[akots]

IMO, Orthus is actually a great help. I always kill him when he is around and get the axe giving it to a hunter which then promotes at a blazing speed into a barbarian-killing monster in no time. One only needs to pick the right terrain for attack and to have enough warriors 3-4 will do the trick (first couple of hunters are usually there as well at this time).

Also, I have not had any problem farming for the first prophet early on (food in very seldom an issue on Erebus maps with Agrarian civic and especially after Sanitation) and by the time the early religions are founded (FoL, RoK, OO), usually there are only a couple of cities and no trade routes to spread religion on Erebus map. So yes, a shrine you can build but I would always try to put GProphet to Lunnotaur temple instead to get bonuses for disciple units and to acquire more room for priest specialists. So, if you want a shrine, that actually might be a critical mistake under some circumstances.

Also, to get a great person you need either to have some considerable cash (about 75 g) or have a very lucky run with a layer or goblin fortress with a scout or hunter (have not seen any great people or anything useful coming out of layer with warriors). And it usually pays back. In one game, I popped 3 techs from the huts (Ancient Chants, Fishing, and Mining) but then due to negligience in scouting around the borders a barbarian city popped up and at the very same turn Asheron appeared in it and this is not something you can live with especially when it is obscuring your third city spot. And that dragon horde makes massive amounts of culture so all your borders are basically screwed. To add to the insult, you need cats and courage spell of mind mana to kill the beast and an awful lot of hunters/axemen (better champions but these will show up only later).

I'd say that worst imbalancing factor is when the counter advances and Infernal appear near your borders (Hyborem is really hard to kill because of Immortal promotion) and if you are neutral, hell terrain kicks in and screws up all improvements. Then, the riders (starting from Stephanos and continuing with Barbaros and Co.) are really impossible to kill unless done rapidly, preferrably immediately after they appear or otherwise they gain supporters and experience at impossible rate. Again, one needs courage and cats for that. So, yes, it is a gamble a bit but you get Crown of Command as a reward and this is not a minor thing to have.

Also, Kael and Co. are constantly fixing stuff and straighthening the balance. In any case, we can play a scenario. Momus sounds like great fun when the war and peace are declared at random by Perpentach although it is too centered towards Lanun and I'm not sure if Balseraphs can be switched from AI still keeping the script on.