Krax doesn't have rebels. their leader does have cruel, though (5% unrest). were both starts on the same map size? map size also affects the number of research points needed for each tech (larger maps require more research). and of course, Karavox starts with Fire/Water, so he can buff his first city with inspiration, if you already applied essence buffs, that would explain the difference (level 1 town only has 1 research, adding another point at that stage doubles your very early research)

But otherwise, I guess it's either the Tarth or the Yithril tonite (in ~10 min) as the changes are a bit too nice to keep playing the Bandit Queen one.

well, that's what happens when you ask the viewers

Plus I haven't really seen a Juggernaut in FE LH, but it's becoming rather apparent why - they come too late to really matter much.  I'll try to get there before they become redundant, but I'm not sure it'll matter by then.

i'd love to see tarth there's one small mechanic within the default tarth setup most players seem to miss: their sov starts with air 2, so it's not exactly hard to get her to air 5. at that point, you can just tornado big stacks into small stacks/single units. with master scouts and the huge bonus when in small groups, you can then split up your army and kill the individual units easily. air 3 and 4 aren't that bad for an archer hero, either. i think air 3 gives you the teleport spell for tactical combat (thunderstrike) which isn't too  bad for kiting. air 4 (i think?) unlocks titans breath (AoE knockdown) - again, pretty nice for a faction that ties to keep melee units away for as long as possible.

i usually pick a path that seems appropriate for that sov/faction. for tarth/irane, i think archer assassin is more or less the "canon" path. i wouldn't play magnar or markin or carrodus as assassins, though.

Well, every sovereign can make a great spellcaster, but if you don't have summoner trait is not as good to specialize in those (sure can grab one or two for utility / big hits absorb like you know that ogre / troll is going to use his 1 shot mace skill and you bait it with the summon), the problem is making them a different class but still having good magic access (since is world of Elemental).

Playing Tarth on ridiculous now, made it to half of faction power list in early game, got 2 fortresses 1 conclave and 2 towns with plenty of resources so far, no AI really hating on me (I even demanded tribute from 2 empires), and sovereign is assassin, but so far up to level 7 I have yet to pick a single skill from Assassin tree as I wanted to get full potential on her (since am using a 2nd hero in her group, which is a life specialized mage on healing, otherwise things simply wouldn't really work with a melee assassin) and the lightning tree level 4 (so she has better mobility as it more easily accessible the teleport from Air rank 3 than shadow switch which is deep in assassin tree).