[llamabeast]

That's an exploit which shouldn't be used. Dammit, I wish I'd said that somewhere explicitly.

I guess it's quite likely that T'ien Ch'i either thought of it himself (I'm impressed!) or read the suggestion on the forum without reading the following community digust, in which case he certainly doesn't deserve any harsh words from us. But in any case, it's definitely not a fair move.

I'm actually open to rolling back the turn and asking just T'ien Ch'i to retake his turn but do something else with his pretender. DonCorazon, would you have the stomach to continue the game if I did that? It is indeed a silly way for the game to be finished for you.

Finally, although the end game seems different to the early and mid games and can initially be frustrating, I can reassure you that there is still plenty of strategy and options. It's not as if you have to have artifacts or Tartarians to win, so you shouldn't think that. I almost never bother getting artifacts in fact, and tend to get Tartarians as an afterthought (not that I'm one of the best players, but I've won a few games). It is a bit different though, and requires some thought. Anyway, whoever wins the early and mid games tends to win the late game (assuming they're not ganged up on), because they tend to have more gold, gems and research.