Also it would be nice to comment on the Pros and cons of marrying early vs. late with the hopes of catching a more powerful spouse later on.
Comprehensive list? Too ambitious for me; besides, it would take from my game time 
but the marriage thing--
That would be a good debate. Even though I might produce some bad ass progeny by waiting to marry a more powerful spouse, I don't see the over all benefit.
It takes about 150 or so turns for a child to grow up and be put to use in the field after initially marrying. The length of your game (mine last from 350-500 turns depending on map size) would tend to dictate your strategy. I'll take the Russian strategy here. Tiger Tanks were the superior bad asses of their day but were eventually defeated by T-34's (if memory serves--not sure) & a buttload of Shermans (tip my hat to cpl_rk for the WWII inspiration)
I get married as soon as I am able. I arrange marriages with other factions to increase offspring production. If you combine that with imbuing champions & temples of essence, you can have several armies with 2-3 channlers. If you consider that offspring regenerate mana, do you really need uber children? 3 magic users can have combined mana upwards of 70. I have found that to be sufficient especially with bonuses received from buildings/achievements.
Using this mass production method I can generate about 12 family members & about 6-8 imbued heroes leading armies that pretty much crush any opposition. It's also easier to fight multiple fronts/defend territory. I will have tons of great grandchildren but they will unlikely see any battle. I can only achieve this by marrying early. I think I would have to give this up--or a significant portion of it by waiting. And for what? How much more powerful would my kids be (I'll have to dig up the patience to find out...anybody out there have some stats?)?
Given the scope of the game & how long it takes to get around a large map--quantity is better over quality here--IMO.
Sure, I'd love lugging around a Browning M2 laying waste to everything, but why would I when a bunch of AK-47's will do the same thing in a more efficient manner?
AK-47...When you absolutely, positively got to kill every mother@#$&*! in the room.
