easy? Stop S/L and you find what's easy... I won't stop all S/L, but I try to use it as least as possible. I agree in the early game you might have to a little because you have to get a reasonable start since AI getting early advantage.
It is not a one man fighting an army game, not it should be. Just apply common sense those hero in later game is just support units, like tank or using support spells(one of I always like is pull to the earth) to help your large units to fight. But, in the really later game if you enter into, you do have to build a powerful warrior and it is possible to do so. Well, depend on winning term, if you have to win by master quest, you will need them.
AI do not design unit, but they upgrade weapon...
I am playing on my lab top, I have a problem with display. In the battle, the display of things the movement zone of a unit (like the green zone for my units) or spell effect range etc. were display too light to see(sometimes just disappeared) , can I change it? I have problem on calculating the moves, really hard. Please help ot fix it...
Read the game and play Expert level is not that hard. I start my first game two days ago, did not finish much, now playing the first full game in expert level and almost winning... We need better AI, AI is so stupid, they even don't consider buff....For example, if I put a hero with Physical damage immunization there, they would still all attack it and ignore my other units lol. Take it easy, you will get it.