Start behind the LE.

snaiper133 wrote everything correctly and clearly.
Dryads and dancers will indeed be very helpful in the first week, but then we lose 2 days in city development. For example, I don't upgrade anything in the first week: I try to build as many buildings as possible in the city: so that there is a town hall and 4 creatures are recruited from the castle (depending on the difficulty level of the created game).
On small and medium-sized standard maps, elves are powerless against almost all factions, especially against magical ones...

I never thought that a warehouse would solve all the problems with mines... :smile43:
Druids need to be protected no less than archers: smile01:, their shooting is not their main task: they are spellcasters after all... Without a portal, the elf spellcaster turns out to be useless.
When the elf is leveled up for Single Adventure, it is practically no longer needed. All his attacks will inflict devastating damage under the elven luck.