Re: Blood?
Playing the AI's I find I get to the stage in a game when its cleanup time. Before this is a period in which you are not quite sure if your opponnets will suprise you but then it becomes clear you have got the game won as your armies reach killer status - tight and unbeatable by anything on the board. I like the game to end about this point so at present I'm playing on the non wrap around desert eye with 656 as the dominion total for victory. I had the total at 700 but this actually makes it harder for an AI to steal a win - seeing how many temples they build they have a real shot at beating me even if I would win in the long term. I reach the dom target sometime between turn 40-50 generally. The Last 5-10 turns are often a bit of a chore (I have an extremely taxing other life) as things are generally pretty clear and its only errors to watch out for.
Sure I could play on bigger maps and have longer games and I'm sure thats where blood shines - just my shoulder gives up and my head starts to ache real bad. So I go shorter games.
Jasper I suspect your Dom1 experiance is not as relevant as you might think. In Dom1 I could get Ice Devils on turn 8-9 using a Caelum race focused to the purpose. It's just not the same in Dom2. First there is less money, then there is dousing rods at con4 and only useable by blood mages creating a need for heaps more money, then there is the extra research ofg getting to blood5 instead of 4, then there is the changes to patrolling discouraging you from using a blood7-9 Fountain of Blood to hunt in your home province - that really slows things down.
I find in Dom2 I have to focus more on the basics - army building - and less on the magic. Sure over time the magic kicks in but not as fast. There are alot of different reasons for this from less gold early to decline in the power of Seasonal Spirits.
Of course I accept this is all but speculation and I'm trying hard to prove myself wrong and do some real damage with blood. I appealed because I was getting stuck and I needed some fresh idea's. I'm quite excited about trying out my new Mictlan design with powerful dominion and FoB. I've got the start working but the mid game is really tough and human players would eat me. Mass Protection is what I think the race will turn around not blood. Magic3 for getting to Mass protection relatively early and a starting Dom of 10 for lots of sun Warriors and its looking alot rosier.
Cheers
Keir
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