Q, can you say a little more about the personal modifications? What do you mean by removing free promotions?
Basically I just made a few changes in XML, specifically in the handicap file (can’t remember the name). All done under Deity difficulty BTW. The first thing was to remove the free xp the AIs get – it’s not free promotions per se, but each AI or barb unit in Deity starts with 8xp, which I feel is very unfun, so I changed that to 1. Because this would make it significantly easier, and because I’m playing EitB, I also increased the AI bonuses with regard to production and economy (as part of this, I SHOULD’ve tried to merge the multiple production module, but I didn’t think of it :/). Because I was mucking about in the file I also changed most of the tiles per unit barb values, downsizing them dramatically and reducing the number of turns before they start spawning (in particular I went for 60->15tpu for barb water units, and maybe 5tpu for animals and 15tpu for barb cities? All just off memory). I then added 100g per player at start (because otherwise events are annoying) and about halfway through I opened it again to reduce the unit cost for humans (because I was considering removing it entirely but remembered the importance to the late game economy).
I also switched on Raging Barbs and Wildlands. The combination of which meant that when Jonas fired his WS maybe 20t into the game, he promptly circumnavigated
Edit: This is the first game I’ve used them in, so there will be changes. For example, Acheron appeared REALLY early, and the civ nearby was absolutely crippled. Also, the swarm at the start was massive, and bear lairs meant that they dominated the animal spawns (though I managed to get the Grand Menagerie!
Spotted a gorilla with a boat and turned back instantly to pick up some hunters). Bear dominance might be affected by the terrain of Torusland, which meant there were very few, for example, lions because of little desert or Gorrillas/tigers because of the jungle lack. Also commerce was horrible early game, with a dye at the cap but nothing else for 20ish squares, so I’d likely alter that.
I have other ideas for gameplay changes, but I don’t have much coding skill or time to implement them in.