SORCERY Realm

[kjara]

I realized we have a slot for adding a new city curse, or buff, since the removed Cursed Lands's slot is unused.

A buff to increase power from magical buildings, or research would feel right for Sorcery I think.
Something like :
Blessing of Uranus
Doubles the effect of Library, Sage's Guild, University, Amplifying Tower, Wizard's Guild, and Alchemists Guild.
Cost : 200
Maintenance : 5

Alternatively we could have
Zeus's Blessing
Fortress lightning is in effect as though this city was the caster's capital.
I prefer the former though, as this would be far too powerful together with Flying Fortress (enemy can't enter but is present in the battle so the units die to the lightning for free).

Or we can have a spell that does both, even.

For the common slot, we could have a cold based damage spell, like Frost sparks, that is a nonillusion, direct damage spell. Like Fairy Dust in nature, but not all figure hitting. Something like strength 18 for 10 mana could work. Or we could make it just do neutral damage.
Or how about this :
Magic Missles
cost : 12 MP
Hits the targeted unit with a strength 20 magical attack. If any damage was dealt, that unit loses half of its remaining magical ammo, and mana.
Slightly worse damage to cost ratio than Fire Bolt, but with an additional effect?

How should be replicate Dispel Magic and Disjunction True after they are replaced by the new spells?
-Arcane versions gain double effectiveness if caster has X+ Sorcery books. (X being 4 or 5)
-Arcane versions gain double effectiveness if caster has Sorcery Mastery (would probably be fair if other Masteries also had some extra benefit only)
-Do not replicate, Spell Binding is a superior option to Disjunction True, and Disenchant True is superior to Dispel Magic, so they were redundant to begin with (I'm leaning towards this one now)

I think this has been brought up before, but the masteries are fairly boring right now. Reducing the cost/research bonus on them and giving them other thematic boost might be cool. Perhaps something related to combat spells to chaos (+1 to hit with direct damage spells? or +some % to dd or a discount only to dd spells) and something related to cities or summons for nature (boost to city growth or max population? or extra summon res?). Depending on the relative strength of the special, they could give different casting/research boosts (chaos might give less research boost or something).

[Seravy]

Oh, another way for recreating the dispel effects would be to add them onto AEther Mastery.

While AEther Mastery is in effect, any Dispel Magic and Disjunction spell cast by the wizard has double effectiveness.
Cost would need to increase though.

[zitro1987]

Dispel/disenchant/disjunction removal - good idea but I'd probably go for doubled, not tripled, effectiveness for disenchant given you will not need to worry about researching both spells and you do not have to worry about whether the spells will be available to research if playing some but not all sorcery books.

New spell ideas:
*Unit Enchantment Common or Uncommon and low research and mana cost - Force Field - target friendly unit cannot act but gains extreme toughness - a situational spell that allows you to protect our fragile essential units if needed in a pinch.

*Silence/Drain Magic - Common or Uncommon - 'warp wood' is the single-unit anti-archer ... well, how about a single unit anti-mage?
*if common - target unit resists or lose half of ranged damage
*If uncommon - target unit automatically loses half of ranged damage ... or target unit resists or lose 'ALL' of ranged magic points.

*Polar Wind uncommon or rare - 'flame-strike' style attack that only affects enemy flying units, dealing high damage and removing 'flying' like web dies.

*Teleport (rare) unit enchantment

*Cloning (rare) unit enchantment - combat-only - normal military unit gains an extra figure (ideal for stag beetles and other single-figure units)

[Seravy]

Dispel/disenchant/disjunction removal - good idea but I'd probably go for doubled, not tripled, effectiveness for disenchant given you will not need to worry about researching both spells and you do not have to worry about whether the spells will be available to research if playing some but not all sorcery books.

If I add it to AEther Mastery you still need to worry about getting the spell though, but I agree, double is enough either way.

*Unit Enchantment Common or Uncommon and low research and mana cost - Force Field - target friendly unit cannot act but gains extreme toughness - a situational spell that allows you to protect our fragile essential units if needed in a pinch.

Can't add beneficial unit buffs, all buff flags are currently in use, would need to remove a buff spell first....or are they? ...checks again. Stone Skin is used for Focus Magic. Black Channels is used by Animate Dead. Giant Strength is...still available! Seems we can do 1 unit buff, and 1 city enchant.

This spell would be problematic though, cast it when defending a city, not lose battle. Keep winning with 1 spearmen. Also, even if cannot act, it would still counterattack.

