[Baalz]

Yes, a bootstrap blood economy works very well for Ulm. When you're empowering your smiths I like to use one with an air random. You're forging those air boosters anyway, might as well open the door to robes of the magi (awesome for getting that boost with free hands for a hammer). Robe + ring of wizardry + every path has a least one non-hand booster puts almost everything at full discount, and of course the robe does wonderful things if you're using a rainbow pretender.

Ulm's ability to forge cheap boosters open up some fantastic flexibility that most people don't associate with Ulm.

Astral cap + crystal coin = every smith with an astral random should be ready to teleport at a moment's notice and throw down an antimagic for those guys hoping to take advantage of your MR. Throw in a crystal shield and...what's that? Ulm is dropping doom and will of the fates on top of army of lead and weapons of sharpness in every fight? Stack a light of the northern star on top and you've got solar brilliance. Throw some rune smashers in and spam enslave mind, or an eye of aiming and drop gifts from heaven on that SC thinking Ulm is a unmaneuverable easy target.

Blood stones + earth boots = every smith (after earthpower) can spam petrify, weapons of sharpness, army of lead, and invulnerability/earthquake (go ahead and chain 10 together round 2!). With an earth random (or an elemental staff) they can spam earth attack, crumble, and melancholia (which is great for the price against anybody with resource intensive troops)

Fire helm + fire skull (death empowering a smith is a very good idea) + crystal shield = every smith can drop a Flame Storm. Go ahead and chain 10 together turn 2! Alternatively, Fire Storm works fabulously with army of gold and Ulm's heavy armor.

1 air booster = every air random smith is a cloud trapezing rain of stone dropper.

Also consider that slave matrixes can be mass produced for 4 gems apiece. Magma eruption's AOE and damage scale with mage power. Earth boots + blood stone + crystal shield + earthpower + leading an 4 man communion = +6E. Use 2-3 earth random smiths and you're dropping 9E magma eruptions that never stop. Talk about a battlefield clearer...