[SelfishGene]

I don't know, a 9/4 titan has use in multiplayer, of any calibre. I think people underestimate the power of being able to quickly cast powerful globals naturally, without booster items.

Sure, eventually, everyone has +3 or so boosters, and empowerment, ect. But can you throw up a powerful global at turn 30?

SCs are extemely powerful but not invincible. I easily killed in a multi game, in two rounds, a classic flying Wraith Lord with Soul Vortex, simply by shooting him with a bunch of Tien Chi's Demons of Heavenly Fire, and during a seige and not it just attacking on it's own. OTOH, i was smashed terribly by a Fire King's flame spell attacks later on, and not by a melee SC.

The real key is early expansion for the early SCs, but take the right 9-bless, and right scales, and you can do it with national troops just as easily.

I like themed pretenders because i can cast powerful spells like Gift of Nature's bounty, spells like that which are nearly impossible to cast without a Pretender unless you spend hundreds of gems empowering and with + items. A 9-Death Pretender becomes a massive Ghost factory, for example. To me taking a themed Pretender is a "force multiplier", that lets me push my natural gem path quickly to it's apogee. And compared to Dom2, even "off paths" like nature are much more viable overall with the changes to aging, supplies, ect.

It's alot like the early level summons; sure, if you wait 15-20 turns the gems you spend on stuff like Ice Drakes seem like they've been totally wasted. BUT, if those Ice Drakes help you capture an enemy capital or defend against a massive rush army, they're worth their weight on gold. And, if you can summon ten of them in one turn, instead of pushing them out one at a time, they make excellent choices to create in desperate situations, if easily summonable by national troops.