[Tyr_Doshan]

The short answer to all of this is that, as an SP player (so far), I've been more or less focused on theme and personal enjoyment of the game rather than over elaborate strategies and very fine tuned Pretender creation. I am aware that dragons are more or less total crap as SCs (Not enough item slots or natural powers to compensate for the lack of item slots), the magic selection is purely thematic (Fire + Earth = Volcanic theme.. I enjoy making provincial mountains pop like lava filled zits on a 15 year old's face) and the low strength Dominion comes specifically from the fact the AI doesn't tend to attempt dominion kill.

The more strategic choices derive from the specific weaknesses/strengths of Ulm. Drain 3 is an obvious choice due to the aforementioned fact that the researchers of Ulm are immune to it. Productivity 3 stems from the fact Ulm's units are resource intensive to an extreme.. I've usually got enough gold to handle whatever comes my way, but resources always seem to be an issue.. which is how it should be with these hulking Black Knight wannabes. The heat exists merely to offset the cost of Order, plus I also tend to consider the fact that late game with high construction means a ton of mass produced, unliving machines will fill the ranks of my legions. I don't think they care about the heat.. not sure.

For the most part the pretender exists for my personal enjoyment and I certainly would expect to see it eaten alive in an MP game. I guess the one advantage it might produce is against this elephant weakness I've heard of.

Naturally I would scrap this design in MP and work on something entirely different.