[Twan]

Out of duels against elephants or small rush friendly maps I would prefer a rainbow great sage offering real magic diversity and curing the real weakness of the nation : without him the magic race is lost.

my build : great sage F3 A2 W2 S3 E2 D2 N3 B1, dom 5, order 3, prod 2, misf 2, growth 1, drain 3, heat 1

26 RP / turn may look a negligible advantage but having them since the beginning can snowballs more than being one of the numerous players with a totally unimaginative awake SC chassis.

4 forts with lab (economize on temples) must be built as soon as possible, and researchers the priority, even if the price is taking just one province/turn when ennemies take 2 or 3 the first year.

Evo 3 and thaum 2 will be researched fast so priest smiths and others start to be usefull on the battlefield and can cast gnome lore (and augury sometimes), then Con 6 for lanterns and powerful boosters, Evocation 6, enchantment *or* conjuration 6 to be able to summon some thugs -or if you have nature or astral income early, target a gem producing global the sage can cast with boosters, ench 7 for stellar focus or alt 5 for mother oak, but don't search levels 5+ in more than one school out of conjuration & evocation-, and then go for construction 8 before other endgame magics.

With construction 6 reached around turn 20-25 and many lanterns forged as soon it's possible (fire gems may be the problem, and so should be the first trade objective) only nations taking magic 3 may beat you in the magic race, even if the sage now forge boosters or search sites.

Also reaching construction 6 fast and being able to forge items of many paths is an huge diplomatic advantage. You can furnish what your neighbour need and can't forge and you have a small territory but hard to take with all your forts, you don't look like a threat and your weak dominion don't spoils neighbours magic scales. You must be really unlucky if someone attack you with all these goods reasons to take on someone else.

As other nations will often research level 5+ in more than 3 schools because their mages have more possibilities, or go for a level 8 in another school first, the artefact race should be won (or at least you should be one of the first, with a lot to forge).

Once you can make artefacts the difference between a rainbow and a PoD shines : with the boosters you had been able to make you can forge a lot of things at -45% cost with the master smiths having one random, and more with the sage himself. Also a smith with an astral pick can summon golems with the two astral boosters. And the iron angels are summonable with some effort.

And once you have researched conjuration with a booster you have the same capacity to summon spectres (and then liches and tartarians, if you have D2, you'll have D7) but as you are also able to forge nature boosters and the magic rings, you will be able to GoR your tartarians far more easily (and eventually some powerful constructs can also worth to be GoRed before you have access to tartarians).

ps : of course it's a weak strategy
- if someone rush you
- if you have to fight an astral or other MR spells using nation in midgame (no temper the will)
- if your sage die and lose 8 magic levels, killed by the archer of Bogus team the first time he goes out to search some sites near the capitol (happened to me :" )