[Saxon]

With respect, I disagree about the low level spells. You can do quite a bit with the lower level spells and a good team of mages can make a huge difference. My concern is different. With the much lower frequency of Libraries and Sages, combined with the doubling of magic research costs, it is much later in the game where you see magic playing any role at all. Like many expansion based games, the early turns are critical. With the higher costs of magic, it seldom seems to have much of a role in the early days. Unless the map is really big, most games seem to be settled before magic has an impact.

My question is for those who are interested in seeing more magic in the games. Making research easy is a good one and I will fiddle with the other settings as you have suggested. I do not like playing with mods (call me a Ludditte), so I will try the other ideas first. I did boost the gems earlier and found an interesting pattern. I get a lot of gems built up, then a surge of spending when I hit the moderate construction and summoning levels. This leads to a surge in power and in several games I soon break the back of the enemy. In Dom II, I did not get such a surge, as I was spending earlier.

On the other hand, I may be inept with my research, so let me know what ideas are out there for boosting early magic research. Quills and Skull Mentors are wonderful, but come a bit later in the game. I struggle to balance getting magic users in the field and in the lab, so your theories and methods would be of real interest.