Tip: Template for reducing late game MM hell

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by fantasma

hammers allow for more forging which causes more MM. Removing them has two positive effects on managing:
1. Forging cheap stuff costs 67% more -> up to 40% less items
2. no need to find that mage with the hammer, anybody with the path can do it.

I think hammers introduce micro.

Reducing site frequency has a drastic influence, while reducing overall gem flow it makes finding specific gem types really unpredictable. I remember that game when - after searching all my provinces, 30 provs - I ended with a total of 1w! That was at 45%

Does anyone really not know where all their hammers are all the time? Does anyone really move them around all that much? I mostly give hammers to mages and set those mages to permanent forge duty, unless i have something special that needs making. And, surprise surprise, they're often the only mages not researching. I've never found forging to be annoying, and equipping items is quick and straightforward.

I find figuring out which paths a mage has is more micro, and that's important for things other than crafting. (Who can site search (manual or remote), who should go with the army, forging, ritual spells, etc...). It would help if, instead of having to rename all my casters A2W2D3 and the like there was a display on the overland commander view that listed all their paths, or it would come up on mouseover.

Finally, any removal of hammers would have to address how much this straightjackets nations into using nationally available magic types for items compared to default settings.