The last update took away from the also rans, the ease of getting the achievements,after giving the big hitters some nice boosts from them, such that the also rans now have to be massively developed, where it wasn't required before,effectively now having a snowball in hell's chance of levelling up the advantages.
You now have to be Palace 33 for cannonball L.9 so it looks like they got some of your gold back.
Check your achievements and it tells you what palace levels are required for the next upgrade.
Its even harder to get Skald now , I only had enough for level 1, unless I was prepared to buy the changes needed for the other levels.
Now like many others I have missed out, even the tedious Rarest of Vikings is beyond belief.