[Edi]

Cohen, yes, HBH is now more like Enslave Mind. No question about that. The problem with it is that with the changed Sabbath spells (10 fatigue, no slaves), HBH spamming becomes a viable tactic. Sabbath boosts magic levels, and getting +1 or +2 is laughably easy, especially if you find sages or lizards, astral sages and shamans can use communion slave to power a sabbath circle.

As for Caelum, have you taken a look at the nation as a whole? Yes, they have good mages. They also have incredibly crappy troops, which means that until they get a decent level of evocation, they and some other spells, their expansion options are rather limited. There is the SC option, but in and of itself that does not mean much. Caelum is not invincible, and its current strengths do not warrant such a serious nerf when its weaknesses are taken into account. Nor does Caelum being strong in certain areas mean that Abysia needs such a huge boost.

A lot of things depend on luck, especially early on (what indeps and how large provinces around you etc), and a lot more on smart use of resources at hand. The objective is not to cut every nation down to the same size, rather it is to find a balance that allows them to be different and play to their unique strengths. Your modified Abysia has only a single weakness: no missile troops, which is easily remedied by independents.

There is a general trend throughout your mod that pushes balance out the window, which is why nobody is going to like it. Yes, some low level summons need improvement (the drakes most of all), but your sweeping changes wreakmore havoc than anything else.

Edi