Hi, long time no see OP.
It's true that the game is harder now, dates are nerfed hard (a little too much for my taste but meh I'm not the one in charge). Nonetheless my strat still works and others have shared some time ago how they beat the early game.
One of them is using the prostitutes way and the other use combat only with a pair of archer orcs.
Personally I now use a combat team of 2, it's indeed more efficient to level up your characters fast (instead of 4-6 combattants). From those dungeons I usually pick a slave for prostitution and become dancers. I either recruit 1-2 slaves for prostitution or have 2 new combattants, whichever good stats come first. When I have the new combattants I pair 1 veteran with the newbie and send the 2 teams in dungeons to collect moar loots.
Going on like this is enough for the mayor elections. I didn't go beyond the 1rst arc yet because I lack time to play further