EA Atlantis a love/hate relationship

[Meglobob]

I ended up playing EA Atlantis in a MP, my first water nation I have ever played in Dom3 (or dominions full stop come to that), sometimes I love it, other times I hate it...

I like it because:-

1) You have more time to develop and are less likely to get jumped on early.
2) Land nations are reluctant to attack you.
3) You can observe the land nations and strike at a time of your choosing.
4) Voice of Tiamat makes site hunting a breeze.
5) The physically HUGE underwater creatures are impressive.
6) You can take cold 3 and it does not have a negative effect on you underwater.

I hate it because:-

1) No matter what map movement you have, you can only move 1 sea space a turn. It's soooo slooow.
2) No underwater missile units, if you cannot get a indie land province that produces archers you are at a major disadvantage, having no missile troops.
3) So many spells have NUW (Not Under Water) tag. So you have very few spells to use underwater, especially in combat.
4) If a land nation see's you take a land province near them they view it as a virtual declaration of war, ie...water nations should stay in the sea!
5) No independent underwater scouts, exactly the same as missile troops. If you do not capture a indie then your stuck.

Can anyone suggestion ways to workaround the bad points? So I can completely love playing EA Atlantis?

Do other water nations all have the same bad points?