[Xietor]

I do not consider myself an experienced mp player. Though i have played many mp games, they are not against people that are hardcore DOM II and III players, giving me a huge advantage(regardless of strategy). I would be glad to play a game with 1 or 2 players and 12 Ai on difficult. A game with
10 or so players has little appeal to me.

I like to play for 3-4 straight hours and get in many many turns in one setting. The more people, the harder that is to coordinate. I also see no point to diplomacy. If you are relying on your skills, then you should not need to team up
to eliminate another player. How can you accurately assess your skills if you are being aided or double teamed?

I am not actually arguing that the heart companion is better, but that with his low gold cost, he can be quite effective with a slight bless, and allowing acrosphale to keep good scales.

Additionally, I think(do not know) that the heart companion would withstand missile fire much better than the vans due to better protection. With e9 bless that is not true, but many on here claim the f9 w9 bless is the best for vans, and the added defense would not help against missiles.