Re: NEWB Questions
1) Clamming refers to the construction and hoarding of large amounts of items that create magic Gems. The name comes from the Clam of Pearls which generates Astral gems, though the technique can refer to Fever Fetishes (Fire gems) or Blood Stones (Earth gems) as well. If you play with Conceptual Balance mod 1.6, these items have become Unique artifacts, so this technique cannot be used with that mod.
2) An awake pretender is certainly one option, as is a heavy bless if you have the kind of Sacreds that could be worth one (Jaguar warriors are ALWAYS worth one). Some nations, like Pythium and Ulm have elite non-sacred troops which are good for expanding. Generally speaking, there are a lot of options for expansion, but different nations have different ways of doing it best. The best thing you can do is play around until you find your favorite way of expanding.
3) Mercenaries I think are helpful for early expansion as well as a quick and cheap defense, depending on who's available for bid thought. Some mercenaries are even Mages, so they can search for magic sites you might not be able to with your own mages. Later in the game though, Mercenaries become kind of obsolete. Generally by that point, there are better things to spend 150+ gold on.
4) A vast majority of the players here use the Conceptual Balance Mod for multiplayer games. So yes, it would do you well to become familiar with it in Single player.
5) Like expansion, research priorities vary from nation to nation. Typically though, Thaumaturgy 2, Conjuration 2 and Evocation 2 are what most people shoot for first because of the remote site-searching rituals that can be found there.
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