Boron, you argue that the combination of FoA+bloodstones is so powerful that bloodstones should be increased in cost, yet, at the same time, you argue that people will not band together to take the FoA down, because they have better things to do with their astral gem income. While one should never underestimate the power of conservatism and the "let the others bleed to take care of the common nuisance", that does tend to argue that player mentality is a very real issue here rather than an inherently overpowered or easy to get bloodstone.
Moreover, your mathematics do not quite add up. Originally, you were talking about 20-30 bloodstones per turn in the middle game (turns 30-40), which adds up to 200-300 slaves per turn (you may get some reduction for dwarven hammers but you are unlikely to have mass produced them prior to the FOA). In your most recent post, you mention that it is not uncommon to have a slave income of 100-200 in the middle game - which is not enough. Now, I appreciate that it is possible that you have been saving up blood slaves for several rounds prior to casting the FoA, which in itself puts you in a weaker position for that period of time as you are playing a waiting game, but even so this will require the dedication of the majority of your mage force for a good number of rounds: both the B2 mages and all your bloodhunters. That is a very serious investment of resources, which will only really pay off in a long game. Doing it is a gamble that you do not need an army now, but gems later. An attractive result, no doubt, but not in itself overpowered.
Finally, as I have pointed out, there are several other
very attractive investments you could be making with the same bloodslaves with the FoA. (1 extra Soul Contract for every 4 bloodstones, if you have B2 mages equipped with blood path boosters, and, given that this requires fewer mages to forge on a round by round basis, it is likely that you have dwarven hammers influencing a greater percentage of the total blood slave cost. E.g. Each dwarven hammer while forging bloodstones will save you 3 bloodslaves, while forging Soul Contracts each will save you 10 bloodslaves)
The real question, I guess, is one I should adress to those of you who play MP in large games: How often do you see a blood nation perform this FoA+ 20-30 bloodstones per turn feat in the midgame? If it is rare, then it would appear to be more of a theoretical worry than something that needs to be addressed. There are many good combinations in Dominions 2, and it is to my mind only if one of them becomes obligatory to use that one should worry about weakening it. If it is common, but it does not seem to exert a great influence on the actual game outcome, likewise.
If, however, it turns out that FoA+bloodstones is a great problem then perhaps one should increase the cost of the FoA rather than the bloodstone. After all, the FoA is an extremely powerful global enchantment, one of the most powerful in the game. It costs the same as the enchantments that give you +20 gems/turn, but no matter which theme you play, if you put it up you will be saving much, much, more than that each and every turn until you run out of gems or things to neat things to forge.
For every theme, blood and non-blood alike, favourite FoA forging for me is Jade Armour, Rainbow Armour, Lightless Laterns, amulets of luck and anti-magic, rings of regeneration, boots of flying, and, of course, artefacts and relevant path boosters. I strongly disagree with the sentiment that a non-blood nation will not profit from having a FoA up for just 1-3 turns. When I use it, I forge 40-50 useful objects the first round, typically cleaning out my gem storage or a very significant fraction thereof. It is very, very, difficult not to make a huge profit on it. Anything after round #1 is just an added bonus.
I am just bemused that you attach such an importance to the bloodstone issue, when (to my mind), the interesting FoA point is that the FoA is very cheap for what it does for everybody.
