After some discussion, we decided to enable the TE checkboxes for 2nd level building construction, replacing scrolls with gold, and guild rebuilding. And fast roads as well. In my opinion, this is a mandatory requirement to speed up the games.
The greatest amount of swearing (even from experienced SoD players) was caused not even by the army distribution, but by the trash in the Dragon Utopia. Like when you take the first utopia-3, and among the received artifacts, only equipping a +1 health ring makes any sense.