[RonD]

I won a 14-player game as EA Agartha (over on the qt3 forums, not here). I was lucky in terms of map position, and I was very active with diplomacy. That combination got me through the early game without being rushed.

I had a sleeping pretender (a rainbow druid, even, with F4 and N8 being relevant to blessing the troops). Expansion was pretty easy, with a typical expansion team having 2 Ancient Oracles + ~15 Ancient Ones. I placed everyone all the way in back, scripted the troops to guard commander and the mages to divine bless then smite.

Once you hit blade wind, you are a force in the EA world (as long as you have the luxury of avoiding certain opponents). Some of those "certain opponents" (for example, Abysia) become child's play once you research Destruction.

So I think it takes some skill and some (or a fair bit of) luck to survive to mid-game, but it can be done.