As I said earlier, Fatimids have lost some food output in the Nile. Also, as of version 1.1 they cannot build Guild Halls. Assassins nerf is of course in, though it affects all Muslim states.
I've spent last couple of days with Euro Large map replaying first 100 or so turns on DEBUG to deal with France. I ended up using most of the suggestions but paralyzed settlers here and there are impossible to avoid on a crowded map. Anyway, the situation is a bit better: France is agricultural now, with Paris moved 1 tile north, and various attractions in the West to drag it there, so that Germany manages to grab Rhine valleys first.
With this setup, France usually settles Aquitaine, Loire valley and Flanders, apart from the usual territories. All at the cost of its neighbors though. Germany is very random but manages to grab at least Rhineland and Netherlands, then Saxony and Austria, if Bohemia isn't first. Burgundy usually stretches from Switzerland to Toulouse area and Lower Burgundy, and sometimes Aquitaine.
Also, given the location and start date, I figured on this map in particular, first two Burgundian cities will be Lyon and Arles.
Also to be clear, armies have been changed to be non-buildable and autoproduced every 24 or 32 turns (still not sure). This gives you the joy of meeting more AI armies, though I'm not sure how some of you like it, since building numerous armies was mentioned several times.