[Jasper]

[quote]Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
Several spells are more difficult to encourage people to create more powerful gods.

We were surprised that players (especially competetive MP:s) created weak and ungodly gods. Feeling instead of efficiency was not a trade off they were willing to make.

IMHO it's more a kind of "operant conditioning"; making an inefficient Pretender in multiplayer is a very Pavlovian experience. I started my first few games making Pretenders with higher magic skills, but it cost me badly and I was only able to make up for it through lucky multiplayer dynamics.

It's fun to be thematic, but it's not fun to lose because your neighbors are _twice_ as big as you. This naturally convinces most players to try to find something that is still fun, but doesn't make you feel like you're doomed.

IMHO this is largely due to the exponential growth of early dominions games, where investment in wealth increasing scales quickly compounds. This would be much less of an issue in games where more than half the provinces started off in players hands.

Spells were available through magic items and empowerment, but this cost was always low compared to the economical advantage that enabled you to early conquer enemies and take their gold and gems.

More accurately, these costs are fixed, while scale investments yield compound interest.

One way I've seen this addressed in other games is to split the points available into several pools only applicable to certain things. For example you could have a magic pool, a dominion pool, and a flexible pool that could be spent on anything.