Newbie Questions: Leaders & Terrain &&&

[jfp3]

Hail Gents -- another couple of questions for the Community.

1) Do leaders with of a particular Race receive a benefit when leading troops of their own Race? I know Undead do, but I'm wondering about the others. In that case I would know to build a lab and make a leader for each Race type in my game.

2) Is there ANY effect of terrain on combat besides the minor one which seems to affect both Attacker & Defender, thusly canceling each other out? I may have read wrongly in the StrategyWiki, but that seems to be the case.

3) How quickly do most of you start constructing Items for your leaders? I started about 20 or so turns into my current game, as I didn't even remember about them right away in my zeal to expand my Dominion.

4) How quickly should one designate a Leader as a Prophet? Can you designate another if he/she dies?

5) Do most of you do "interlocking" Fortresses? Where you build as many forts as possible but with a minimal buffer between to prevent "overlap"? Is there ever a case to build a string of Fortresses right next to each other in a suitable place like a mountain range pass?

Lots of questions I know, but hopefully some answers so I know whether to start a new game tonight or not heh.

6) Speaking of which, will the new patch kill an old saved game?

Thanks again Gents!