Is black plate worth it?

[Velusion]

jaif said:
I would say that if gold is your issue, then you aren't balancing our check book well. You have a maintenance cost, so once you get an army big enough for your purposes, all you do is maintain it.

But you miss the point that someone with more gold income has a high ceiling so his army can be much larger. An army can never be "big enough for *my* purposes". Don't forget gold can easily be spent on mages. In the late game resources are worthless, while you can at least still use gold to buy more mages.