[JimMorrison]

Well right, I wasn't trying to imply turtling per se, but their research capacity is rather mediocre, so as I said, it just seemed to me they aren't too well suited to the late game in MP. Basically looks like they either just bulldoze through and go for the mid game win, or they get countered or suffer ill luck, and stall out and eat themselves while other people start their endgame summons.

Anyway, just saying that's what I see in my SP test, that a dual bless leaves you with scales that are tailored for only one thing - a bless rush. Honestly I don't think Melqarts are the way to go for MP. The test I am doing with chariots had me expanding nearly as quickly, but able to actually get research moving, and having pretty strong scales since I wasn't using a strong bless, and could get by just fine with an imprisoned pretender. The problem with that being that their chariots, while stronger than elephants, are still easier to counter than Melqarts, so you are still ultimately taking a risk if you intend to go for a late game strategy with 3G and otherwise good scales, to push for Lords. Even with a Fountain of Blood, blood hunting is a bit cumbersome since your blood mages eat pop. It's a complicated set of checks and balances that seems far easier to manipulate in a sterile SP setting, than it actually will turn out to be in MP.