Newb question- Ermor

[boltcutter]

Is it normal for Ermor to crush and destroy me by turn 35?

I took out 1000+ of their troops [based on the Hall Of Fame numbers] and they still had about 2-3000 left. (I was playing Pythium, in the demo, with a Earth pretender and a goodly number of priests. I played Dom I a few times and I seem to remember Ermor crushed me then too.)