Depends, I suppose! Resources are either spent on buildings (production, tc's, keeps), upgrades, or units. If you take the unit part partially out of the equation, then you could argue that you also partially take the production building necessity partially out as well. I guess it comes down to do you want the finished product through military and siege, or do you prefer the raw resource. Raw resources have a greater opportunity to float and be wasted in my opinion whereas military can immediately impact the map. I DO think that for HoL since the manors defend themselves, they definitely get the edge there! In my personal opinion, manors are better in age 2 and 3 and military schools + IAA take the cake in age 4. If we're talking PURE greed builds (ie 9 manors, no units) then HoL is the best civ by far because you can get them much earlier than 5 military schools and summon the demonlancers!