If your favorite part of Dominions is the mid-game then this game might be just what you're looking for. By removing all magic above level 6 (and all globals) the traditional end-game is eliminated. By removing the need the need for site searching (all sites are revealed when you take control of a province), and most research, the game very quickly moves from expansion to mid-game.
If you think you may be interested, download the attached mod (includes CBM 1.6) and fire up a test game. You'll find expansion is a breeze with most spells through level 6 available from turn 1. Of course the problem won't be indies ... but other players who have access to the same level of magic.
Era: MA
Banned nations: All water nations, Ashdod and Jotunheim (recruitable SCs in a game without SCs), Ermor and Pan (free spawn issues in a game without battlefield clearing magic).
Number of players: Around 8 (depends on the response)
Map: TBD (approx. 12 provs/player)
Starting provinces: 3
Hosting: 24 hours until turn 20, 48 hours until turn 40, 72 hours thereafter
HoF: 15
Other settings default
Details
Spells: There is no magic above level 6. All spells from levels 6 and below have been been made level 0 and are available immediately. The only exceptions to this are remote attack/movement spells which are assigned to level 3 (this is the only reason to research at all). Mists of Deception is also banned. In addition, all globals are banned.
Magic sites: 30%+ Conj./Blood and all Constr. sites are banned. Other than that everything is a level 0 site - meaning there is no need for site searching. This also means you may have a good supply of gems of a type your national mages can't use - keep this in mind when designing your pretender.
Magic Items: All level 2-6 magic items are forgeable from turn 1. In the previous game Squirrelloid discovered a problem in that if a random event chose a level 2-6 magic item the player wouldn't receive anything since there were no longer any items at those levels. So a selection of weaker unique magic items has been assigned to those levels so that the player receives something from the event (note all these items have 65F65A forging cost so no point in trying to research Constr. so you can forge them).
Here is the list of items if you are interested.
Mages: Mages are very important in this game. While small numbers won't be able to take out armies by themselves, as in a normal late game, masses of them will inflict considerable damage on the battlefield. And without a need for research there's no reason not to mass them. In this game mages are meant for fighting. This of course impacts what you choose to recruit since you don't care about getting the most efficient researcher.
Blood magic: We will be using the blood magic nerfs from Squirrelloid's
balance mod. This increases the price of most blood summons. Additionally, Jade Knives, Soul Contracts and Lifelong Protections have been eliminated. And some spells have been removed for this game. But keep in mind that the opportunity cost of blood hunting that exists in a normal game isn't an issue with no research to be done. If you are not at war, there's no reason not to have every blood mage blood hunting (aside from a few for summoning and forging). The best thing to do if you are thinking about playing a blood nation is to load up the mod and look at what's available and what it costs.
Armies: Troops, both recruited and summoned, will be relevant throughout. You don't have to worry that master enslave will obsolete your well-balanced army or that Flames from the Sky will incinerate them. Thugs will have a role in this game but the only SCs you are likely to encounter are opposing pretenders.
Misc. changes: Naiad warriors cost increased; Machakan spider forms have upkeep cost.
Players
Abysia - Fantomen
C'tis - Squirrelloid
Caelum - Graeme Dice
Eriu - zlefin
Pythium - BigandScary
Shinuyama - Dark Kitty
Ulm - LDiCesare
Vanheim - Valerius