Ehn... they pull some of the gold flow back in via popping up lounges, though, which drain tax money out of the system. Your best bet for extra buildings would be, hrm. Do wizard towers count? Don't think they have a multiplier. Inns are fairly cheap, too, and generate gold besides. Dunno if statues'd do it...
Point being, going for gold I probably wouldn't make more than one bungalow, m'self. One's good/incredible, but they've got diminishing returns on 'em. One thing you might be able to do with the expansion is hire/dismiss embassy heros until you're full up on elves that way. Elven heroes, no extra lounges. A match made in incredibly wasteful heaven. Though now I'm wondering if you could, like, game it. Make a bungalow, and an outpost, hire a couple of elves, destroy the bungalow, wait for the elves to move into the outpost, rebuild the bungalow and repeat until outpost full. Eight elves, one bungalow, (hopefully) one lounge.
'Course, that's all moot when gnomes are the best of the non-humans anyway
If
all you were going for was income, you'd want as many markets as you could fit, inns everywhere else, and whatever other buildings were cheap enough to justify getting instead of another inn. I suspect that wouldn't be as fun as having an elf n scoundrel town.
Also, does having more lounges/gambling halls actually increase the chances of a hero visiting one? I wouldn't think so, but I've never thought to check.
I like to build a marketplace on one side of the palace and a trading post on the other side. It takes a building or two in between to get to the minimum distance though.
Wizards cost a lot and die easily so I don't build them until a bit late. Rogues are the first heroes I buy because they're cheap and can loot dead enemies, and there will be some minor ones early on.
Disable routine tax collection from houses. Houses don't produce a lot and slow down the tax collectors. Do a one-off collection if the houses have a decent size, like 150 gold or so.
I seem to recall that I used to do that first one, but that at the distances involved I could just build a second marketplace instead. Plus, there's not always enough room on the other side of the palace.
I build rangers first for the free exploration, then warriors because they're a match for most enemies. Then it sort of depends, but I probably neglect rogues more than I should.
The house thing is the smart way to do it, but I'm usually lazy.
Fuck that blackmail mission. Fuck it FOREVER.
I do not recall this mission.
Time to go find it.