Rlyeh newbie getting massacred by AI...any tips?

[General_Jah]

Failure said:
Thanks to your tips I beat the impossible AI. Though, I got the strong impression that with rlyeh, you're going to live or die by your dominion. You can't try to muscle people out of their land areas. You do a land-grab (for above ground lands) at the start, hole up with monster defense values, and let your dominion do its work.

I'm playing MA rlyeh for the first time and am not doing so hot... I really don't feel i fully understand/appreciate dominion...

Could you please further explain what you mean when you say this?

thanks