I'm still a noob so take this how you would like
However, one of the things that has me in love with this game already is that there are SO many different ways to slice the cheese
I am sure some methods are better then others, and a lot of that depends on how you have your dominion and pretender set up. But, the game is suitibly complex enough that it is impossible to come up with the 'ideal' strategy. So if you plan well and react intelligently you can have viable builds around massing enourmous troops, expanding dominion and territory early with a fairly strong awake pretender vs having a strong dominion scales and expand slower, but by the time your pretender is awake you are in a good position to suddenly own the map.
I have not seen this, but according to the game manual you can even play this as an rpg with a few heroes fully equiped wading through millions of foes, and that too can be a viable strategy with good choices of magic items.
My impression is focusing on research, focusing on gem production and summons, focusing on gold income and national troops and focusing on creating powerhouse heroes - you can set your priorities there anyway you want as long as your dominion is growing since that is the point and name of the game.