Well since the sovereigns will use their own magic to "revitalize" their lands, it's seems only natural that a greater degree of control can be expected in ones own territory. And by extension a penalty for usage in enemy terrain would be logical. Since the game will contain multiplayer options, i expect it to be (or become) balanced, its the only sensible thing.

Frankly i'm more curious about the non-military use (and balance) of these spells. I mean, could it be possible to use the volcano spell to create your own version of Hawaii? Or use a river creation spell to increase trade in an otherwise land-locked city? Use a drought/raise land spell to drain/raise a lake? (as a dutchman, i hope the last one is in)

ps, what terrain deformation spells have been confirmed, i've only seen the volcano one.

Well I think that makes sense LOGICALLY Denryu, i'm not sure from a gameplay/balance persepective, as you could just swoop in on their capital, with their HUGE AWESOME STACK OF KILLERS..and BAM, all gone with one spell.

I agree, with enough magic power one should be able to do anything.  ANYTHING!!! ...*cough*

Fun once, too easy though.  Anyway, all shall be fixed in the beta.  Well, a lot anyway..

It has nothing to do with logic, but gameplay, especially since I don't see raising the volcanos, etc, being the pinnacle of magery, though I could be wrong.

Well if there's a whole tree for defensive magic I imagine there'll be area enchatments to protect from all sorts of things, I'd be cool with that as long as it wasn't too deep in (And of course as long as they could be broken)

I hope that the defensive magic is very deep! By that I don't mean there should be 3,281 different defensive spells to chose from, but I want the mechanic itself to be deep. I want there to be different ways of countering enemy offensive magic - blanket barriers that make it harder for enemies to cast spells over your magical domain, possibly broken down into specialized barriers intended to block certain types of spells.

And I want there to be reactionary defensive magic, like MHJeffries mentioned. I really think that the more devastating spells should take multiple turns to cast, and in that time (maybe towards the end, maybe at the start, maybe it'd depend on certain factors - maybe an awareness trait or something) you would get a warning like "Blue Player is attempting to summon a meteor shower over your lands! Would you like to set your will against his?" If you choose yes (and there would probably be parameters to set, as well) then your channeler and your opponent's engage in a battle of wills. The result of this mental struggle would depend on things like magical power, mana invested, etc. Possible results would range from completely blocking the spell to completely failing to block it, and anywhere in between.

This is an aspect of magic, or wizardry, that is completely missing in every single magic-related game I've ever played. And in my opinion it's one of the coolest. I love the mental struggles in LoTR. For example Sauron constantly, incessantly trying to see into Galadriel's thoughts (but failing completely - and in fact in doing so he allows Galadriel to see his thoughts). Actually, it'd be really cool if a successful reactionary defense has a chance to reveal something about the opponent

Another example where I think this kind of magic is done well is in the Sword of Truth series (despite its other failings). I liked how in a battle involving wizards of relatively equal ability on both sides, it wouldn't be apparent to regular soldiers that there was magic being used all around them because it would largely be countered by the other side before the effects could come to fruition. I don't want it to that extent in Elemental (although as one play-style, sure), because I want to actually see magic

I'd also like a variation on this in tactical combat, although the mechanics would obviously have to be somewhat different depending how combat actually ends up working.

In Master of Magic you can cast an overland spell called Detect Magic that lets you know what your opponents are casting and you can decide if you want to use a disjunction spell to interrupt it, a fairly simple and easy system.

As for defence, I hope there's a number of terrain altering spells to choose from, for example you can raise rocks out of the earth to create a natural barrier or wall at certain chokepoints to make sure your enemy has to pass through this area or block it off entirely. A lot of spells I'm sure are devoted to infrastructure, creating fertile lands, rivers and forests for use by your cities.

As for defense against vulcanoes I think the best way would be to simply ward an area against a certain magic school. Say you want this city and its surrounding lands protected from fire spells you cast a fire ward, the cost of the spell is proportional to the area you want to protect and when your enemy tries to raise a vulcano there it fails and your ward needs to be renewed. If your opponent is a better mage then you he might be able to raise another vulcano before you renew the ward but then you should have invested more in spell skill

Haha, that would be fun. I'd love it if specializing in defensive magic is viable. And by defensive magic I don't mean raising walls and stuff, I mean magic to be used as defense against other magic. This would include counter-/anti-magic, as well as things like your trap idea.

At the same time, though, it would also have to be accessible enough so that those who don't specialize in it can still make use of it. IMO, there *has* to be a way to prevent other people from doing things like casting volcanoes on your cities, provided you have the magical resources and power necessary. Specializing in defensive magic would give you more options and would make such magic more effective, but the basics would really have to be available to all.

I'd suspect that the volcano in the final version isn't just a "destroy everything on Tile X" spell anyway.  Just because I can imagine far worse fire events than volcanoes, and we wouldn't want to stop the fire spell tree there.  

The final end game spells may not really have a counter though.   By that point in the game its likely thet its 'destroy them before they destroy you" with no real countering mechanic (other than direct spell counters like the spell "counter magic" or something).   I mean, using MoM as an example.  What is the counter for the Spell of Mastery?   There isn't one... when that spell starts going of you now have a timer to march your army to their fortress and kill them.  (the counter is that they can't cast overland spells without stopping their work on the spell of mastery)  

Even lesser spells like "the Great Wasting" and "Armagedon" are spells that ultimately mean that the game is going to end soon and the caster is a likely canidate for victor, and there isn't much you can do about it other than find a way to end it faster in your favor.

Volcano is certainly not an early game spell.  

I much prefer the direction of counter magic/ wards and so forth than simply raising the cost of s spell because it crosses a border - even if that border is created by essence infused land. I just think most aggressive spells like volcano, although you might cast it on your own land for defensive reasons, certainly there are such spells that are intended to be cast mostly on enemy lands. So to me it doesn't make sense to increase the cost.

Logic vs gameplay - well I don't really agree with the gameplay argument as either direction they go it is always going to be a glass half empty half full dichotomy in regards to gaemplay. If they raise the price for casting on enemy lands yes you get the benefit of some protection but you also pay the cost when YOU do it. I fanything I feel that it is to much of a gift to turtlers - and I am a "snapping turtle" as GW Swicord coined the term. I just think it is a much better gameplay option to provide the ability to research spells that enhance turtling rather than a broad stroke of making the game favor the strategy.

IIRC, the magic system will be added around november, and beta 2 will start in january. (empasis on the IIRC)

I'm feeling it more as an 'it will be done when it's done' kinda thing. November's not a bad shot though. Hopefully pre-Black Friday so I can get a chance to fiddle before work consumes my life, my being, and my soul.

I like the idea of a full and detailed countermagic system, with a battle of wills and magics sometimes resulting in a null result. I wouldn't want a simple 'spend X essence to counter this spell' setup, however. Although sometimes effective, it's not all that much fun. I much prefer the idea of 'weaving' spells, perhaps a mix of elements to the creation of each spell, a mix which isn't static for the spell, but unique to the caster. To counter a volcano spell, against caster A you might need to dampen the winds of essence flowing around them, but for caster B it might actually increase the potency.

It would require knowledge of your opponent and their tendencies to properly counteract their abilities in such a case. It'd be far more dangerous to try and counter an unknown in this case, giving increased credibility to something I saw elsewhere - questions about spies/scouts, and therefore intelligence.