Am I missing something? My character sure is...

not really a bug.  the game just needs a dramatic rework in many areas, including combat.

... forget it, you can't play it as rpg ...

armies getting terrible powerful ...

playing some time in a sandbox game and now I am level 8 and bought from my cities also level 8 (broadsword, leather armor) ... he is cannonfodder for the 12 men squads ... and you couldn't hide on the map !

so best spells are that to support your troops or freezes that 12men squad so your troops could cut them down ...

I have now 8 elite 4men squads with 4 level 8 characters, all magic users, and have big problems with the enemies, which already have 12 men squads ... but with fear and stupid ai ... they always want to cut down the weakest hero first, doesn't matter where he is on the field ... so building a street to him, flanked with my troops and fear that is it !

The problem is that game needs a lot of tweaking and balancing ...

sorry to say, but how you want to play it, will not be possible !

It's not a bug? So I am supposed to miss 90% of the time and don't stand a chance against a weak enemy?

they are currently working to rework combat.  (maybe fixed by tuesday?[cross your fingers])

like i said: not so much a bug as it is a flaw...if that makes sense. 

Yeah, a flaw makes some sense. "It's not a bug, it's a feature." 

I tried to restart and create a sovereign all over again, and this time I got a few funny results. If I had only the sovereign, I can't enter combat mode at all. All the fighting takes place automatically on the map. To compensate, my sovereign hit the enemy so hard he flew backwards and landed in the next square. Not bad for a spellcaster. When I have more characters, I can enter combat mode as usual, and this time I made it up to level 3 without missing much.

I did find another weird flaw, though. I found a woman calledLita, and she agreed to join my empire and teach me everythng she knew about the arcane and spells for a price. Except when she joined, she can't can any spells at all?

"If you pay me, I will join you. And as a bonus, I would teach you everything I know if I could."
"What do you mean? Are you bound by an oath or somehting?"
"No, I... um... don't actually know anything... But if I did, I would tell you!"

She has arcane research.  You will learn spells faster.

As far as missing, there needs to be a little more of a revamp on how effective magic is.  I think Boogie mentioned in the comprehensive list.  They also mentioned some general balancing.  Right now one of the best things to do is get large groups of archers.

there is a setting to change the threshold for auto-calc battles.  i keep mine at 0 so that it always gives the choice.

Thanks, I don't have a problem with auto-battles when it's just one on one. I do need to control bigger battles, though.

As for Lita, I just think it's weird a person who studies the arcane can't cast spells. It's like a gunsmith who can't shoot a gun.

It is normal that no NPC is able to cast spells at the start: the lore of the game explain that the Titans have drained all magic from the world into the Shards, and channelers are humans with a natural talent from using the magic from the shard themselves. Even if you don't controle any shard directly, your channeler is still able to get some magic from distant shards, it's just that if you can get a direct link to one it will be more powerful.

That's why your sovereign is both one of the only being still able to cast magic in the world, while not knowing many spells at the start of the game.

Lita is the one who prospects for the ores and minerals, the Sovereign is the one who smelts the metal to craft a gun, and creates the gunpowder to power the projectiles.

I see what you both mean, but you are both missing the point. The sovereign is the only one who can cast magic at first, but that's because they needed to balance the gameplay. The story was made for the game, not the other way around. Or in plain english, they shouldn't let the NPC's be able to study magic if they can't allow them to use magic.

Rath, your example made even less sense. No offense. I didn't mean Lita or the sovereign was a gunsmith. I meant it more literally. If you are a car mechanic, wouldn't you be able to drive a car? If you were a baker, wouldn't you be able to find your way around a cook book? And if you studied magic, wouldn't you be able to use it? (if magic was real, of course.)

But this is quite off-topic, and I wasn't too serious in the first place. It was pretty silly that she tried to teach me something she doesn't know, but it's not a big deal.

