This does mean more time negotiating, more time (much more) fighting than maybe you would plus more time monitoring AD and selling to buy.
Nope. Not spending more time on the game than I did before the castle. Though, maybe one minute more per day to collect from the castle. It hasn't changed the way I play the game.
Let's say I only lack a few castle points to reach next castle level. Do I rush to the AD to buy some useless stuff just to get the castle leveled? No. It doesn't matter if I level the castle today or tomorrow or next week.
Do I stress myself to solve a difficult daily challenge just to get the 100 castle points? No. I let it go, like I always do, if the challenge is to troublesome to solve. It doesn't matter if I don't get the 100 castle points from the challenge. I'll get some tomorrow or the next day.
What's the rush?