[tinkthank]

I rarely rely that much on summons as Cohen does, certainly never early game.
I like productivity with many nations where I want lots of my own troops (Knights of the Chalice, Imperial soldiers, Principe, Hoplites, etc.), and these situations are common.
Growth is also nice if you are doing a lot of patrolling.

There are often very good other reasons to take even just one point of growth. I do so, for example, if I think that one or more opponents are going to go heavy death (like vs Ermor, to name just one) -- when my dom is strong, it is a shield against his death, whereas if I choose none, his death gets through much faster. Ditto for choosing a point of productivity if I think someone is going to go heavy sloth (Mictlan, etc.) near me. At least it seems to help in my opinion. (Likewise, I will also take a point of heat or cold if I know I am up against a Jotun/Abysian, just to even things out a bit and perhaps even piss them off.)