[thejeff]

Finding scouts, at least in numbers enough to have 20 to spare from actually scouting, can be a gamble too. In the MA game I'm in, I've only got 1 scout province at turn 40.

A non blood fountain with just a couple points in blood may be able to blood hunt a few turns to get the 50 slaves to empower a smith. Slightly longer startup time than a dedicated pretender, but you can have a more effective pretender. Either a Rainbow type which would fit the blood well and which Ulm really needs, or an SC, which doesn't fit the blood so well, but which Ulm really needs.