[JaydedOne]

1. My first game was on a random map. To be honest, it looks -very- good, much more polished than I was expecting. Little random bits of scenery, no quirks in terms of land masses that made no sense or were inaccessible, no bad starting positions for my Dreamlands water-based army... Overall, I was very impressed.

2. No idea. Haven't gotten that far.

3. T'ien Chi is pretty much as it was before. The three themes are, afaik, largely unchanged from before. That said, I think Shinuyama does a good job of filling the demon-sumoning niche. I think they're much more your style in that respect.

4. I'm still playing the base game, having just gotten it today. Impressions on modding much later. I imagine the beta testers might be more useful here. ;-)