I note with the increase in number of factions that there are several which start off small - meaning with just one settlement. In the hands of a human player, this can be a challenge, but is by no means fatal. However, the AI in RTW at least, was wildly variable in how long these could survive, especially since the only way you could ensure survival was by expansion.

We have some very packed regions (Anatolia particularly) in EBII where one or two missteps early on could result in a faction being wiped out. I don't like losing factions at all if I can help it, the game gets much less rich when it moves towards consolidation in a small number of super-factions. Even worse if some of those die before the game even gets started.

What's been the experience with playtesting so far? How do the smaller ones, especially those in competitive regions, fare?