Conceptual Balance (Discussion)

[Peter Ebbesen]

B0rsuk said:
My complaint about indy mages isn't that they're too weak, but that they're somewhat too expensive for what they do. I know they're meant to be weaker, but why make them so pricey ?

1) Because they are ways for nations without access to the paths that the indy mages have to actually get access. Gaining access to paths that your nation is not "thematically" supposed to focus on has got to be expensive.

2) Because, if you already have national mages that can do what the indy mages can do, it is preferable from a game perspective, as well as more fun in the long run, if the "profitable" thing to do is to use your national mages. More differentiation between nations that way, when they don't all run around recruiting the same independents.

For both reasons it is without shadow of a doubt better that independent mages are both more expensive than equivalent (low-powered) national mages and less powerful than the powerful national mages. In other words, it is best if they "suck" in all situations but one: namely the one in which you really need their sort of magic.