Re: Turn the 4th
Prophets are popular because they are useful for everyone. If you are playing a bless strategy, you want them for "Divine Blessing" (since every prophet is at least H3, they can all cast it).
Even if you aren't playing bless, all prophets can Smite. Plus, all prophets spread dominions, which is useful if your pretender is asleep or on holiday.
I don't know how many non-VP games truly go to the bitter end. My sense from reading these forums is that by the time one player has about half the world, the others often concede. That's why you often see VP games with victory set around 50% (like this one). Pasha sets it even lower for some of his games.
So VP games with conditions like this will go for a while. For this game: the map is a bit more crowded than average, plus we have some new players. I would guess it will go briskly, but I bet we get 50-60 turns out of it anyway (do the other experienced player agree?).
Now, if you use cumulative VP conditions, it puts a real ticking clock on the game. Not too many people have run those games here.
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