I dunno, I think with addition of southern city-states the game became less difficult. I’m not even bothering to go north anymore, all the hustling and the good stuff is in the South: good prices, lots of cheap recruits with no daily pay, Arena (why not add it to the North as well?) etc. Also nomads are little weaker than brigands. And southern caravans actually have normal guards that don’t just stand there naked.
