Triple post time:

Longbow released the 1.1.0 patch (not the beta) and the game's seems to have a lot less whack-a-mole. Basically they made it easier :P - the AI is more respectful of your garrisons (but still raids to get back territory you took from them to keep you on your toes). I'm having a lot more fun despite having to deal with a memory-related crash that keeps popping up. I'm also being much smarter about who I attack, minimizing the number of fronts I have with the Athenians while completely subjugating annoying factions like the Illyrians and Thracians, who won't let you be if you've taken some of their cities but haven't crippled them. I think with this patch (and hopefully with a fix for my memory problem) I could recommend this game at the $30 price. Anything less than that is a definite buy, though.

Changelog:
* We now have multiple difficulty levels, for those who would like more of a challenge, or if you'd like Hegemony to be a little less stressful.
* The enemy is now less aggressive in 'normal' difficulty. If you liked the difficulty level in version 1.0, set the difficulty to 'expert'.
* A number of problems with objectives have been fixed, including Bardylis disbanding his men, and not being able to complete kill quests.
* Hegemony now supports Unicode file paths, so it works on non-English versions of Windows.
* Issuing orders is now more responsive. This came at a cost: you are now required to double-click faster. This setting is configurable in the 'Gameplay' settings.
* Non-combat units now have a silver base, making it easier to differentiate them from combat units, especially when they're in cities.
* The asset list is now twice as wide, and units in the field report the region they're in. Garrisoned units have a (g) next to their station.
* If you have a wide monitor, you'll be able to open more than two dialogues.