SORCERY Realm

[Seravy]

An idea : maybe we should replace Suppress Magic in a similar fashion as Nature's Wrath->Fairy Ring?
So instead of countering spells, it produces something for the enchantment owner when enemy wizards use cheap spells?

Same reasons for it : It's not fun to use or play against it. It also goes against the design philosophy : casting spells is the most important part of the game. Sure it allows the big spells through but often the small spells also matter.

Some possible implementations :

A. Whenever another player casts an overland spell with less than 500 base cost, gain gold equal to the difference.
B. Whenever another player casts an overland spell with less than 500 base cost, gain mana crystals equal to the difference.
C. Whenever another player casts an overland spell with less than 400 base cost, you have +100 casting skill for the following turn. (cumulative)

One fairly major downside I see is this can be abused very much by giving an ally free resources by spamming a low cost spell like Water Walking (or Summoning Circle but we should exclude that due to the zero cost). This wasn't an issue with the nature spell where it triggered on high cost spells only.

[RefSteel]

One fairly major downside I see is this can be abused very much by giving an ally free resources by spamming a low cost spell like Water Walking (or Summoning Circle but we should exclude that due to the zero cost). This wasn't an issue with the nature spell where it triggered on high cost spells only.

If you're completely rebuilding the spell, couldn't you make it trigger (or at least be more effective) on high-cost spells instead? For instance:

Siphon Power: Whenever another player casts an overland spell for X mana, you gain X/10 mana (or gold or X/20 skill for a turn or whatever).

Or if you want it to react to cheap spells only, you could just change your formula:

Magic Resonance: Whenever another player casts an overland spell for X mana, you gain X mana or 500-X (min 0) mana, whichever is less. (Or gold or "X or 400-X skill for one turn" or whatever.)

[Seravy]

If you're completely rebuilding the spell, couldn't you make it trigger (or at least be more effective) on high-cost spells instead?

I could but that defeats the purpose. This is supposed to be Sorcery's answer to low cost spells. For high cost ones, you have spell blast.

you gain X mana or 500-X (min 0) mana, whichever is less.

That's a pretty good solution although for the intended effect I tweaked it a bit further :
Gain 1.25*(500-X) mana for spells costing 100 or higher, otherwise gain cost*5 mana.

That puts the mana gained at 500 for each 100 skill used on cheap spells, and lower amounts above that.
It still means it's a super beneficial spell to boost an ally, but the effect is at least limited to 5 mana per skill you have.

...this can easily lead to infinite time stop loops between two AIs though. One casts time stop, casts a bunch of things, other gets a lot of mana. Other casts time stop, casts a bunch of things, first gets a lot of mana, repeat. I guess shutting the effect off during Time Stop works, although hard to justify without doing the same for Fairy Ring.

[Seravy]

Playing Sorcery currently, some thoughts.

Floating Island - this might be undercosted.
A ship costs "only" 60, but doesn't appear where you need it, and requires building a specific building. So it takes a minimal 2 turns to prepare, but unless you planned far in advance, it's more. Also this cost is in production which requires waiting - if you need it instantly, you're look at the cost of having a coastal city, and spending about 200 gold on the building and the ship itself. That takes 2 turns, but you generally need another 2-3 turns for the ship to reach the place where you pick up your target - chances are they either aren't near your coastal cities, or that city is producing them so it can't afford to stop for building ships.
So Boats vs Floating Island :
~200 gold vs 50 overland casting and mana
2-8 turns vs 0-1 turns
Requires coastal city vs no requirement
Must be near coastal city or additional turns vs anywhere on map
Units on board cannot fight and are vulnerable vs units can fight and aren't vulnerable : Island can't be killed while units are alive.
Ship can fight (poorly) vs Island can't fight at all without units on it.

Overall the spell is much better and obviously it should be better but I question the "amount" of better. Speed and versatility are both very valuable in the early game and Floating Island offers a lot of both. In fact it's cheap enough that you can afford to cast the spell only to speed up units already capable of moving on wait, kinda like a oneshot " target units moves 3 extra tiles this turn" spell. Producing ships doesn't really do this, as the ships themselves can't appear at the correct location and you have to protect them somehow while attempting to go there.

At the very least a cost of 75 is needed I think, but even 100-120 might not be unreasonable, albeit it might seem disappointingly high for players who don't realize how big the speed and in-combat advantage is.

