yah, the mad castling/templing is really the core of Norfleet's strategic activities. Any uber-SC will work w/ it; its just that the VQ has more innate (and, in the case of immortality, unavailable to lesser pretenders) abilities.
I've only seen him use the GK once, actually. It was devastating but, OTOH, it was using R'lyeh before the paralysis bug was fixed, which rather compensated for the lack of a VQ.
I think my Last battle w/ his GK that game, turn 44 or so, his GK had a 40 defense before buffs
re. the counters thread: its more that most of what is discussed there presupposes catching the uber-VQ in open terrain in the mid to late game, which is not something I sea often. The VQ is hidden in the sea of castles for the most part, and if it does move out i'm not sure if an attack on her would occur before an "instant castle" spell like 7 red seconds takes place.