Play against Necropolis.

A very large map for a long game with no secondary settlements? You can certainly create such a map, but what's the point of playing it? Just accumulating resources for 2-3 months and then the endgame? In this scenario, Necropolis is definitely doomed because the Barbarian's higher-level units are quite good. But it would be a strange game. In this situation, there should be 6-8 secondary settlements, no less, because there are also computer-controlled factions. You need to capture several of them. You're talking about an initiative bonus. With mass slow and Banshee's Cry, even with Dampening, you still have 63% initiative. And if some Daedra finds only 2 artifacts from the racial set, you'll be left with 54%, plus -3 Luck and Morale. Even with an average number of secondary settlements, there can easily be 200 or more of them after 2 months. So, calculate how much money you'll need to kill them properly when they have a shield with 1500 HP and they drain more health than their own damage. And Necropolis will also have more resources. You need to kill the Necromancer earlier, before he converts a large additional army, which is quite possible on almost any map.

You don't have to take the author's side, since he's upset... I would take it.