[Amorphous]

The research pace of LA Man may not be stellar, but neither is it particularly bad. And it is certainly reliable as shifts in magic scales does not influence it. If you really want to have higher research output you can always craft early Owl Quills and later Lightless Lanterns could be an option depending on gem access.

As Agema mentioned Magisters are indeed a reasonably cost effective researchers and the few you get without any magic paths are still spies and useable as such.

As for being behind in gem income, I do not really understand why that would be. Magister Arcanes can search for air, astral and earth sites without much problem and there are no particularly pressing research needs that prevents Man to pursue thaumaturgy 2 reasonably early. A Magister Arcane prophet running around searching for sites should be enough to get the initial income needed.

The initial income of 2 air and 2 nature gems seems to be about the standard amount for LA and though the national mages cannot use the nature gems, those same games make it very easy to get a larger nature economy going as long as the pretender has at least N2. At construction 4 a Thistle Mace and any of the frequent independents with a nature pick gets the job done.

The Judges can be used to start a small death economy and even without access to rings of sorcery or wizardry they can propel Man into death through the Bean Sidhe (I do not recommend it as it might take a few summons to get one with D2, but the option is there). Once construction 6 is attained Judges can also provide a fire booster making it possible for the Magister Arcanes to search for fire gems with magic.

Water is something Man does not have access to easily, though the Bean Sidhe does have a water pick as an option if I remember correctly. As I said in my earlier post, water and nature are reasonable picks for a pretender and Naiads can then cover that end.

Blood is something I have not tried out with Man, but I suppose the patrol bonus of the Judge may be of help.



Overall the Magister Arcane is expensive, but it still fits well within the budget as I see it. There really is not much else to spend the money on, but Magister Arcanes and castles. The units of man are not expensive gold-wise and there is always the possibility of using higher taxes in combination with Judges.