Just crashed while playing my turn, I know this is not a ranked game but thought I'd post anyway. Hate having crashes during low-mojo seasons, when you just really want to get all turns over and done with.

I can send the screenshot of the crash to Hili if needed.

Hello,

There was a discussion in our team chat about the price of vassals, so I thought it would be nice to share that little bit of information in the general chat as well:

Apart from the relationship with the cities/dwellings, one of the other metrics to calculate the price is the distance to your closest city, so if you would settle right next to a dwelling your price would be 0% extra gold!  

Example:
Size of the city/dwelling: 330g
Relationship: -15% (-49g)
Distance from your closest city: (46 hexes) +78% (+257g)
Total price: 330-49+257=538g

Good question Zytozid, not sure there is a simple answer though!
Like you say, a turtling approach and wait for the enemy is a very bad idea!
What I would say is though, create a path with your main stack, which take into account to never be very far (3-5 turns) from your closest city, so that you can safely get back to avoid a total disaster. 
Obviously scouting is very important, especially 1v1, so where your main army is not present, send scouts in that direction. Also pay close attention to sites cleared (usually some kind of glow around it, even when covered in fog) will give you an idea of where the enemy is. But obviously your scout need to have seen that area for it to be helpful.

All of that information in combination will give you a good idea of how far away the enemy is!

To be able to foresee a rush, and take relevant actions, you need to have an indication of how quick the enemy is moving, so once again scouts are pivotal. If I was the victim of a rush, I would sacrifice all city upgrades to just rush out infantry, irregulars, cavalry to be able to have a numeric advantage, since the rusher have no way to bring produced units if he is indeed rushing you. 

The problem with facing a Rogue, Theo or Necro is that they will pick up units on the way, so can have a very strong army when approaching you. Then the counter would be to create choke points, so that the enemy is forced to attack you 1v3, 2v3, or 1v2.

There is endless scenarios, but it all filter down to scouting and being able to track the enemy and in that way be able to take adequate actions!

I'd like to know ways how to stall a game. How can I prevent a game to end early (an enemy to win early) if I have classes like Dreadnought that are better in late game? Just stay in cities and keep them defended will be a slow death. Are there viable tactics against early aggression?

Also, one related problem is that everyone knows WHERE the enemy city is in a tournament game. That's one of the biggest drawbacks of these maps.