Blood?

The tone and setting of the MP is based in the first 15 turns of the game. Then adaptation of that tone and manipulation of the setting are what wins MP games (of moderate size, I'm not talking the largest maps with 17 players, these are more complex to make a statement that bold).

Super-combatants in my opinion while valuable early are not *as* valuable late. Mobility is stronger than strength in this instance and this is where Ice Devils and any other supercombatants are useful. They are usually very mobile and hard to pin down as well as take out with magic if they are built properly.

By and large it is the early supercombatants that provide the initial resource boost that allows you to mold the game in whichever way you are planning. As well as determining if you are an ally, enemy, target, or not worth the cost to fight at that particular time.

This is where astrally potent races excel as they can place a few units (commanders) in provinces or clean up provinces taken by the enemy that can handle and eliminate alot of the high mobility supercombatants.