Here's my Magic Dev Journal

from Elemental Forums

 

In EFE, the magic system is slightly different (it's more like Master of Magic).  Each time your sovereign gains a level, he can choose 2 spell books from any discipline (Life, Death, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air).  There are 10 spell books in each discipline which represent the 10 levels of spells possible in each realm.  If you want to specialize in a particular area like Earth Magic, then choosing all Earth Magic books which get you access to the higher level spells quicker.  If you want to diversify and dabble in several different areas, you can do that too.

There are other ways to earn spell books too.  Some spell books are found as magic items in goodie huts, some are rewards for completing certain quests or battles, hiring certain champions may grant you an extra spell book, traits may grant you extra spell books, etc.  Once you have the book, you can research spells of that level based on your arcane points (same as EWOM).

The spells are more interesting.  Summon spells are both strategic and tactical meaning you can summon a wolf or ice giant in battle to fight for you and they disappear after the battle is complete.  Magic is more chaotic.  Lightning attacks may attack your own troops!  Fireballs may keep your opponent's weapons burning creating a Flamesword or Flaming Arrows that cause fire damage when he attacks you next turn!  Creeping Mud may slow your opponent's movement across the battlefield, but may give rise to an Earth Elemental to fight against you!  

Sovereigns will start off with a few weak spells for direct damage, mobility, healing, and city enhancement. 

Shards and intelligence multiply the effects of your spells.

Mana regeneration is easier in EFE.  There are buildings, traits, items, places, etc., that help with mana regeneration.  However, some spells are so costly that you must have significant shard ownership and intelligence to cast them. 

What did I miss?

 

 

 

elemental
16,087 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

A good try, but suffers from an embarrassment of riches. What made spell books so awesome in MoM is how rare they were; you had to make real choices at creation. Finding another spell book in-game was an extremely rare event (as in, didn't happen even once in most games) that only happened upon clearing a point of interest of top-tier monsters (Sky Drakes, Demon Lords, etc).  Making it rain spell books cheapens them and reduces replay value by making most strategies available every game.  That said, it's still a nice entry into the discussion.  Tactical summons for sure are a winner.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting tanafres, reply 1
A good try, but suffers from an embarrassment of riches. What made spell books so awesome in MoM is how rare they were; you had to make real choices at creation. Finding another spell book in-game was an extremely rare event (as in, didn't happen even once in most games) that only happened upon clearing a point of interest of top-tier monsters (Sky Drakes, Demon Lords, etc).  Making it rain spell books cheapens them and reduces replay value by making most strategies available every game.  That said, it's still a nice entry into the discussion.  Tactical summons for sure are a winner.

 

About the same I was going to say.

Can't have spellbooks being so common.

The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't have the link to a recent SD post, but I think it was Jon who said 5 ways to win: battle, magic, diplomacy, etc.

I LOVE the idea that you can continue to grow and get more and more magic "books" or levels.  Why? Because you are able to grow and get more armies all the time, right? You're able to grow and get more diplomacy benefits, right?  You can keep growing your cities right?

The point is, to grind it in :), the best game IMHO is where each strategy is balanced and allowed to keep being fresh.  If you 'max' out and can't learn more/others, then you should max out/can't add other combat units or more diplomatic relationships too.

I further would love a game where there were thousands of spells to choose from. Ever play Magic the gathering? Wow. Talk about options for strategy. You get tons of varied spells and you'll have a major milestone in an epic game. Of course it must be meaningful variation...and it can't be too overpowering.

Lastly, one of the things I liked best about MoM was that, except for the very early stages of the game, you could ALWAYS have a chance to win a battle. Because the mage was in every battle, your spells allowed you to change the course of the combat even if you were vastly outnumbered.  Buffing spells at the last second, using your summoning circle to get more units into the city just before the humongous army attacked, they add SUCH possible chances to win each battle that I cared about every unit and every combat.

You want a good game? Make it like that with updated graphics.  Guaranteed big seller. Simple as that.  Fiat.

 

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tim4fun, reply 3
... I LOVE the idea that you can continue to grow and get more and more magic "books" or levels. ...


MoM provided that through spell research, with learning vs. mana-banking being one of the primary strategic decisions. There's no reason that a MoM-like spell system need have fewer spells or a lack of growth. 

And making spell books a setup choice and very rare game reward has great fun potential. Some of my favorite MoM games were ones where I'd screwed up, gotten myself into trouble and got out because I managed to score an extra spell book and bring it into play before I lost everything. 

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Yes, we should be thinking about reintegrating spell research and mana production, and adding in spell power.  The three level balancing act of MOM was one of the best strategic magic features.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

There are a number of factors that made MoM magic system so addicting:

- The sheer wealth of spells , 40 per magic realm

- Well named and designed spells and not mere 'fillers', very impressive considering the huge number of them

- Spell skill mechanic which limited what and how many times you can cast spells in combat, as well as limiting the speed of casting for global spells

- Randomness:

You do not know what spells will you get at the start of the game and even later in the game, you can't simply turn the spell book pages and check the names of every upcoming spell like in WoM. You can make this more predictable by investing more points on spell books of the same realm, but that still doesn't guarantee every spell and comes at the price of flexibilty [with different spell book types you have a better chance to trade spells and to conquer opposing nodes].

- Spell books are rare, really rare, as in you wont see any.

- Finally, the awesome spell research completion animated event, as opposed to a lame cheap sound effect in WoM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL40s3T28Lo&feature=related

skip to 2:22

It gives a stronger fantasy theme, spell book is actually animated, compare to the static flash-like spell book of WoM.

 

 

 

 

 

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

The last three posts have explained why the magicsystem in Master of Magic is so good. I can only agree.

It was really before its time and it's a damn shame that no game has had a magicsystem as good as MoMs considering its 18 years old now!!