So later on, I have found all of the resources from the diplomacy techs. They are all indeed within about a 15 square distance from my capital city - and in every case, in somebody else's territory. Which sucks, and while I'm quite capable of invading and getting them, the whole point of these techs IMO is if I need the assistance of these units to defend myself or attack someone else. Having to attack someone else rather blunts the point of that.
And out of the rest of the techs, I have seen two Ventri mines in the revealed area.
Reading around the forums, I see that I'm not the only one experiencing this issue, and that it appears to be a play balance decision. May I politely disagree with that decision, as that section of the adventure tree is completely nerfed? At least, give us a slider on game creation where we can have abundant resources. (Much like GC2)
Also, the problem with transports and autoexplore slowing down the game, and making it impossible to proceed if the autoexplore algorithm (which, I'm sorry to say, still sucks) runs out of places to go is persisting - has persisted, since the since the pre 1.0 versions. Of course, the transport and harbor are useless anyway, so in a fantasy game there are no real sea units and (so far) absolutely no flying units. (!)