Looking through my alliance list, I see esteemed forummers like Xira, shawnbb, ghost at levels 65 - 70, so I guess I can be considered to be approaching mid level at 31. So my question to everyone is, what is the best army combination to have, taking into consideration the enormous upgrade times?
(1) which class of units do you favor? If I look at end-game units, I see
Barracks/colosseum: 10/12($540) , 22/18($2000) best honor 16/10(200H) assassin
Academy/spire : 19/11($1200), 33/17($3700) best honor 22/9(1200H) warlock
Warren/den : 23/21($2500), 70/43($13000) best honor 24/23(400H) werewolf
Workshop/lab: 34/16($3600) , 35/37($7500) best honor 36/20(500H) cannon
it seems to me that at end game, the lvl 10 beast breeding den is a must-have. However it unlocks only at lvl 50, so it's really a late game building. The werewolf looks like the best honor unit to have, so upgrading the beast Warren seems like the way to go. Infantry is too weak as an end game class, so it doesn't seem worthwhile pursuing upgrades to lvl 10.
(2) for mid-level armies, the paladin (8/17) packs a strong defense available with just a lvl5 colosseum, combined with giant snake (13/9 with lvl6 beast Warren) or catapult (14/5 with lvl5 siege workshop) for attack. Alternatively, one can just build an entire army out of machines upgrading the workshop to lvl6 and using catapult and zeppelins(7/17).
(3) the magic class seems to be the worst class, with high attrition rate, mediocre honor unit, and no competitive end game unit. Buildings are beautiful and it's cheap units are good for early game. Otherwise, this class should be ignored.
(4) strategy wise, ignore barracks and magic class. Build colosseum only to lvl5 to anchor your defense on riflemen and paladins, which are also v cost effective and low attrition. Beasts should have ongoing upgrades to get the werewolf and the imps. Machines look like a great mid-game class, so players can build an entire army out of siege workshop units, but the gnomish lab looks like a dead end evolution trail. Given that the blacksmith is availableearly in the game, and can be quickly upgraded to lvl7 to give a 14% boost to infantry, I favor the infantry-beast combo to the single machine class army.
(5) at some point, presumably lvl 50, the focus should shift to building an army made up exclusively of beast. The beast Warren should stop at level 7, and shift to upgrading the breeding den to train the DRAGONS. Don't forget the time needed to upgrade the beast booster building.
This is just my 30 minute thought process and inevitably I would have missed many crucial details. Comments welcomed. (I am L31, 61 allies, 3800/4300, IPH 3408/h...heavy on riflemen+imps)