hmm ok. well I'm on GUILD right now. I've actually already done what you suggested, and used exactly 120 turns (so I'm still apprentice, and can't be invaded). I'm now waiting to pick up the max number of turns, and then I'll spend them all at once, going into the world as buffed as I can be.
I was actually not planning on waiting around for research, but was going to begin attacking immediately
. I was thinking of picking a weak target, and hitting them with 200 turns and all my saved up geld's worth of fury, then build guilds on whatever land I can steal.
seemed I read somewhere that this was a tactic used by some. Since it's close to armageddon anyway, might as well play around....