My Impression After a Few Games of Caster

[Mercutio]

1406 is hardly a trigger. The advanced units aren't very impactful in COM compared to new spells and buff stacking. If you're zerging nodes with 9-stacks of basic units, maybe you're just producing too many military units. Just disband them if you don't want them. Obsolescence is normal and realistic. Magic is way more important than the advanced military buildings. I usually don't even bother building those in 1406. By the time Armourers' Guild or Fantastic Stables normally finish (without gold rushing), I've already got or close to Rare spells, and so does the AI on Lunatic. I'd much rather finish Wizard's Towers and Amplifying Towers first for most of my cities.

Notice the theme of my post: the emotions I felt.  That's what art is, the conscious elicitation of emotions.  And game design is no exception.

Normal and realistic obsolescence is mundane and boring.  Those aren't the emotions you want to be eliciting.  MoM has an excellent diversity of choices.  You can win with zero spellbooks, if you choose, because troops aren't just filler.   MoM and Moo are both classics because you have the freedom to drive down one strategy or another.  You aren't forced play for Amplifying Towers every time. 

I'm playing the Expert and Master difficulties, btw.  Seemed like the thing to do without instant 11 book rares as an option.

@Seravey, don't get me wrong.  You've done an amazing job with a hex editor alone!  Just remember the feelings that you're crafting with the systems you create.

Thanks for listening.

[Seravy]

Caster of Magic definitely considers the feeling - the design goal is maximizing the feeling of dominating by magic, as that is what this game has that other 4X games don't. That's why magic is stronger and normal units, not so much.
Normal units are still impactful though due to availability - while your casting skill is around 200-400 in the late game, your production output is in the thousands. You can easily build 10 normal units for each summoned creature.

You seem to be playing above average difficulty which does make the pacing faster through AI resources advantage so 1406 might not be ideal for it. It might be worth considering to make the mechanic difficulty level scaled for CoM II, like allow the spell that unlocks the unit to show up 2-3 turns earlier for each additional level of difficulty.
I don't think the AI can realistically have any spells able to counter the stronger AG or FS units before 1404-1405 even on Lunatic though, even less the casting skill to use them in a relevant manner.

[Incanur]

Have you found the zero-maintenance options like ships useful at Expert & Master? I tried to crank out stacks of galleys to rule the seas in one game on Expert with Klackons. It sort of worked but didn't matter, because my forces still got outclassed on land (by heroes & Life buffs). I abandoned that game.

[massone]

You seem to be playing above average difficulty which does make the pacing faster through AI resources advantage so 1406 might not be ideal for it. It might be worth considering to make the mechanic difficulty level scaled for CoM II, like allow the spell that unlocks the unit to show up 2-3 turns earlier for each additional level of difficulty.
I don't think the AI can realistically have any spells able to counter the stronger AG or FS units before 1404-1405 even on Lunatic though, even less the casting skill to use them in a relevant manner.

I don't think it's necessary to change for from COMII right now. I noted before that it was happening extremely early on high difficulties, to the point where early races don't have an opportunity to use their advantage. After the adjustment last time, I think it's fine as it is. There's already a scaling effect because higher difficulties allow the AI to research it faster and finish their previous spell faster, along with casting it faster (usually same turn they finish researching it), which ends up causing all the AIs to cast it within 2-3 turns of the unlock date. I haven't played the lower difficulties, but someone else could compare my observations on Lunatic to their own games.

Notice the theme of my post: the emotions I felt.  That's what art is, the conscious elicitation of emotions.  And game design is no exception.

Normal and realistic obsolescence is mundane and boring.  Those aren't the emotions you want to be eliciting.  MoM has an excellent diversity of choices.  You can win with zero spellbooks, if you choose, because troops aren't just filler.   MoM and Moo are both classics because you have the freedom to drive down one strategy or another.  You aren't forced play for Amplifying Towers every time. 

Realism is a positive for some people. I don't think there's any way to remove obsolescence if technology/magic is intended to progress, unless there's automatic upgrades, which doesn't really work in a game like this with specific different units.

Have you found the zero-maintenance options like ships useful at Expert & Master? I tried to crank out stacks of galleys to rule the seas in one game on Expert with Klackons. It sort of worked but didn't matter, because my forces still got outclassed on land (by heroes & Life buffs). I abandoned that game.

No, that's exactly why I don't consider zero maintenance to be a significant factor, whether on ships or Orcs. If the units aren't going to generate more income for me, they're a waste of production. Unit production costs are like 50x the maintenance, so maintenance is practically negligible. E.g. Halberdiers are 60 production or 120 gold, costing only 2/turn. Galleys are 100 production or 200 gold. A stack of 9 galleys costs as much as an Amplifying Tower. What exactly is it going to do that's worth the equivalent of increasing 7 casting skill?