[Tuidjy]

Ok, because I have nothing to do, I did the following. I started a game
with Ulm, and set the hero to summon. Every two turns, I would send a
smith with two turns worth of the summons out. In ten turns, I have
had 18 battles, AND NOT ONE OF THE FREAKING SUMMONS HAS DIED. In the
eighteenth battle, a smith and his eight thugs ran into a pretender -
Cyclops 9EA6N, and ate him for breakfast.

Screw this. I am asking for a restart.

----

Just because I like beating a dead horse, I took that game to the end.
It was played against 3 impossible AIs, on the Silent seas map. By
turn 24, all the enemy capitals are besieged, and the AIs cannot break
the siege. My masterful strategy has consisted of sending summons
on the straightest road to their capitals. A sample battle result:

Ulm - 1 smith (E+, legions of steel x2, cast), 28 black duke soldiers (3 dead)
Tien Chi - 11 commanders (1 dead), 274 troops (142 dead), 20 magic (20 dead)

The only lost battles were those in which the enemy got to my smith. I never
bothered to position anyone properly. Hell, who needs attention to detail when
one gets 4 thugs and a few knights for free every turn. I am not proud of
beating the AIs. I just wonder what a player could do better by the time the
thugs show up at his door. Oh, by the way, by turn 24, I have 4 castles, 7
temples, all pumping out smiths and Ulm infantries. My pretender was a rainbow
(2-3 everything). My gem income is 31, as she did not start searching until the
Summon Earthpower->Legions of steel combo was ready.

And please. I do not need to be told that stuff like mind burn can be available
early, or that area spells can hurt Ulm later on. This has alwasy been true.
I am arguing that fighting Ulm's thugs in the very early game is fruitless and
frustrating.