Where Coin Buys Power: Troops, Not Vanity Buildings

Let us begin with the number everyone has repeated incorrectly, I expected vanity buildings to make my keep feel powerful, so I spent coin on them first; the walls looked splendid, but my troop total did not save me when pressure arrived.

I rebuilt the ledger in this order: train troops, raise their capacity, improve the military buildings that directly support them, then touch decoration only with surplus coin. The cost was delayed growth and wasted upgrades, not a mysterious defeat; newcomer, buy the army before the furniture, and keep vodka for the arithmetic.