[Saxon]

You may want to be aware that the fortified city is very expensive and time consuming to build. It is very effective, but the cost in time and money is high. I have played with both and found that you need to think carefully on that one.

Also, run a search under threads in my name (Saxon). I had a similar set of questions to you a few weeks ago and got some great detailed answers on how resources are distributed. The general consensus was that you do not want to build a castle everywhere. Try checking out that thread for more details.