Drain Power opinion?

[Seravy]

I'm considering replacing this spell somehow with something else in my mod, although I don't know how and by what yet. I have changed a few others before, but I'm running out of easily doable new spell ideas.

I have three main reasons for wanting Drain Power out :

1. The AI can cast it but it has no effect then, it just wasted a turn and 50 mana. The player won't lose any mana from the spell. The presence of the spell is directly weakening the AI.
2. Spamming it on a wizard before attacking him is a very cheap way to win, preventing the wizard from using any spells due to empty mana reserves. You do need high skill for it though, but if you pick Archmage, this part is easy.
3. If the wizard was banished after you attacked the capital, and had no mana, he won't try casting the Spell of Return and gets eliminated immediately, even if he still has an entire continent worth of cities left.

What do you think about it? Do you like this spell? Hate it? Don't care?
I think it ruins the game for both sides, the AI can't use it, and the player using it means the AI can't use spells at all. Not fun.
At the same time it's awesome because it's so powerful.

[Nivm]

Sadly, I don't think I've ever cast this or had it cast against me before; the spell didn't look entertaining to me, and Death opponents never seem to last long enough or focus enough. Maybe I still have a bug that keeps them from being relevant?

[Tiltowait]

I've tried using it, but the problem is that the CP gets tons of mana every turn, apparently for free, and draining 50-150 power doesn't really make a difference. I think maybe the CP used drain power against me once, I don't really remember.

I think using it to defeat a wizard is just clever play. You have to be playing death which is weak anyway, and you have to cast the spell a bunch of times, and you have to get lucky and catch the computer when it's low on mana, which doesn't happen often. So I don't think it's an issue.

[Asfex]

I remodel this spell by "Half the stolen mana goes to the caster" in my mod. Even if "all stolen mana goes to the caster" the mana gained this way is less than by "artificier + runemaster" in per caster-skill weight.
This spell have a good use in the midgame: you can start battle with wizard without mana. It make combo with mana leak spell. However, i weaked mana leak spell in my mod - it drain mana no more than casting skill. In the later game the mana reserve of the opponent is so high, that your best use is cruel unminding, any you must forget for drain power. I like balance in my mod.

[Seravy]

Changed it to have the following effect :

Drain Power
Gain points to your skill pool equal to the mana drained.
Now drains 120+5% of the target's total mana.
Casting cost is 100.

ahhh still 4 whole realms of spells to test and balance, then I have to update all the descriptions and only after that, can I release the mod. This is taking forever, but it's worth it. I expect to play years with this game again, and this time, it'll be even more fun.