Re: A question about magic
I used to shrug off magic as "something I can do without".
Then I got hit by Burden of Time, Wrath of God, Seeking Arrows, Flame Bolts, And I watched my commanders - and even my Pretenders - die. The turning point was when I equipped my Pretender with an amulet of missile protection, then had a nice message a few turns later, saying it had saved him from another Seeking Arrow.
This convinced me that ritual magic and items forging were very important.
And when I lost a uber-stack super-heavy Ulm army to a light, but mage-heavy, AI army, was when I realized battlefields magic had their place. That, and trying to kill off Ermor. I will long remember that battle where 25 priests, protected by 50 heavy infantry, squared off against 30 soulless, with 5 undead commanders (the kind that summons skeletons) who predictably summoned 25 skeletons each turn. I got wiped out, despite killing literally hundreds of undeads. I mean, all was going very well, until my heavy infantry had enough and quit. There I learned that the right spell (in this case summon skeleton) can make a big difference.
I see magic as something that happens later in the game. After turn 20 you start noticing it. After turn 40 it's really annoying unless you are ready with magic to counter it. And you don't want to be the only one without the ability to cast level 9 spells !
P.S. There are many ways to allow mages to cast bigger spells in battle : communions, magic items, empowerment, spells that boost mage power...
P.P.S If you are not convinced : choose a race that can make lvl 4 priests. Make one your prophet. Then watch him smite his way to the top of the Hall of Fame, reducing whole armies to ashes. Then realize you can do the same with "regular" magic, and a bit of work.
|