[Baalz]

Ah yes, I was trying to address the question of why I thought Hinnom had strong research which I don't think the nerf impacted other than possibly indirectly due to potentially less gold being available for mages. At any rate, I think it's pretty clear that Hinnom should be one of the research leaders due to having reasonably efficient research mages while cranking out twice as many as most comparable sized nations. There are a few other nations that have mages recruitable without a lab, but as far as I can think of right now the only one which is comparable is MA T'ien Ch'i's Minister of Magic (which I highlight as a very strong research engine in my MA TC guide). Most of the other mages which can be recruited without a lab you don't really want to recruit even for research if a lab is available, there's just better options available.