[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Arryn:
70%?!! Why? Sacred can be useful, but not so much so to almost double the cost of the unit.

Yes, actually, it is that useful. How long do your mages Last? Mine tend to Last 20 turns or so, average, I estimate. Let's compare two 100 gold mages, with level-2 water magic. One scared, one non-sacred.

Normal: Total cost after 20 turns is 233 gold.
Sacred: Total cost after 20 turns is 166 gold.

So the sacred one is much cheaper, and gets whatever bless benefits you may have (possibly reinvigoration, air shield, life after death, quickness...). Much cheaper and potentially much better!

On the other hand, giving a 70% cost hike to sacred mages:

Sacred, 70% more expensive: 283 gold after 20 turns.

That makes the sacred mage only 22% more expensive after 20 turns. With automatic quickness, air shield + shock resistance, or reinvigoration + 4 protection, a sacred mage is worth far more than 22% extra.

For research, 70% is a bit overpriced, of course - the breakeven point is 70 turns, which is too long. A 60% premium gives a 45-turn breakeven point, which might be a little more fair, considering the normal game length. But generally, as Zen mentioned, it is the cheapest mages that are used for research.

Making mages sacred without increasing the price more than a trivial amount gives the nation a huge advantage, unless the mages are inherently worthless (like Celestial Masters).