An interesting application, and my initial reaction to this was it is too tedius to do for so little gain in gold and troops. And in this, I am both right and wrong.
I am right that the gold gain is not important. I just finished a game on impossible and ended up with 3 million in gold, and that would have been 6+ million had I not spent 3,600,000 gold in runes. So gold is not that important.
The troops gain is also not important not because of the amount, but the unit type. But this is where I am wrong.
I only played paladin, who only got priests, bowmen, and peasants on a suicide attempt. Warriors similarly get bears, swordsmen and bowmen, similarly insignificant.
But mages get peasants, dragonflies and SPRITES. Sprites are great, but you only get a chance to buy them once you get to the elven lands, even if you are a mage. As such, I really thought the initial small stack of sprites you get is useless for a mage since you can't increase them unless you pick up the Sacrifice spell early.
I just tested your idea, you do get more sprites on a suicide attempt for a mage, and it is a good idea to build up a good reserve of sprites if you are playing a mage. Nice find man.
You should check first if you have the Sacrifice spell being sold at the initial continent of Darion though, as Sacrifice is still the best and fastest way of getting more troops of a scarce unit.
Oh, and there is no disadvantage that I know of in doing the suicide trick in terms of the final record (at least none that I know of). You do spend some time to run from King Mark's castle to the nearest enemy though, but that may be inconsequential as you have tons of spare time to clear the initial continent anyways, even if you are doing a 6-7 day run.
Again, nice find.
Anyone out there who could point out a disadvantage to this tactic for a mage game?