1: Run a provincial Campaign.
2: It's a beta. To quote the ship temp descriptions "You want a description here? Write us one and send it in!"
3: No.
4: Only the Romans? I think it may be related to your computer in general, sometimes if I'm running something else, it just LOVES, LOVES!! to do it, especially right when I'm in the middle of something where time is of the essence, and it tends to happen in HoI: DD and Victoria: Revolutions as well, though I must say not as often as in EB.