It's almost impossible to claim fiefs with this random start. If you try, by voting across the map, you have a good chance to lose out and start with less fiefs than you need because other clans will just be going after whatever they spawn near. So they will have a better start and you'll have to go on offensive. Not to say if you screw up you will be crippled for all strat, supposedly one thing the devs added is it will be hard to maintain an empire that has more fiefs than you need so that will give losers a better chance to recover.
I really like this system cuz it's a big shake up to the diplomatic situation. Some clans are inevitably gonna lose out on sunday and be stuck with less land than they need, or a crappy scattered kingdom, while others are gonna have more than they need. The losers are immediately start fighting the winners. New alliances and grudges will form, driven not just by ego, but by necessity.