wealth in TW:S2

[RedKnight]

When I have things understood better, I may try to crunch it all

I don't read many threads unless my attention is drawn to them but,

I am trying to work out whether it's worth building up any castle level (in vanilla), since every single one involves more rice, since you're going to take over plenty that are built up. Exception: a small handful that will build your primo troops.

I like TWS2 as a "TW Lite", but I'm wondering if it's a little too lite... just as your economy is strting to have endless dollars, nobody can touch you. Maybe I should play on something more than Normal difficulty. But then I'm only just starting my third game (the first not completed), after 3 weeks.