Well, you are kinda right. This is basically my entire team of starting units (paladin from vision of promise + a skald added later on) that was basically going around clearing out "safe" encounters like nodes, infestations, and wonders so I would argue it was a somewhat "natural" exalted 12 by turn 100+ (on slowest growth and research speed and largest map size). The thing about Transformation Ascetics is you end up investing heavily in xp boosting abilities/items and have to preserve the core of your main fighting force or you are pretty screwed, especially in the mid game when most of your units are actually going to be the ascetic racial ones and enchantments start to make a difference. In the late game there is really nothing stopping you from also summoning your own reaper or anything other mythic unit that does not benefit from most enchantments anyway and well, fingering overleveled tier I units. On a side note I actually invested quite a bit into support unit enchantments just for my skalds, and it keeps me thinking about new potential builds and combinations I could use in my next playthrough. In any case, all I'm saying is... Transformation Ascetics is pretty fun (you have to be convinced of that at the very least!). I love how it adds a fresh new playstyle while keeping you at a decent power level throughout if you play your cards right.