[parone]

i have actually had really good luck with expanding hard early. O-3 gives great gold. expand into a city province early. if you can get a good merc group, it is easy to have 3 or even 4 expo groups going early(as long as you bypass tough or bad match up indies). this also allows you to expand to choke points, secure them, and then finish off the indies behind you.

but...

early expo like that, in games with the graphs on especially, often makes you a target. so perhaps the ideas here(ie, forts instead of provinces, mages early at the expense of expansion) have merit.

i know this is a larger topic, but i think perhaps it is applicable. tremendous early expo(which is unfortunately about the only thing im good at) is a Very mixed blessing.