some complaints aside, I've been able to see how the DLC fights into the overall game and I think there's a lot to like
volcano events are pretty monumental, they're rare enough to feel special and have an exciting mix of danger and reward, shoutout to the soundtrack for it too, maybe a slider for frequency would serve more players but I personally like it where it's at now
obsidian is an interesting layer of good thats produced mostly as a byproduct of others, and I like how they've incorporated it, statuettes give starter islands a native option to fill all t4 needs (since a starter island will never have sandarac or minerals) as long as it has marble, and latrunculi add some much needed happiness and a powerful aoe
the new specialists, while a bit confusing on their face, can help shake up the stale state of fertilities, I've particularly appreciated being able to add copper or tin to albionic islands with only one
Vulcan is sick, he's better than ceres imo bc he improves the conversion of pop to workforce, letting you do more with the same number of houses without ceres' city status bloat
his exaltation buff is also CRAZY strong, +pop aoe is the best aoe there is and its added to so many buildings and isn't even the only buff, I will keep him exalted from now on for sure, my only complaint is that it is visually confusing bc smelters retain their negative fire safety, which will still stack multiple times on anything within range of more than one, but it doesn't seem like it would bc the building just says fire - 0
to be clear, I like the way that works, I think its correct for balance, I just think the way it's displayed is confusing
lastly shoutout to the new research branch, I'm glad it has things that extend beyond DLC content too like the upgrade for porridge stands
overall I think it shows that their DLC are indeed capable of better integration with the existing game now, and testing/technical issues aside, its a really nice update