[Patrik]

Originally posted by Andy:
based on my limited PBEM experience to date I don't seem to be expanding fast enough to be competitive.

I'm using pretender to lead my main army but after taking each province this means they're sitting idle for a turn while I search for hidden magic sites

is this how most people play? I suppose I could hire a commander for my army and use my pretender purely for sniffing out magic sites, but this seems to be a waste of a powerful combat advantage.

any suggestions will be appreciated.

If I get this right, you're asking about how to be more competitive in MP. IMO the easiest way to do this is to focus more on early expansion and wait with the site searching (which is unreliable anyway).

Playing standard Pangea, I would focus on Centaur Warriors. Throw in some cheap troops as arrow fodder, placed in front of the CWs on hold and attack (the indep archers will keep firing at the fodder throughout the battle). As Norfleet said, use excessive force to keep the expansion rolling. Additional armies produced in your capital can converge with your primary army when taking strong indies. CWs are gold rather than research heavy - consider this when choosing what provinces to take first.

Research Ench 3 for Ironskin before getting into battle with your Great Mother. Then start into construction - Reinvigoration items (Con 4), the charcol shield, luck items etc. In MP, try trading for these if you can't forge them yourself.

Final tip - use unoccupied commanders to attack the provinces you plan to conquer next. Have them in the back with retreat orders. Watching the battle replay will give you an exact account of the indep force.