[Tyrant]

hoo -"Conquer now, consolidate later" is generaly a good motto, but if you are starting an MP game with a low dominion (say 5 or lower) a second temple early might be wise, but only if you can protect it. Climate nations and free spawn dominions might also be in a bit of a rush.

Patriot- Many people,including me, aviod BF blood magic not because it's ineffective, but because it's a pain in the neck. You have to haul the slaves around with you and keep them alive until you use them, there are only a couple blood spells that do not use slaves, and most blood spells have very high fatigue.

The strength of blood comes from a few excellent items (Hell Sword, Soul Contract, Lifetime Contract), and, most especialy, it's many excellent summons. In fact, i do not think that there are any blood summons that are bad, and nearly all are good or excellent. The unique devil lords in particular are highly thought of by nearly all experienced players. One drawback though- they are mostly single unit summons.