Do you see the cursor changing once you get to the edge of the screen? Check if you have monitor scale changed to 125% or more. It needs to be on 100% to avoid this bug. 

When a27 came out I got a new computer to play it on (I had a windows 7), and some reason in the game it's painfully slow scrolling on the map. Often I use the arrow keys to get somewhere just a screen space away because moving the mouse past the edge of the screen is so slow. Is there a way to speed that up?

Nice work! You seem to have some normal issues. If you're using Blender you might use the reset vectors tool while in edit mode with everything selected. This might fix some buildings/boats looking dark.

That could be fun, but that's not quite the same experience as a set piece battle. 

If anything goes they can just receive "gift from the gods" and get on with it.