*Silence/Drain Magic - Common or Uncommon - 'warp wood' is the single-unit anti-archer ... well, how about a single unit anti-mage?
*if common - target unit resists or lose half of ranged damage
*If uncommon - target unit automatically loses half of ranged damage ... or target unit resists or lose 'ALL' of ranged magic points.

Too similar to my Magic Missile idea, I would rather have it do damage AND take away part of the magical ammo/mana than just the latter but all of it.

*Polar Wind uncommon or rare - 'flame-strike' style attack that only affects enemy flying units, dealing high damage and removing 'flying' like web dies.

No to this, would be too hard to do, direct damage should be the realms weaker point, and it can already deal with flying enemies by casting flight on own units. Furthermore, enemies need to be flying to attack Sorcery wizards (Flying Fortress, Flight buff on units), so punishing that would be unfair.

*Teleport (rare) unit enchantment

Doable but I prefer to limit that to heroes and Djinn/Unicorn/Wyrm. It's a very overpowered ability.

*Cloning (rare) unit enchantment - combat-only - normal military unit gains an extra figure (ideal for stag beetles and other single-figure units)

I like this one but it would be brutally overpowered when combined with haste (4x the attack power) and berserk (8x the attack power!!). Haste in particular is already borderline too powerful, and this would be even better because it doubles health too not just attacks. Limiting to normal unit might make it more reasonable, but I don't see much of a point, I mean, if it's a normal unit, you can just produce more of them, and if you want more power in a single unit due to the 9 army limit, summoning a giant or djinn is better than cloning a stag beetle or any normal unit.
Probably cannot be coded well either, max figures is not a variable, but a constant for type on the overland map. Even if the extra figures were there in combat, they would be missing overland, which would result in health bugs (units with 0 or negative remaining health due to having lower maximum on the overland map than in combat).

[zitro1987]

Confusion - 15 cost might be more appropriate.

Focus Magic - I like it a lot and cost is appropriate but seems pretty advanced for 'common' ... the mage's own 'flame blade' and mage hero boost. On the other hand, I'd like to see to

Counter Magic - for a common, it seems too advanced in terms of how much you can invest (up to 70 cost?). Original 10-50 might limit it more late-game.

Aura of Majesty - if +1 per turn, how about a strong immediate boost that justifies the initial cost (and low maintenance) and possibly get you out of trouble at the moment you cast it? Maybe funner than an eventual 'almost never in war' gameplay which does not work too well in a war-oriented game like this

Spell Lock - I like the newly added fantastic unit protections

Spell Blast - 100 initial cost might be a bit steep given you also lose the mana your opponent also spent. Your opponents will outspend you at higher difficulties.

Vertigo - what if it always works but costs 20-25? Uncommon spells typically cost more than 10 and best units typically have more 'to-hit' and are not necessarily useless even with -2 to hit

Conjure Roads - great!!

Aether Binding - a bit powerful for 300 cost, but it seems sorcery needs a spell like this and may be outranked by other realms otherwise.

Phantom Beast - give it 1-2 armor? or +1-2 movement?

Air Elemental - seems pretty fragile for 50 cost, but I'd still cast it situationally. Suggest 12 hit points

Banish Suggestion - what if it always works against combat summons?

Stasis - prefer your idea of a resist or 0 movement. If so, research points should be near average

Flying Fortress - seems very effective against AI. Research points suggestion: 75% of average

Suppress Magic - this seems a little too game-breaking if you mean 100% chance of countering spells costing less than 1000. Maintenance would have to be much greater as enemy AI will waste a ton of mana casting spells that get countered.

Spell Ward - appropriate for 'very rare'

Djinn - comparable with good 'rare' creatures but with wind walking. Suggest increasing cost a bit and adding more melee/armor?

Haste - at least you made it more inaccessible with 'very rare' ... you may not always get haste and sky drake in the same game. And if you play pure 100% sorcery, you may not get the earlier benefits of multi-colored wizards. I don't have a big problem with it, even if yes, I would use it with sky drakes (and heroes)

[zitro1987]

*Unit Enchantment Common or Uncommon and low research and mana cost - Force Field - target friendly unit cannot act but gains extreme toughness - a situational spell that allows you to protect our fragile essential units if needed in a pinch.

This spell would be problematic though, cast it when defending a city, not lose battle. Keep winning with 1 spearmen. Also, even if cannot act, it would still counterattack.

You're right, it'd have to be thought in a different way and I can't think of one. Even granting -5 to hit and +10 armor/resistance would be abusive if you apply it to manticores, wyverns, basilisks, or other units that deals damage in a different way.

