[Micah]

You only need dom 9 for awe. I don't think I've ever spent the points for 10.

Also Hoplos is right, the end game does *sort of* come down to who has the most tartarians, but the paths to get there vary quite widely by nation. The mages available to you nationally also stay important, even if it just comes down to being able to counter tartarians effectively or not. (Dust to dust vs life for a life vs charm...etc). Raiding is also very important and doesn't require massive forces to pull off, just enough to knock out some PD.