Re: Old age and growth
 

I was looking more from the side of research, where taking +1 magic would mean a lot more that taking +1 growth (working on a pretender build), but you have a point.

Re: Old age and growth
 

For blood economies growth can be important. G3 can boost rather fast populations of 4000 above the 5k line needed to get bigger slave yields...

Re: Old age and growth
 

After trying recently two nations with Drain 2, I have to say I'll never do that again. Magic is so fundamentally vital to a nation that any restriction in its development is a mistake. Every time I make a nation I begin with Magic 1 scales, and go from there.

Jazzepi

Re: Old age and growth
 

Yes, you're right but there're some exceptions the most obvious being MA Ulm (which in skilled hands should be played in a different way than any other nation) and Shinuyama. I am playing Shinuyama currently and I must say that my Magic 1 was a mistake because you get a splendid sacred recruitable everywhere 10-11 RP mage. Magic is drastically effective for low-RP mages and if a mage is rather expensive (being the best researcher for the nation and one of the best in the game) you still cannot recruit many enough to benefit from your magic scale.
So, if I created my pretender again, I would leave everything intact instead of magic scale. It's better to invest those 120 points into extra production and growth which would mean more money and more mages.

Re: Old age and growth
 

Obviously Ulm does not fall under the guise of what I mentioned. Being able to pump out mages that aren't affected by drain makes it much easier to set it to -3, just like having Abysia unaffected by fire makes it a easy choice to set it to +3 heat.

Even with high research mages, I still think magic 1 is a must. I played Bogarus with drain 2, and it was a mistake. With magic 1 I would have been /much/ farther ahead on the research scales, especially in a game with difficult research. It also combines well with an awake pretender that can buff himself. Or to scramble up the construction tree to equip him, and then sell gears to others.

Jazzepi