Lita knows the processes of magic--or, at least is able to research them--but she doesn't have the innate power to actually cast spells.  Only the sovereign does.  It's like a person who can't speak.  He/she might be able to write excellent speeches, or help someone else to do so, but wouldn't be able to deliver them

However, if the sovereign casts the spell "Imbue Hero," he can grant the hero casting ability--at the cost of losing some of his own power.  So, it would be possible for Lita--or any other hero--to begin casting spells.

One way to look at Lita is that she's one of those Ivory Tower University types, who can talk a good talk about how to theoretically do something, but if put out in the real world would be helpless to actually get it done

Seriously, your point is valid.  It's an example where gameplay trumps 'logic'.

I wish the type of strategy you tried was viable. 

I've been trying a very strong sov + imbued family (wife and 4 kids) + many champs (and a good number imbued) + summoning, with few cities and few normal troops strategy.

Those summoned earth things with their AoE rock spells that are castable up to 3 times before their mana runs out sure do help a lot, plus the fire summoning things have some fire spells.

A party comprised of the sov, wife, and 4 kids (all casters with decent AoE spells and lots of essence), plus a half-dozen of those earth summoning things, does pretty well, especially when I'm the attacker so get to act first.  Problem is, I'm not sure how far into the game this'll be true.  I've only made it to late early game, or early-middle game so far in 1.06 and 1.07.  Facing those super-duper 12 person units with maxxed out gear may be more than my stack can handle.  I've already run into an enemy sov and he was darn near impossible to hit with my spells, and he wasn't in maxxed out gear.

Actually, from what I've seen and read, it IS the other way around. Brad has been dreaming up the lore for a long time and figured a game would suit the world well.

Using domination and confusion will turn a small weak looking army into one that can kill alot of creatures.

This is the best and most concise way to put it. You, the OP, and this is who I mean as 'you' despite quoting another, would be surprised how many times you can miss, even when the enemy unit is peon-esque with a 0 defence rating. That said, enemies do seem to get remarkably strong for their level even when there is just one.

This game seems to function on several interesting premises and I can't say that I disagree with them:
-your sovereign is only as strong as the kingdom he founds;
-your sovereign must found a kingdom, after all that is who you are playing -the sovereign and not some secondary-character NPC;
-you are only as strong as what you research;
-unlikely means neigh-impossible at times and if you are not in a strong, balanced position there is no sensible reason why you should waste turns beating your face against a wall to unlock an unlikely upgrade, viz. don't waste valuable time/resources you don't have;
-you are not God, but you can become a demi-god of sorts (strong as all hell) much later in the game with proper planning, equipment and/or spells;
-demi-gods are not God and will lose against a proper army;
-your kingdom is your safety net, properly tend to it because when you 'die' that's where you go until every last city is gone.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, especially in a sandbox (God, I hate that word, it's so overused!), but you seem to be playing the game incorrectly. What I mean by this is that you don't seem to be following the few basic premises that this game functions under or at least don't fully understand them. Granted, there is a good bit to be done in terms of making this game a true finished product but that doesn't seem to be the issue here. You seem to want something much more fast-paced and combat intensive, so I highly recommend Dawn of War II. I play it infrequently but it is damn good fun and may be a better fit for you.

Even worse. That means they knew fully well that Lita can't cast magic when they let her be a magic user.

@Grump: No offense, but what are you talking about? I'm not God, so it makes sense that my sovereign can't hit anything when he gains a level?

Lita can become a good magic user if you imbue her with essense, as she has already good INT from the start. But I agree with NorseDude as I, myself feel that it's funny for someone learn magic while he / she can't really cast magic. Not only that, their (lore master) history mentioned that they could do some magic trick from the beginning.

As long as I know, the combat mechanic is work like this : The Attacker Att against the defender's Def. It give some random calculation, but not too random. If you ATT is weaker than the enemy Def, you will do a lot of MISS attack to the enemy. Also Strength has great deal of att modifier too. So higher STR will help with combat.