Tactics for the Stronghold.

Message from Gynnar
Only very weak players build up their economy in the early game, and by doing so, you will lose to even mid-tier players almost constantly.
Is this what you call food for thought, and what conclusion will readers draw?

...
From an economic perspective (i.e., even disregarding tactics), buying any hero with "+350 gold" is more attractive than building a prefecture.
Firstly: with the hero, you also acquire an army, which also costs money. So, when calculating the payback period, you should correctly reduce the cost of the hero for calculations by the cost of the troops purchased with him. Then, if the hero gathers monsters worth more than 750 gold (and this seems to be the case with all "+350" heroes, if you look at the creature list), then they are "more interesting" from the point of view of investment.
Secondly: the hero brings you resources, chests, external dwellings, participates in quest chains, and can ultimately develop "assets" - i.e., brings additional benefits, which also seem to be important... (and here we can think about how much 1000 gold is worth on the first day of the game, and how much it is worth at the end of the first month)
A special case is when you have enough money for both a prefecture and buying a "+350" hero.

In short, the statement that investing money in the economy of cities in the early game is a beneficial undertaking is far from being an absolutely correct one.

...I wrote one post where I gave advice - after which there was a gathering of role-players who, with and without insults, tried to hint that everyone here is a NOOB...