[gibson]

I've been trying out your basic strategy with the same pretender and scales to try and get a feel for your choices Zen, and have a few questions after about 30 games of ~5-7 turns each:

1) How might have your opening been different had you not been hit by the Order/Prod scale zeroing bug?

2) Coral guard are incredibly slow, which is fine when they are fighting tritons, but they get decimated by land armies it seems (either by arrows or just javelins/steel). Why are these guys useful (and on a related note, why would one ever build the less armored Versions other than cost?)

3) You say your position is weaker than normal. What would you consider normal at this stage?

4) You seem to have been fairly lucky in combat so far, taking fairly low losses and no afflictions on Zen. In my experience I've had difficulty reproducing this success, often because there are no "easy" independents within reach. Is your success a function of some good luck, or something I'm overlooking (good scouting info, learned experience (i.e. ichthyids are easier than trolls), etc)? As a similar question, when I get afflictions on the pretender, it is often Lost an Eye or Limp, both of which greatly hamper his combat ability. If you end up with an affliction, what are your plans for your pretender?

5) Another hypothetical question, but I've experienced it and wondered how you'd cope: say you grossly underestimate a province defense and lose 90% or more of your prophet's force and/or your pretender. Aside from starting over (which is what I've been doing as I get a feel for things), how would you cope with such a huge set back?

Probably some more to come. I'm enjoying this AAR immensely and find it very informative. I look forward to the rest of it and any others you might someday write.