Of course, there's an implicit problem in a game like Olympia.
Eventually, even with the aid of a safe haven, a new player isn't
going to be able to protect himself from the existing players, or even
have much of a chance to compete economically. I think right now
there are several factions that could put together a force large
enough to wipe out any alliance of newbies coming out of IC.
But given that you can't solve that problem without a major change in
the game universe, I think the current safe haven works pretty well.
I might make only the city a safe haven (I don't see the point of
having the province be a safe haven as well) but that's purely a
nitpick.
-- Scott T.