[sansanjuan]

E,
Thank you for the thoughtful responses.

I didn't think of the Immortal ally trick. Bet that would be a challenging scenario to reconcile for a roleplaying purist.

I understand the nuance of SC being very strong but not in an unbalanced way. Though I am very new I really like the way many "I Win" spells and conditions can be countered by former foes teaming up, sharing gems, etc. Very realistic and beautiful for roleplaying.

On item tailoring...I enjoyed that in the old Masters of Magic but that certainly could spoil the soup here.

You reminded me of perhaps the most important new feature which I forgot to mention (I'm sure a variant is in the long thread). A "Seamless Ally" feature where Dominion penalties don't apply to allies and unstealthy troops can move unhindered through ally lands. Then I could probably talk to wife into playing Dom4 as an ally and get lots of "Spousal Points" for later redemption. That's win-win.
Thanks again,
-SSJ

edit : fixed MoM sentence