Lower level summons?

[tinkthank]

Just wondering: who uses lower-level non-national summons, and if so, which ones which are not Summon Vine Ogre? By these I mean things like Fire Drake, Scorpion Beast, Summon Shades or Reanimation (the death spell, not the unholy command) and the like.

I would basically like to know this: Do you save (or "hoard") your gems for later use once you get higher-level spells, or do you spend them sooner (or asap) to get those summons you can cast now.

I ask because I tend to do the former, except for Vine Ogre, which I use in conjunction with that crown which gets you an extra one. I find the other lower-level summons not "worth it" for the short-term gain in immediate firepower over longer-term gain when casting the sexier spells you can get a few turns later.

I am hoping that lots of people will say the opposite; but if not, this would seem to me to be an (albeit: weak) "argument" in favor of slightly boosting the power of lower level summons and slightly nerfing the power of higher level summons (for a patch or dom3), since these spells would go into the (albeit: small) batch of "I never cast these; why are they in the game?".