[LintMan]

I posted these water spell suggestions in a clam nerfing thread a while back, but they didn't get much discussion (except some encouragement/suggestions from Gandalf -thanks Gandalf!). The suggestions fit this topic, though, so I'll repost them here.

First, my thoughts on water magic:
- I agree with Norfleet's point if there were better uses for water gems, there'd be less clam hording.
- I think water magic is pretty good combat-wise, and it's in ritual magic and items where water is somewhat lacking, which is why water gems aren't that useful.
- That said, I think what water needs would be to have some good high end water spells to make it worth saving up those water gems for. I'm thinking mainly of things like maybe a beneficial global effect spell (ie: soemthing very useful like FotA or GoH), a non-ocean-based global effect spell (ie: doesn't just effect ocean or coastal provinces), some high-end amphib summons, some mid-range amphib summons that don't have gold upkeep cost (a huge downside to sea trolls!), a remote summon, and/or some powerful but pricey magic items. And maybe a transport spell of some kind.

Some quick ideas:

* "Harvest Rains" - increases supply in all provinces, according to dominion strength
* "Fountain of Youth" - increases pop growth in all provinces, according to dom strength.
* "Water of Life" - creates/attracts new life to a target province. (Ie: bring a pop 0 province back to life)
* "Weather Control" - caster specifies preferred heat/cold scale, and globally, all provinces are pushed towards it. (I'm thinking it'd be a weaker effect than Illwinter, but more flexible)
(Gandalf suggested the cool idea that this could add some protection against some of the bad-weather negative events)
* "Ice Castle" - It magically never completely melts, but its defense is based on province heat/cold scale.
* "Sea Nymphs" - mid-high summon: amphib, awe +0, charm attack
* "Summon giant crocodile(s)" - low-mid range summon, amphib, maybe comparable strength to nature lion or kithaironic lion spells.
* "Summon Yeti" - mid or high-end thugish summon, possibly an SC-able chassis.
* "Call Nessie" - high-end amphib summon, maybe comparable toughness/cost to Tarrasque
* "Staff of Frost" - 40 water gem item, casts falling frost
* "Helm of Liquid Form" - 80 water gem item, reduces all physical damage taken by 75%
* "Staff of Speed" - 40-80 Water gem item, casts quickness on units up to say range 20, area 1-2
* "Waterways" - transport an army from any coastal province to any other coastal province. I don't remember who originally suggested this one, but I like it.
* "Hidden Currents" - transport an army from any underwater province to any other underwater province.