Yep, you'all should listen to Alexti. He's almost as good as, er, no, he's probably better than me, he's almost as good as ... Cohen or Boron or Stormsomething
Ahen - sorry, no insult meant to Alexti by use of those names. A lot of people have been put up on pinnacles as being "good", and frankly, most of them aren't - or at least, they're good at particular strategies, and not at the game as a hole.
(A hole - like a house, in which you throw money).
I'm the same way - I have certain nations I'm solid at, so of course I like to play those.
In theory, I don't need dominion as much if I'm building forts far outside my territory - I can take drain 3, misfortune 3, if I start building strongholds in the territory that Last of Tuatha has _so_ nicely made Growth, Magic, and Luck for me. (I may not get the benefit of the Luck or Magic - but 0-magic is _so_ much better than drain 3, don't you think?)
Dominions is deep enough (and one of the _few_ games deep enough - chess isn't as deep in comparison, albeit more focused (and yes - I could dredge up awards that might indicate that I have a clue about chess, at least
) ) that different strategies have a real chance. For instance, in Chess, no one wins by claiming the outside ranks. It's all about the center, unless perhaps you play a Reti-based opening, or one of a couple of gambits.
On a more solid tangent - I've got several games in which I'm rolling along, having taken a _lot_ of castles from someone else (literally castles) where all I had was watchtowers or mausoleums.
I got their labs for free, their forts for free (minus my cost in taking them) and simply built my temples - 36 at Last count in one.
If someone spends all their money on mages, on forts, on temples - they're vulnerable. If others are too pacifiscist to take advantage of that - may there be more pacifists.
