scars of reality
I can generally recommend using Prospector RT.
I try to use as few third-party programs or editors as possible. However, as recent experience has shown, there are maps where their use is almost essential.
As far as I remember, I've only used Prospector a couple of times. Once, when I decided to check the possibility of capturing a gold mine in Lord Rings. I needed to achieve a certain level of hero stats. And another time, a long time ago, when I was trying to get a quick start in Paragon with Boots in a corpse. But that's a well-known strategy.
scars of reality, did you initially exchange money for gems at the dragon rate?
Yes, I exchanged gold and gems for gems. It seemed to me that this was how it was intended. First, I exchanged troops for 7 wood, i.e., 5 units, in order to immediately build a "Market" and have 2 units left to unlock the next building. Then, at the market, I exchanged 5K gold for 1 gem to get another 17K gold from the Oracle.
At the same time, with Christian on version 1.1.4, I captured the mine and then accumulated resources to exchange them for gems at the dragon rate (it turned out that 20K gold and 20 gems were wasted).
I couldn't even imagine that there was another way to do it. It seemed to work out according to the calculations. And I was even a little surprised when I looked at your screenshots. I wondered where you got the money for the Resource Hoard if you were already short on gold.
In general, you won't get much benefit from capturing the dungeon earlier, since the issuance of additional troops is tied to version 1.2.7.
I disagree. There is a benefit, and it's significant. For the sake of the experiment, I replayed the beginning using the new system and captured the gems on 1.1.3, the Dungeon, and the sawmill on 1.2.1, and you can still build a lot before 1.2.7. And even on 1.2.1, I already have 4 heroes, the Stronghold, the Resource Hoard, and the Tower of Archers built in the castle. I never even dreamed of such a start before.