Technically not bugs...

[Catwalk]

If you have 3 MP, you can move 1 square in Swamp. If you have 2 + Pathfinding, you can move 6 squares. So it's up to 6x faster.

If you have 2 MP and pathfinding you can move 4 squares :neenernee

[kyrub]

It is astonishing, but Conjurer problem is very hard to solve within the current rules. The function is computed for 1 unit only and is tied to x other functions, displaying unit stats, dismissing units when low on mana etc. I could solve it but seeing the amount of work, I don't give a damn about it.

I suggest changing the game mechanics here in the simplest way:
Conjurer => unit mana upkeep / 4 rounded up (mathematically)

example:
Hell hounds, upkeep = 1, conjurer gives 1/4 = 0.25 = 0 discount
War bears, upkeep = 2, conjurer gives 2/4 = 0.5 = 1 discount
Gargoyles, upkeep = 5, conjurer gives 5/4 = 1.25 = 1 discount

This avoids units free of upkeep and it gives you very similar result to total sum / 4. It ensures Conjurer is not useless at the beginning of the game (when you need it the most).

[I like Serena]

I found a new "bug" in Vanilla.
I suspect it's also present in Insecticide.

I gave my High Elf Magicians the ability Caster 20 MP and removed the Fire Ball Spell.
When I entered combat I could cast a spell, but when the spell book should pop up, the game crashed.

This is a nasty bug. Can you do something about it?

[b0rsuk]

I Like Serena:

I bet it's because High Elf Magicians are normal units. Spellcasting ability seems linked to creature's sphere of magic. You can probably work around it (with all the consequences) by making them Nature, Sorcery, Chaos, Life or Death creatures.
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I've just tried giving 20 mana to Magic Spirit, which is arcane. The game doesn't crash, but you get a spellbook with Nature (wizard's magic has no effect) spells and if you click on a spell nothing happens. (I tried 20 MP and 20 + 40 MP). Too bad.

kyrub, could you look at the code and say if it's possible to make Arcane spellcasters do one of the two:
a) Arcane creatures could cast Arcane spells.
b) Arcane creatures can cast spells known to its master wizard

Both wouldn't affect the base game even if it was incorporated into Insecticide, but would have potential for modding. I think especially "a" is interesting, I could make Guardian Spirits arcane and they could cast Dispel and Recall Hero. It would be consistent with the rest, too. Ideally, "a" would be for Arcane creatures while "b" for all normal units. I know this belongs to the Wishful Thinking thread :=/

I wish 20 MP + 40 MP gave 60 MP, but no such luck...

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When I'm in bad mood I think about making Paladins Life creatures, so that they're immune to many buffs, as they should be with their Magic Immunity. But the worst side effect would be stopping the experience gain. Life is especially fitting not just thematically, but they would still heal yet be unaffected by node auras.

[I like Serena]

I Like Serena:

I bet it's because High Elf Magicians are normal units. Spellcasting ability seems linked to creature's sphere of magic. You can probably work around it (with all the consequences) by making them Nature, Sorcery, Chaos, Life or Death creatures.

I've just traced it in the code.
It turns out that units with caster 20 MP or 40 MP can cast all spells but only spells of their own color. For that they have to have a race that corresponds to a color, otherwise the game will access memory where that is not allowed resulting in a crash.

So if I want High Elf Enchanters, I'll have to make them .e.g. Sorcery Enchanters, which is possible. This works! The result is that they can cast all but only sorcery spells (as far as mana allows).

The alternative would be to give them mana somehow, without the caster 20 MP or 40 MP attribute, in which case they are treated like a hero and they can cast your spells. I tested this and it works! However, I don't know yet how to give them mana, since that is normally linked to the hero-attribute casting-skill.

As far as arcane magic is concerned. An arcane unit would be able to cast all arcane spells. The only problem is that the game always cycles through 40 possible spells of the color, and arcane doesn't have 40. This results in spells that do not exist and will crash the game if chosen. However, I checked that if you select one of the arcane spells, that spell works just fine.

[b0rsuk]

ILS, are you able to give units spell charges of arbitrary type ? Could you, for example , give Sprites or Night Stalker the Black Sleep spell ? Dispel Magic for Guardian Spirit ?

[I like Serena]

ILS, are you able to give units spell charges of arbitrary type ? Could you, for example , give Sprites or Night Stalker the Black Sleep spell ? Dispel Magic for Guardian Spirit ?

Without changing any code, Sprites and Night Stalker can have Black Sleep.
I requires only that the race of their unit type is changed into Death and that they have Caster 20 MP or 40 MP.

Sprites will still be a green spell, but in combat it will then be a death unit, although their ranged attack will still be green. They will be named "Death Sprites", but you can change that by disabling the "Standard" attribute in their unit type so they will be named just "Sprites". They will become susceptible to e.g. Darkness and True Light. Also they won't only be able to cast Black Sleep, but they will be able to cast all black spells as far as they have mana.

As I said before, Dispel Magic for Guardian Spirit is trickier, since changing its race to Arcane will give it crashable spells.

What I can do quite easily is change the number of spells the game cycles through (say 10 instead of 40). Better yet, I'll make it accessible in the Tweaker. However, the consequence would be that Arch Angel loses Invulnerability (that will take care of the dispel-bug too!).

With other code changes anything is possible, but more difficult and more prone to bugs. But if you have other simple ideas.....

[robinh3123]

[Claim] summoning circle back to fortress should have no cost, with just an user interface button click.

[Reason] When a friendly city with summoning circle is destroyed, the summoning circle automatically go back to the fortress. No one pays anything (gold/mana) for this return. This implies:
1. Destroy of a summoning circle costs nothing (The attacker does not pay anything to destroy it)
2. Recreate a summoning circle at the fortress costs nothing (The defender does not pay anything to re-create it).

Thus, a wizard should be able to destroy his own summoning circle in his city, and re-create the summoning circle in his fortress, without any cost.
Strictly speaking, the only cost I see, is possibly 1 turn delay.

** Maybe we should create a button to do it....
But I think this is too minor...

[WhiteMage]

[Claim] summoning circle back to fortress should have no cost, with just an user interface button click.

[Reason] When a friendly city with summoning circle is destroyed, the summoning circle automatically go back to the fortress. No one pays anything (gold/mana) for this return. This implies:
1. Destroy of a summoning circle costs nothing (The attacker does not pay anything to destroy it)
2. Recreate a summoning circle at the fortress costs nothing (The defender does not pay anything to re-create it).

Thus, a wizard should be able to destroy his own summoning circle in his city, and re-create the summoning circle in his fortress, without any cost.
Strictly speaking, the only cost I see, is possibly 1 turn delay.

** Maybe we should create a button to do it....
But I think this is too minor...

I agree.

[b0rsuk]

And I think they've made it this way for other reasons. I find your reasoning too logical for a fantasy game. You seem to only consider what makes sense, not what would be fair or interesting from game design point of view. There are two ways to make this consistent:

a) moving the Circle back costs no mana and can be done at will

In this case, the Summoning Circle spell loses importance - this is the most important implication. Runemaster loses importance. Scouting loses importance, planning loses importance. You can more easily defend against sneak attacks or attacks you didn't anticipate. Move Fortress spell would gain, because for 200 mana you could move both Summoning Circle and fortress.

b)The circle isn't automatically moved or it costs mana

This would also be consistent, and would also make sense. However, it would be more punishing when you lose a city or outpost.
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In summary, I think they've done it this way to make it a bit easier to recover from disasters, but at the same time keep importance of Summoning Circle spell and planning.