[VedalkenBear]

One issue I would like to point out about the Production scale is that it, unlike almost every other scale in Dominions, is nation-dependent. There are several, if not many, nations in Dominions 3 which don't need resources whatsoever, which makes taking Sloth a comparatively easy decision. (That is, Sloth-2 or -3 still provides all the resources they need.)

By way of contrast, Order provides a very large increase in income, Luck can provide diversification options, Growth provides the same income differential as Production with a more universal ancillary benefit, and Magic is more useful for longer than Production. The Heat/Cold scale is slightly different, but one could argue that the level of income loss from that scale makes it less susceptible to optimization than the Production/Sloth scale.