A simple change

[Backfyred]

Please make mages automatically use gems from a lab (if present) to cast their scripted magic.

When your communion of sorceresses inexplicably casts Personal Luck, Astral Shield, Solar Rays, Body Ethereal, and Astral Weapon instead of Power of the Spheres - Solar Brilliance - Storm - Wrathful Skies, it is rather frustrating.

Especially when they're defending that all-important castle from the typical ermor army, and you've scripted all the other soldiers in the castle - three ulmish commanders, 10 black knights, and 11 diseased limp pike men, to suicide into the castle gate to buy precious time for the mages.

[Agrajag]

If you take the time to script the mage, you should have the time to give him a few gems from the labs...

Anyway, the reason this isnt done is that it would cause your mages to use gems whenever they are attacked in a friendly province with a lab, you could attack Caelum's lab provinces (just as an example) with small numbers of chaff to get them to spend all their air gems on Wrathful Skies (This is just an example!).

[NTJedi]

Please make mages automatically use gems from a lab (if present) to cast their scripted magic.

This is not a good idea.
8 earth mages could easily use 70 earth gems in a battle which would definitely cause more pain playing the game. If players don't give the gems to the mages the mages shouldn't be allowed to use gems.
On a side note:
I've had cases where a level_7 air mage would use all the air gems in the battle before storming a castle... thus the battle in the castle my units wouldn't get mass flight or arrow fend causing more units lost.

[Chazar]

I support NTJedi's view here: See my recent thread about RainOfStone-casting Caelian mages killing of their own army! I am really cautious now with giving earth gems to earth boosted seraphs, which is a pain since the earth blood stones tend to genereate them quite nicely...

I wish one could set a limit of of gems to be used, and that once could tweak the casting preferences for each mage instead of 5-turn scripts...

[Duncanish]

Chazar said:
that once could tweak the casting preferences for each mage instead of 5-turn scripts...

Seconded. Maybe for Dom 3?