Caster of Magic Release thread : latest version 6.06!

[myk002]

I'm running on Linux as well. The only complication is due to how the files in some MoM-1.31 distributions have funky capitalization, so if you just naively combine the base game and the mod, you end up with duplicate files that DosBox doesn't know how to deal with. I did the following:

1) extract Caster of Magic (it unzips into it's own subdirectory)
2) capitalize all the files the base MoM release (Caster of Magic files are all properly capitalized already)
3) overwrite the MoM files with the Caster of Magic files
4) if you want, move the files in the Optional directory into the top level directory

I know you didn't ask for commandlines, but it might make it clearer:
0) cd /path/to/GOGMoM
1) unzip ~/Downloads/Caster543.zip
2) ls *[a-z]* | while read fname; do mv "$fname" "$(echo "$fname" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z')"; done
3) mv Caster543/* .
4) if [[ you want ]]; then mv Optional/* .; fi

the command in step 2 is untested, and 4 is whimsical, but you get the idea.

Subsequent updates to Caster of Magic only need steps 1 and 3 (and maybe 4). Also, be aware that MAGIC.SET contains your high scores. You need to update it once to Caster of Magic's version since it also contains updated game options, but you might want to not overwrite it when you update to future Caster of Magic releases.

[Khwarizmi]

Thanks but what about the version upgrade? Do I use Master150Final.zip or MoM151RC7.zip?

[myk002]

You don't need either of those. Just the original v1.31 release and Caster*.zip. Master150Final.zip and MoM151RC7.zip are not used at all. They are previous versions of the mod. They are playable, and I believe they are still available for those who want a "closer to vanilla MoM" experience, but they aren't the mod that is being discussed in this thread.

[Seravy]

Master150Final.zip and MoM151RC7.zip are not used at all. They are previous versions of the mod.

Wrong. They are updates to the original, unmodded game.

Basically, 1.31 is the last official update, then 1.40n aka insecticide is Kryub's last unofficial update, 1.50Final is my next update and 1.51 will be the next one but it's RC = release candidate, as new bugs originating from the base game still show up occasionally.

So those two are a collection of bug fixes without mod content.

Since CoM overwrites the files it doesn't matter if you are overwriting 1.31, 1.40 or 1.50 files, the result is the same.

[Khwarizmi]

Master150Final.zip and MoM151RC7.zip are not used at all. They are previous versions of the mod.

Wrong. They are updates to the original, unmodded game.

Basically, 1.31 is the last official update, then 1.40n aka insecticide is Kryub's last unofficial update, 1.50Final is my next update and 1.51 will be the next one but it's RC = release candidate, as new bugs originating from the base game still show up occasionally.

So should I use 1.50Final instead of the release candidate?

EDIT: Never mind, I see that it really doesn't matter. But maybe answer for those who don't want to install Caster of Magic.

[Nelphine]

Seravy generally tries to keep discussions about 1.50 and 1.51 in the equivalent thread to this, but in the master of magic forum. The assumption being, if you're in this forum, you're looking for info on caster of magic, and if you're looking for info on the unmodded master of magic, then you'll look in the general discussion threads in master of magic.

[Khwarizmi]

Right. I installed Caster of Magic and found it brutal on normal difficulty. Best practices?

[zitro1987]

Have each town with at least 4 weak garrison units and increase taxes when possible. Concentrate on early cheap buildings with massive bonuses like 'magic market' or 'sawmill' first. Do not worry too much about mana upkeep and summon a handful of magical creatures for protection, exploration (producing/buying settlers is very important to mark your territory), and possibly defeat some neutral towns or places with treasure.

But the key is don't neglect early military might. Unlike other 4X strategy games, early military strength helps lower unrest (garrison), protect towns, conquer treasure and neutral towns, and if you are lucky, defeat an AI early in the game.

Life is probably the hardest realm to start with because it doesn't have good summons early to mid game while buff spells are not very useful with most low-tier military units.

[namad]

I assume the number of Myyran opponents was changed in 5.43 to improve balance. I'd like to still argue against this change though. I think human players who pick Myyran want worse balance, on purpose. More diverse game scenarios and all that.

I was a big fan of changing it from 1opponent to 2 opponents about a year ago, I loved that change, made it feel less OP, for sure. Maybe it should be random still though between 2/3? Just for variance of game scenarios?

Right. I installed Caster of Magic and found it brutal on normal difficulty. Best practices?

I'd say normal in caster of magic is harder than like hard/impossible were in regular master of magic, IMO, at least. It's a mod for veterans of the game, it changes everything about the game, there's no shame in cranking down the difficulty, caster of magic improves the skills of the ai in 100s of different ways (the ai didn't work really at all in the base game). Lose a couple times and come back and ask a more specific question? Or go to youtube and watch hadriex/seravy play the game. Hadriex is more casual than seravy, but seravy is the mod author:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Hadriex/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyzaiOM...SAsYh7oeVg


I've actually found that life warlords are some of the easiest starts, yes they don't have summons but if you're playing barbarian/draconian (or someone else's favorites) heroism is quite strong during the first phase of the game. Otherwise what the previous guy said, settlers, garrisons, taxes, sawmills, neutral conquering.

[Khwarizmi]

I'm thinking about just sticking to version 1.50 for the time being tbh lol