With the math I did, I figure its gonna be be pretty close. The extra stats per gold and extra plunder from higher stats does not seem to pay for the 312bil you lose by building and tearing down t4. The thing that would really know if the math i did is correct would be to have a controle (how much plunder does a t4 lvl 3 get on the first hit/full troops on fod)
So far as more or less gold from t5 lvl1 or t4 lvl3. I think it all depends on your build. Wolf posted a thread on buildings that explains it. I replaced a t3 lvl 3 with a t5 when I first started on t5, my plunder went down. Now that I have more t5s I doubt it would have the same effect
So all of you arguing over wich has more plunder is pointless because you are all right in one instance or another. The question is: Wich way takes the least amout of "actions" to get to t5 hlbc?
T4 is as said useless on highlands. 13.5bil for L3, 25bil for T5 L1. Come on that's less than a day difference in plunder, don't waste your time building T4, go straight to T5 L1.
My alt finally LLC the other day, and I'm gonna build guilds until 12 highlands, then upgrade my castle, and slowly work on L1 colony. Then each new land built will have a L1 colony.