I've been playing as Casse and its fun. I've had to reload a few saves so from losing an important general. I have problems with Chariot and I've done what you suggested on how you use it, maybe they just aren't good to use yet until the patch. Although its been about 8-10years and I only have two cities/towns. I don't know if this is good or not, but it seems to be going really slow for me. Most battles I win except there is a stack of 2000 rebels that will be impossible to beat lol:P

I have many allies and trade agreements which is good I think. My economy is not negative either but isn't too good (around 500 a turn)...I've just been taking it slowly.