[rdonj]

It's actually very doable to start a second fort on turn 3, if you overtax sufficiently or use cheap enough expansion or etc. Certain nations can pull off 3 forts by year 2 more easily than others. They are generally giving up something to do this. For example I did a quick test game earlier with one nation where I had 12 provinces by the fall of year one with one fort almost built (no lab/temple though) and two more building, and the ability to build another fort every turn after that if I wanted. The tradeoff? My starting army was patrolling my cap from turn 1 onward and I had no mages researching yet. So it's about tradeoffs. What do you need to lose to make this work? Is it worth it? Is it something that I can do reliably? Can I expand with smaller armies? Those are the questions you need to ask yourself.