You're probably right about what she's asking. In my core, I also try not to use any specialists. In the hinterlands, though, I use specialist farms pretty heavily. Each specialist does eat 2 food, but they changed the specialists for Conquests. What you get in vanilla (which darski has) is different from what you get in Conquests. I very rarely use civil engineers, though. Their shields are only good for improvements . . . . . I also know that they added at least one specialist in Conquests, but I can't remember if it is the police officer, the civil engineer, or both. So darski may not have access to all of the specialists and those that she does have won't be as effective, anyway.