Early game expansion rate

[Starfighter08]

Originally posted by En Forcer:
Well, call me crazy but I've always played with Indep strength of 9. Work for every territory and make the AI work for hi ya know?

And it really cuts down on explosive growth. Heck, I've lost my Pretender to more "white flags" than to any AI nation....

Same here. I don't like the race for territories that medium and low Indep strengh result in.

Higher Indep means more chokepoints and strategically interesting situations than just painting the map green (or whatever color).

I try to avoid territories with lots of crossbowmen or Heavy Cavalry until I have a big army (usually by 20 turns or so). Crank out scouts and TRY to set up defensible chokepoints (as opposed to a perimeter). Meanwhile my pretender is busily researching at home. That sort of thing.

Since I play with a similar style, what races/pretenders do you usually play with that strategy?

Although many are the occasion (often through my inept handling of defense) that my pretender has to take to the field to save the day...

Sometimes you guys amaze me. Like you're some kind of unstopable wave rolling over the enemy. Sheesh! If only I were so lucky! I'm still fighting for my life at turn 50 and sometimes even as far as turn 100.

More fun that way. If the Indeps are too weak the game turns too quickly into WWI with a frontline across the whole map and Somme like meat grinders for battles. I don't like it since it's completely out of character.