[Jasper]

Keir's point is that he thinks this setup is more than fast enough to make up for it's 30+% reduction in initial income; I imagine he's well aware his scales are weak. :-p

Keir, I'm curious what strength independents you used? Did you find that a single Jotun Herse was enough to take most independents? That would make for a pretty damn fast start...

It would be sad if the only thing to make high magic Pretenders usefull were a super fast start. :-(