My final thoughts are: game good - but still false advertising

[SuicidalCivie]

I spend some time arguing on the side of the antis, so I'm sharing that the game won me over. But it's not like I renounce my points either. Here is my (Backhanded) "Thumbs Up" review:

Northgard in the sand and House Ecaz is Clan Ratatoskr. Remember the Clan of the Squirrel? To me, that marked the point when Northgard abandoned all pretense of seriousness and just became a weird, but mechanically fascinating kid’s cartoon.
House Ecaz is like that. Making pretty sculptures on a death world means, that any gravitas the game inherited from Frank Herbert instantly evaporates. Why do they do it? Because it synergizes with village traits. If a village has "Plunderers" +3 Solari for every military building, a military Masterpiece gives +6 since it counts double. Masterpieces can also be upkeep-free placeholders to unlock “one of each type” bonuses or the Mason Guild's +15 for fully built village bonus. Their Sanctuaries add +1 to village based bonuses, so it’s mechanically interesting, but “lore” wise inane.

I spent about half a day playing the game 75% paused and savescumming to collect the “Insanity” achievement with house Ecaz. Bludd’s second champion not only counts everything getting killed by the troops as his kill, but also doesn’t conflict with the first champion's counting. One enemy dying, while both champions are present, means 200 Hegemony points for me. My Musketeer got 60 “kills” my Squire got 42. I had 10200 of the required 30k Hegemony from my two Champions. I also had fun.

So I ended up adjusting my expectations. I expected Spice Wars would have a more mature, serious tone to it, but I enjoy it, even though it has not. I genuinely hope the PR “gaslight-gate” at launch doesn’t doom the game.

[⎝Wyrd Deofol⎠]

I don't agree with the false advertising. The game was in EA and a lot can happen in EA.
I find the original game better than what was 'promised'. Take that original 'promise' very lightly.