Newbie Questions - Just 2 i hope

[undercovergeek]

Have played the tutorial to the end and am continuing the game - im trying to familiarise myself with as much as the magic as possible and this is where i have a slight problem..... as per the tutorial i have researched Alteration upto lvl 3 and have also researched Conjuration upto level 3 - i have a Lvl 3 Earth Mage who, if im not wrong should be able to cast Summon Lesser Elemental, now i know most consider this to be useless and indeed i may too, im just trying to learn the system and make sure im doing everything right, i have given the mage 10 earth gems and in the battle orders asked him to cast specific spell 'summon lesser elemental' - nothing. And then he goes off casting his own random spells - is this right - is the spell success random or have i missed something?

And secondly, im playing 3.21 and wondered if there were any snazzier sprites out there - im not a graphics whore but just to tidy them up and make them look a little less fuzzy? on the strategy wikipedia for dom 3 the picture of the Minatour there looks like a work of art compared to my in game one!

great game by the way