Is the “Tome of Wonders” that was mentioned just another name for the in-game encyclopedia?
Yes, it's just the internal name/the name it had in Age of Wonders 3. Since this is a game that actually has Tomes, it wasn't a name we could use.
Does it mean by default that Ascended Rulers are naturally better and that if we want them to be considered normally like others, not Ascended Rulers, we have to check a somewhat hidden setting before launching a game?
In other words, are Ascended Rulers now considered like some kind of super-rulers with a clear advantage early game compared to non-ascended Rulers?
An Ascended Ruler will have benefits compared to a non-Ascended Ruler. They'll have the Transformations that they finished the game with, as well as the special Ascension Trait. What this does is bring your Ascended Rulers that offer to aid you in line with existing Hero's who get a random Hero Trait.
It's a bit sad that you cannot have heroes appearing as heroes without the boons (just like the rulers as stated above). What it is the reason behind it?
I mean it's part of a system. The Option exists to allow MP to have their competitive games without the need to worry about the unbalanced nature of Ascension Skills and stacking Transformations.
I feel like this is a bit of a "cover-up" for an inability to properly introduce a war coordination system... I mean it might turn out good, but how do you even measure its effectivness (AI allies tend to be passive in so many of my games)? Probably will have to see it in action, there's a lot of questions: what is the ratio between reward size and AI actually taking action, does it scale with army strenght and how much etc. In short - I was expecting a way to directly control or encourage AI to move their butts, not another mechanic that will keep AI ultimately not taking any action from lack of decisivness (like allies declaring a war and sitting in their Throne Cities all game long, or orbiting enemy AI borders).
You need to understand that there's absolutely no way to give AI Rulers direct commands. The entire system is based on multiple layers of assessments & evaluations. Telling it to attack Target A in the way we do for Vassals doesn't work because it will evaluate that mission after a turn and determine that it's not beneficial/interesting/worthwhile/possible. It's why we have the bounty system and why we give so much information about whether it's worthwhile to do upfront.
why no hero randomizer though? My main beef with the system is that your stuck with limited choices, sometimes there's no way to just get that Hero that fits your army composition or loadouts/artifacts you have. Or their specializations suck.
I've answered this before but it's not a easy or straightforward thing to do. All Heroes are generated at Game Start, Heroes originating in Free Cities are shared between all Players as are Heroes from Wonders & Events. The only heroes you could change out would be the Unaffiliated Heroes. but then you have to deal with generating new heroes outside of the World Generation, which is a rather volatile thing to do. You need to keep track of the Heroes you remove, those are gonna be stored somewhere for the remainder of the game, as well as the new Heroes you add. And you have to do that every time somebody decides they don't like the Unaffiliated Heroes.
When I played with the "MoreAggressiveAI" mod, the AI began to actively fight, and not sit. I don’t know what parameter is responsible for this, but the mod was able to stir them up.
We had a look at it when working on Watcher. It basically disables 90% off all AI behaviours and just turns up their aggressiveness.
Will there be a new campaign story or not?
No, Story Realms are reserved for Expansions. Primal Fury does come with the new Stormwreathed Isles Realm Template which brings with it a new Presence Trait and Modifier.
