[Aleph]

Yeah, I think over the course of a few turns I decided that for 3 growth R'yleh, dominion 6 or less = slow growth, dominion 7 or higher = slow shrinkage. I'm happy it's still killing others, but mostly I like the idea of it spreading insanity while I have commanders who can deal with it.

I only really ran into gold problems with Ermor under Utterdark, and that due to 30-40 Witches/Enchanters/etc. I'd hired to boost my research. Sure, you're not making very much, but your national armies don't have gold upkeep. I just tax the heck out of everything I come across (since they're going to die anyway, I might as well have them die in a manner that nets me the most cash possible) that I'm not hoping to recruit from and drop a temple anywhere I think I can defend it - I never ran into cash troubles past the very early game. I'm down with Bizarro Ermor for variety, but I'd have a hard time defending it as a useful build.

Master Lich is more efficient for a rainbow mage. With Turmoil/Sloth/Death/Cold/Luck 3 and Dominion 10 the Lich Queen gets to the magic screen with 453 points, the Master Lich 414. There's 6 non-blood schools you'd have to start a new path with, and the Queen is paying 20 points more for each than the Master. So she ends up effectively 81 points behind him, and he also gets the extra misc slot.