What to do about Ermor ....

[magnate]

Dear All,

I'm really up against it in an SP game (as Iron Woods Jotunheim, 12 opponents, "Inland" map, turn 41). All my resources have been devoted to containing Ermor for about 10 turns, during which time Tien Chi have expanded across must of the rest of the map (they're still smaller than me, but catching up fast).

I tried to take the Ermor citadel, but my priests got shredded by the spears from the towers. I'm thinking of just laying siege to it forever and preaching him to death. Vanheim is the only other nation fighting Ermor, everyone else is just ignoring them ... Caelum are way ahead on research but also contained (I hope). I've wiped out 5 nations so far (Mictlan, Arco, Ulm, Pangaea and Machaka), and I'm about to lay siege to the capitals of Abysia and Pythium. The only threats are then Tien Chi and R'lyeh.

So, a few questions to tickle your strategic brains:

1. Is it worth laying siege to Ermor itself? I currently have an adjacent province very well defended and he's not attacking me but might be expanding elsewhere. I've heard that it stops him reanimating if he's under siege - but what about all the other provinces?

2. How does Ermor work - how many new units does he get per turn? Is it per province? What sort of army do I need to maintain the siege and withstand attacks? There is a water (lake) province right next to his capital, which I won't be able to take for some time. I should be able to mop up the others though. He hasn't taken any new provinces for at least 6 turns but still has doubled the size of his army.

3. The only ones I'm at war with (other than Ermor) are Abysia and Caelum. How long can I wait before attacking Tien Chi? They've recently expanded from about 7 provinces to about 18, but they've hardly any money or gem income to show for it. I guess they could get quite strong soon though. Any thoughts?

4. Finally, what's the spell that causes independents to attack a province? It's happened three times in the Last four turns, but it hadn't happened at all before. There's no "event" message, just a battle message giving the result.

Thanks in advance,

CC