[Lazy_Perfectionist]

While death 3 starts afflicting my Golem Crafters by the end of the first year, death 1 means most or all of them live to see the start of the third year, and only 3 out 6 get diseased. 1 out of six is blind and diseased. So... not perfect, by any means, but a lot more workable than death 3. I'd never recommend taking more than one death scale, and only when you have to. But then, Death has never been about long-term staying power.

I can afford the dead mages because I have a magic scale to make all my young indies and earth readers more useful. I may be adjusting my start strat to not include more than a couple Golem Crafters- Death 2 may be plausible, but I doubt it.

Heat one scale will cost you, but again, affordably. I'd take it before death, since it benefits your Cold Blooded troops and bothers your infantry none.

Sloth and Turmoil? You can work around it with Agartha. Its doable. Whether you want to is up to you.

Luck, really isn't worth it. You really only NEED earth gems, since your Crafters won't do much in other spheres, barring some specific pre-game plans. There are a few particular artifacts of interest, but generally, you'll have to work to find a use for any gems that come in, and by the time you need them, you'll be able to search the sites via independents or a spare Golem Crafter. Now because I'm biased towards luck because I enjoy it more and hope to get a hero, I recommend getting luck one. Rationalizing it away, it helps deal with the turmoil, and keep things from going to hell. I don't see much use in going higher though, as I believe there are no heroes available for MA Agartha unless you get Worthy Hero mod. I recommend that in general, but here for Great Olm multiheroes (with stealth! and rather strong magic, earth and water). I'm going to try out the Epic heroes mod next.