Please advise: can misfortune change on its own?

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Panther,
I'm not sure Sloth-3 is that good a bet : the lowering in resources early, certainly slows initial expansion - except against very weak indies.
The penalty also exist for all the game regarding Capitol-only units, so if you want to produce Temple Guards, Wardens, etc .. your rate will be only 4/5 of a "normal" rate with prod-0.
Personnally I rather take prod-0 or +1 (with "heavy" nations)and pays for it with Death-1.

Order-3/Misf-2 is a near-standard, but Turm-2 Luck-3 is a refreshing and fun change - you get piles of gold and gems falling from the skies ...