I love the ophidian as a quest reward, however it seems odd that despite it being a really cool armoured snake, the shadow warg spell cast on the world map seems to make a stronger unit from the get go despite the ophidian having the triple bite attack. I was planning on levelling my ophidian up a bit to gain more hp when the neutral hero i was fighting cast a spell that crushed it for 17 points of damage in a single blast, which was funny at the time.... yet annoying since i obviously couldnt replace then unit.

Love the direction of this particular version .912, there is a lot more to do other than running around picking up crates. You have to pay attention more to the monsters around you and actually defend your settlements. Huge difference there.

A note about the tech tree. Could you please have random tech be highlighted with a different colour so you know your getting something unique this game.

Instead of the heroes tech be a straight line, i  would suggest some requirement so you can't barrel down that path once you get your research points up there:

channeling as a requirement for heroes - heroes want to know that their leader has magical knowledge and can give them unusual equipment

enchantment as a requirement for eregog's journal - heroes want to know they will get some support from their sovereign with greater goodies with the potential for bettter goodies in the future. This investment shows them that the sovereign will invest in his supporters

cooperation as a requirement for breon's letter's - The most powerful heroes will not work with someone who will betray them )However, they will sign up for a sovereign who will surprise them by sucking out their brains for magical knowledge and personal gain - heroes are err, optimistic that way. Yeah, we'll go with optimistic)

The tech tree continues to improve, it's intrigueing to have the faction prestige bonuses early on in the tech tree - it's a nice encouragement to develop one city early on for  a bit before expanding, which works nicely with the more dangerous environment in the world.

The monolith of control is a really useful spell. Perhaps it should have a mana upkeep of 1 per turn with the following idea, you could cast an additional enchantment on the monolith that will have a free upkeep, or add an extra mana per turn upkeep but will provide a local effect in it's zone of control -

life - your armies get  +1 regen per turn (but not the regen in battle)

fire - enemies are burned for 1 hp per turn with an overpower effect

death - enemies have - 10% hp

water - your army's weapons get charged with poison while in battle for +1 damage

air - your armies get + 4 to accuracy

earth - your army get +1 armour  

This will also limit the number of monolith's you have early game instead of just slamming them down to grab resources willy nilly.

EDIT: and yes i  am aware you caan put some kind of fort down beside the monolith to give it some kind of protection and fighting bonus, depending on how they improve the outpost mechanics in the game