would like to use Auto-resolve more often for the one-sided battles, but if I have a unit that is weak (and would be protected in a manual battle) , he is always killed. Unreasonably in my opinion.

   - Scouts should be allowed to escape, maybe after two battle turns - if they are still surviving. Otherwise they die too easily.

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