Guardian Wind - this one might be overcosted.
The effect itself is definitely worth the 50 MP if you cast it on a strong unit that can melee a large group of archers to death. Problem is, in my experience, that's too rare. More often, you'll want to bring in 3-5, even 9 units, and each of them needs the buffs - even one unit missing it means that unit will be targeted and dies. You need extra units because some will still get hit by enemy spells and die, unless the enemy missile units are basic, level nothing bowmen, they'll do some melee damage as well, and finally, even if the enemy has 7 bow units, those last 2 other units will ruin your day if you were counting on bringing 2 missile immune halberdiers. Also, Missile Immunity is available by default through producing Magicians, as well as those replacing bow units in garrisons, so the spell is only useful during a very limited time which will quickly elapse while you're trying to spend the 300+ skill on buffing the army. Finally, you can't take too long buffing up your army either because non-bow units becoming added to the defending army, for example being produced or summoned, will ruin your strategy.
So a cost reduction for this spell might be needed, on the basis that this buff tends to be needed in larger quantities quickly to be really useful. 40 seems reasonable, but I can see as low as 30-35 to work.

[Seravy]

One more :
Resist Magic - This costs 25 vs Bless at 35. It used to be like that because Bless also added 5 defense against magical ranged attacks of the matching realms. Now that it no longer has that effect, this cost difference is not justified. Bless does protect from Fire Breath, Fire Wall and Immolation, but Resist Magic protects from Petrification, Confusion, Exorcism, basically, covers 3 more realms. I'd argue Resist Magic is way more powerful now. However, Bless, as is, is definitely worth the 35 mana so this implies Resist Magic should be more expensive. While I'd like to say sorcery specializes in magic resistance and thus they are better at those spells, it's not true either - Life has a whole bunch of resistance boosting effects, way more than sorcery. Based on this, the fair cost of Resist Magic is in the 40-50 range.
Furthermore, comparing Resist Magic to Guardian Wind, the former protects units from a lot of super dangerous effects that will likely be present in every battle (as they come from the wizard) while the latter protects from infrequent types of attacks that don't appear very often and are generally less lethal than "save or xxx" effects. This implies Resist Magic should be the more expensive spell and Guardian Wind should be the cheaper one.
We can, of course, say the resist magic effect is important enough for overall game balance that it should remain undercosted, but I'm not sure that's a good idea. Save of die effects are a large part of the AI's attrition capability in the early game, and Sorcery is defined as a "weak early" realm. So keeping a spell that's super effective at helping early expansion feels like a wrong choice.

[teelaurila]

In light of the recent change to confusion, a thought came up:
When a confused unit is the last one on it's (original) side, the option "controlled by enemy" would better not be on the list. Then the battle isn't lengthened unduly by waiting for the last enemy to think itself enemy so your units can attack.

[JustOneMoreTurn]

I agree about Guardian Wind. It is mainly useful only in the early parts of the game, when you are mana and spell power limited, so it would rarely be used at present cost. I suppose it may have some tactical uses, such as protecting a hero or high melee damage low armor unit, so that missiles will be directed at your swordsmen instead. Still, you will likely find very few opportunities to use it, so it's pretty much of a wasted spell slot. Would it work better as a combat spell similar to Blur, except against missiles? You'd still lose a few units, but some slow melee units would still last long enough to reach the archers. It would make swordsmen useful longer. Maybe balanced so that x swordsmen attacking x longbowmen has a 50% chance of success, leaving higher success to good application of spells, minerals, or racial bonuses.

I haven't played COM enough to tell: how often do you encounter enemies with boosted longbowmen, rangers, or halfling slingers later in the game?

[teelaurila]

I haven't seen boosted archers/slingers as relevant mid-to-late game opponents. It is a fairly powerful player strategy to use them, though, except for all the exceptions that are invulnerable. This includes guardian wind big time (and warp wood to a different degree).

[teelaurila]

It would seem Spell Lock does not protect against the unit ability "Exorcise" (as in angel)? The descriptions sure would have one assume. Haven't see about the weapon ability.

[Lobosolitario]

Following the Suppress Magic -> Power Link theme, perhaps Counter Magic could be changed to provide other benefits to the Sorcery wizard without blocking spells. Perhaps provide temporary combat casting skill and mana equal to the spell countered, so the Sorcery wizard can always respond to combat spells cast against them, or provide a chance at a free clone of any combat spell cast against them. A form of magical judo?