[Loren]

Ok, an observation on the correct map:

My gripes about being pinned by water are gone.

In SP at least I find the dragons unplayable on this map. My victories in a more normal game have always been based on being able to pin his armies with assassins.

Against the races of this map that doesn't work as well and it's moot anyway--the battle is at knife-fighting range, there's no space to use the strategy that works.

I won an early war that Ulm picked but then I was approaching the limits of what my income could support. The game dissolved into being pecked away at by a combination of Jomon and Ry'leh and there was simply nothing to do about it. I could maintain only two fighting forces and that realistically gave me two provinces and a severe negative cashflow. Furthermore, I was always fighting, I couldn't research my way to summons to help, not that I would have had the gems to summon much of anything anyway.

It's possible the dragons might fare better in MP because a low army strength doesn't result in an automatic gang-up like it does against the AI but I still don't like it. This race needs room or it dies.