I've found upgrades only good in slow moving games too. Most of the time you're trying hard to repel enemy dragons and units so upgrades generally come at the very last moments when you have a second to breathe. To be able to deal with upgrades you need to have multiple factories of the same type and a larger base income of recruits. The upgrades looks good, but I've never had a game that I can actually build upgrades and use them.

I'm also known as Tovarah.