[Seravy]

Confusion - 15 cost might be more appropriate.

What about the "unit always dies at end of battle"? Currently, that's pretty much random and I don't like that.

Counter Magic - for a common, it seems too advanced in terms of how much you can invest (up to 70 cost?). Original 10-50 might limit it more late-game.

Consider that countering chance is not 100%.
While a 70 mana Counter Magic can counter a 50 mana rare spell, the chance is merely 2/7. Even for a 35 mana uncommon, it's only a 1/2 chance to counter.

Aether Binding - a bit powerful for 300 cost, but it seems sorcery needs a spell like this and may be outranked by other realms otherwise.

If I move "dispel/disjunction is 2x stronger" effect here, the cost will be raised to at least 400-450.

Suppress Magic - this seems a little too game-breaking if you mean 100% chance of countering spells costing less than 1000.

No, it works like Counter Magic. 250 mana spell = 25% chance to work, 75% countered. 750 mana spells, 75% works, 25% countered. 1000 mana, never countered. 0 mana (Summoning Circle only) always countered.

Spell Ward - appropriate for 'very rare'

I'm actually starting to worry about this being overpowered if we limit removing positive effects to Disenchant True. No summons and no spells would be pretty hard to beat, it means effectively normal units, buffs and heroes only, but Sorcery will remove your buffs, leaving normal units+heroes (and items if you have any). On the other hand, doesn't really affect players who use 3 or more realms, it's unlikely to have them all blocked.

[Seravy]

I've added the new spell, Uranus' Blessing, as far as spell data, and casting it goes. It doesn't have any of the effects coded in yet.

This is the current plan, but I have doubts (would do all of these, much like Gaea's Blessing having 7 useful effects, this would have 4) :
Uranus' Blessing
Cost : 300
Maintenance : 7
-All units built in city have magical weapons (even if you do not have an alchemist's guild)
-Alchemist's Guild and Wizard's Guild in city produces an additional 7 power
-Amplifying Tower produces an additional 7 skill
-You start all combats in your city by having a Counter Magic of power 50 in effect.

I'm especially having doubts about the last one, that would prevent you from casting a max strength (70) counter magic, but it would be free 50 mana, and counters are not very fun (although, playing against sorcery is never fun...)
Power production is also questionable, because the spell would also cost mana to maintain, so the net gain would be only 7 if both buildings are built. That's far worse than Dark Ritual's although this spell does have other benefits (7 skill is huge). Power is superior to mana though because it can be distributed freely while mana can be paid through alchemy from gold.
I left out the research because I feel strong spells that boost research at rare rank should not exist. Tranquility is fine because it's very rare and by then research only helps you in one rank of spells and mastery. This however, at rare, could accelerate other rares, with a lucky order of spells, even most of your uncommons.

[Seravy]

I've decided to do the Spell Ward change.
It's mainly for AI considerations : If the AI wants to send a stack containing a forbidden unit to attack a city, the city is pretty much invincible. The AI will keep trying to send the same stack (unless another free stack happens to be ahead in the list of stacks, but since it always selects the first one available, which I assume is the oldest, this is very unlikely), and as it does not send two stacks at the same target at the same time, the city will not get attacked at all. All of this is theory based on how the AI works, but I would be very surprised if it wasn't true in practice.
Regardless of being AI friendly or not, it certainly is not human player friendly either : if one cannot use combat spells, cannot curse the city, cannot hit the units inside with overland spells, and cannot even use fantastic units, there isn't much remaining to deal with the problem (To be fair, I'm assuming the player does not find books of a new realm during the game, and does not get lucky enough to have surviving demigod heroes for the endgame), as normal units will usually be too weak to successfully attack a city that is defended by actual fantastic units of the Sorcery AI defending it.

I've decided to go with the most obvious nerf, letting the units inside, but have them receive a major penalty to combat stats.
I'm planning the penalty to be -3 to hit, -4 defense and -4 resistance. This still allows rare and above creatures to be relevant to the battle, but they'll be a lot weaker while being more vulnerable at the same time.

[Seravy]

I will try Confusion with a -2 penalty and a 18 cost in the next version. It's a bit too good for a common at -3. I'm keeping the "always die at end of combat without regeneration" change, it really makes the spell into the threat it used to be before the bugs were fixed (in which case you also lost the unit but to the bug, making it unpredictable)

I'm not sure about the items on such units being lost but I believe that's fine too. If a hero deserts your army due to confusion, they're likely to take the items with them.

I'm still considering further reduction on the cost, 15 might be even more appropriate.