I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to this thread, I've been ill.
But, judging from the very latest Posts... I have a comment.
I think the value analysis of the mad castling phenomenon for living races is very different for living nations than for undead autospawning themes.
The disconnect between gold and "productive" capacity is at issue here.
This ties in with the difficulty, (and differing desirability given nation status above) of replacing population, in a way that is contextually pernicious.
I hope there is an in-game technique refinement that allows ermorian castle spamming to be defeated, even with the nekkid-immortal-SC icing.
I don't know of one, but my ignorance is commodious.
Rabe the Overt Optimist