New Player Questions, EAPangaea, Rainbow Mage, Etc

[Vellon]

I played another game with a Turmoil 3 scale and ended up with a never-ending supply of maenids pouring out from my research base. Indie commanders filled with maenids proved effective for capturing lightly defended territories without forcing me to divert my main army.

I am having a problem with my upkeep though with the turmoil scales. Should I be patrolling harder to make up for the lost income? I found myself going many turns without gold, albeit I was in a very exposed location and next to an aggressive AI playing Vanheim.