Hello, everyone.

Looking over (some of) the many posts about the magic system in Elemental, it seems that a lot of people are feeling that something's missing. Here's my attempt to define what's missing, and start an idea for how to fix it.  I'm interested in trying to mod this, but I have no modding or xml/python experience at all, ever, so for starters I'd like to hear feedback on this idea while I try to learn. I think that what's missing is grand, sweeping magic that shakes the foundations of the world, while not being overpowering to such a degree as to trivialize the other parts of the game. Here's what I think we need:

1.) A system that gives additional tactical and strategic options to the player.
2.) ... that will expand on the existing spell system *without overwriting it.*
3.) ... that will provide options to the current method of powering up magic users.
4.) ... that will afford players a viable strategy to win without requiring a new win scenario

Here's the idea.  Let's put a new resource into the game, and for the moment call it "Magicite," though for the love of all that's holy, let's give it a better name before we're done. First, this needs to be a regulated resource, so rather than leave it to the whimsy of RNG, this will not be available on the world map. Instead, we'll build High Magic Towers in our cities to enable them.  These towers will generate Magicite, but will have an upkeep that's steep enough to be tangible (food and gildars, surely, maybe more.) The towers will be unlocked by a mix of Magic tree research and spell research, though to make these available earlier on I submit the requirement should be waived for the capital the sov founds, and only for that city. One per city, with a max per faction (five? let's say five, for argument's sake.) No Magicite production multipliers (multipliers get out of hand quickly.) And we need to have a low cap for this resource, as I'll explain in a moment; I'd suggest 99 for the numbers I'll be bandying about.  Those are the basics. Here's how I think this would address the issues I perceive as needed.

1) We need more overland spells, like Master of Magic had. Spells that make areas faster to travel through, spells that revive or destroy land, spells that heal and harm. I don't know the limitations of the spell system right now but will learn more as I read the xml - but auras, areas of effect, and ranges based on city size or caster power should be possible. The ability to make the spells is already in the engine, it's just a matter of tying them to this Magicite.

2) There are several good threads about modifying the existing magic system; I'm not focusing on that, here. I'm trying to take some tasks off the shoulders of the individual casters, and bring a few new possibilities to the game. Let's keep summons where they are, except a few really tremendous ones. Let's get special item creation options here, and a few damage and healing spells with broader effects than currently are implemented.

3) We need passive experience gain. Need it. Levels are individually less powerful for champions/sov than they were in MoM, and the passive exp gain there wasn't game breaking (mostly.) Lore says that our sovereign will grow in power as the world in explored and new magics uncovered - great! But if we were to tie a passive exp gain to these High Magic Towers, we've given a reason to embrace a different playstyle, where casters stay home and study, defend their AoIs, and still grow in power. I'd suggest a system where the sov gets an exp every turn, and another for every spell researched, and another for every magic tech researched (but that's because I think sovs should be powerful - may need balancing), but heroes get a less impressive version. Give them 1 exp a day that they're stationed at a tower, with a cap at 1 exp below level 5 - make them go fight to grow in power, then come back to study more (exp gain until 1 exp below the next level.)  Again, I don't know the engine, but there should be a way to give a caster an exp buff if they're in a city with one of these buildings, since there's a way to give produced units an exp buff with the right structures.

4) I may not be clear here. There's currently a spell research win, a conquest win, a diplomacy win, and a quest research win - this system should reinforce all four. If each tower gives a research point or two, or a % increase to the research in the city where it's built, it's reinforced one. Having spells that damage, summon, heal, or assist strategic placement/movement reinforces another. A spell that improves relations with other factions reinforces a third, and...well, honestly, I'm drawing a blank on the quest one. WIP.

That's a lot of talk with no action. Here's some suggested action. I'm assuming each tower produces 3 magicite a turn, storage is capped at 99, and the only limit to spells per turn is magicite reserve.

Aura of Grace - 50 cast / 3 upkeep  All friendly stacks in a six square radius from the tower heal 20% at the beginning of each turn they are in the spell radius.
Summon High Dragon - 150 cast / 2 upkeep  Summons a very powerful Dragon to aid the Channeler's cause. If defeated or the spell is cancelled, the dragon goes home.
Tesla's Tantrum - 30 cast  The target army is struck with six lightning bolts cast at the sovereign's potential. A one turn stunning debuff may reduce tactical and/or strategic movement.
Cornucopia - 30 cast / 2 upkeep  +3 food in the target city (avoid the "free food" situation offered by Nature's Bounty)
Silver-Tongued Devil - 100 cast  Doubles the effect of all positive diplomatic effects this turn
Create Artifact - varies or 180 cast  I'd love to see a "make a magical item" GUI pop up here like in MoM, but I have no idea if that's possible in the engine. If not it would have to let the caster choose from a list of fairly powerful artifacts.
Tower Teleport - 20 cast + 4/unit (where squads, etc, still count as one unit)  Teleports a unit or stack to another High Magic Tower
Seize Resource - 30 cast   Takes possession, next turn, of a resource within the AoI of the player. (gives an option especially earlier on, when gold is scarce, or when getting control soon is valuable)
Seize Shard - 60 cast  Takes possession, next turn, of a shard within the AoI of the player. As above, but for shards.

Some of these have costs higher than the maximum storage for the magicite - the towers would cast spells via a simple (I hope?) layer of the city build UI. Big spells should be just over the cap so as to effectively paralyze the High Magic for a few turns, placing a high opportunity cost on these spells. These towers would have enchantment slots like a sov or champion, too, so even if there were many spells you would have a strict limit on what one tower could do. If it were possible to tie the stationed caster to the tower, that would be even better.

This may be stupid - I've been awake a long time today. This may already be in the forums - sincere apologies if so, there are just too many entries to read each in detail. And this may be a case where reach exceeds grasp. But I think these changes would make magic a more valuable and interesting part of the game. Please feel free to critique if you feel this is worth your time.  Thank you.