[PvK]

I do a mixed/balanced approach, rather than going all out for anything. The troops are good enough to handle weak independents. I use FoD's early, but not "as soon as possible".

The pre-research though is wasted if you don't use it before you research the spell anyway.

There isn't really much conflict between blood hunting and FoD production, though, at least in the sense that basic Mictlan Priests can't summon FoD without a power boost, and they're the most efficient ones to do blood hunting anyway.

The question about how much hunting and patrolling to do is a seperate issue and has a little to do with your general style/approach, and a little to do with what provinces are available and what the situation is like.

I'm not saying it's the best approach, but what I did in my SP game was, since provinces were mostly pretty sparsely populated, I would have one Mictlan Priest with a dousing rod in many provinces, and I just turned the tax down to 80% when and if the unrest occasionally started to rise. No patrollers.

The other approach, of course, may likely be more effective, and that is to go all out for blood slaves. Crank out priests with dousing rods and patrol with slaves to maximize blood income. Eventually the blood power will make the lack of population not so meaningful, hopefully.

PvK

[ May 17, 2004, 01:19: Message edited by: PvK ]