Jungle Wars: Spider upgrades, worth it?

When I was in the 1000-cup bracket, there was an opponent who did his attacks almost entirely with spiders. I was surprised that at our level this might work, spiders being so frail. Perhaps he used this force structure way past its usefulness.

Here is a level 1 stat sheet for spiders (above).

Here is our fuzzy friend at level 6. Is the upgrade worth it? In my opinion, the upgrade is NOT if you are breeding for damage (stamina). The defensive fire that a Level 6 meets with way outmatches 53 damage points. In other words, by the time your spider is upgraded that high, your enemies will have also upgraded their defenses.

How about attacking power (hitpoints)? Again, I think not. You don't see much difference in the speed at which the spider destroys buildings. This is in part due to the fact that the enmy's building upgrades keep pace with your spider upgrades.

In sum, the weakness of the spider in early play persists into late play. I do keep a few (5) in the force mix when attacking; they are fast "mopping up" troops and when the clock is winding down, you need speed to squeeze an extra percentage point out of your win.

Your comments welcome, as always.