[boltcutter]

I'm going to switch to a much more general "Things of Note" format, as I am putting in too much detail.

Turns 15-18:
"The Stall."

Reinforced First Army. Bought up Province Defense to 20+, bought some cheap archers, brought down troops from capitol. Built Second Army- brought up Hammermen from capitol, bought several Smiths. Set my Cyclops and Smiths to researching until I got to Conjuration 3.

Now Smiths are truly in Phase 2: able to cast Blade Wind at least once each per fight.

Researching for Construction 4- Earth Boots will make them twice as valuable.

Turns 19-25: War on Mictlan. This is exactly what my army is designed for- wiping out lots of cheap scuzzy troops. I send Second Army north with 3 Smiths and Myself. We besiege the blood-drinkers. Our besieging army, though surrounded, repulses huge attacks [96 troops attacked, 50 were wiped out] easily. Six or more Blade Winds are truly brutal. Myself goes for a walk through the remaining Mictlanese provinces. (Truly, the Cyclops is best used not "just sitting around searching." Especially when One can start a battle with 150+ flying blades.)

Turn 23, the would-be God disappears in a puff of disbelief. This is somewhat disturbing, although it allows Me to take his castle unopposed. I now have a large, ferocious army to the south of T'ien Chi and a medium ferocious army to the north. Time for a rematch on those Celestial Warriors.

Also, My people research Construction sufficiently and start producing a truly astounding number of Earth Boots- yet, not enough. . . now I must decide what I need next.

* Alteration- that my Smiths may protect themselves?
* Conjuration- that I may summon large, ethereal bears and eventually Trolls? I need something fearless.
* Thaumaturgy- that my Smiths may find more sources of power?
* Enchantment- that Myself may become an unstoppable regenerating force of Supernature?

Looking at the scorecard: Pythium and C'Tis are far ahead in almost everything; Caelum is badly only ahead in magical power. Jotunheim and Vanheim are also generally ahead. Abysia and Machaka are being beaten badly and I am theoretically ahead of T'ien Chi- though they have a Dominion of 8 [!]

Looking at the map- if I take T'ien Chi I will have a north-south wraparound. I have a long border with C'Tis and short ones with Caelum [at war with me already], Jotunheim, and Man- an unrealized "across-the-sea" highway to my capitol. I have no information on Pythium, Pangaea, or Vanheim- three of the powerhouses out there.

Looking at the economics- I am making a profit of around 250 Gold per turn. If I limit my production of Smiths I may be able to start buying Temples and priests. I now have a lot of gems, by this game's standards, and a good variety of types. I still have a lot of Earth gems- even after making six sets of Earth boots, and a couple of items of armor for Myself.

I should be able to pin up T'ien Chi in a single province within three turns of the start of the war- I fear that storming the castle will be a bloody mess. Celestial Warriors cause fear, and are proof against light missiles, and there may be a large number of them inside.