Posted March 07, 2020
high rated
So you've picked up Caster of Magic and aren't really sure what you're looking at? This guide's for you! This guide does not intend to be a comprehensive list of changes made by CoM (for that you should see seravy's excellent readme). Instead, it is written for people who are already very familiar with MoM to help orient them to some of the changes. So it's kind of a Reader's Digest version of the readme, to help veteran players decide whether CoM is something they want and if so what to look for on their first playthrough.
First things first, play on Normal for your first time. Maybe try Fair if you're used to playing MoM on Impossible. The game is a fair bit more difficult and you're getting hit with a whole bunch of new stuff. Even if you've been playing for decades, you'll still likely lose your first game.
Wizard Customization
Some pretty dramatic changes, here. First, you'll notice that you now have 12 picks. The rest of the changes fall into two categories:
1. Books.
Life and Death are no longer mutually exclusive.
10 books per school is now the maximum at the start. 10 books allows you to pick 2 Uncommons to be "guaranteed," meaning you will be able to research them from the start of the game.
You generally get less starting spells (at most 5 free Common spells with 10 books).
2. Retorts. This is the big one.
All spellbook requirements have been waived.
Removed retorts: Mana Focusing
Consolidated retorts: Chaos/Nature/Sorcery Mastery, Divine/Infernal Power. The former three were combined into Specialist, which adds the Mastery bonuses to whichever school you have the most picks in at the start (including Life or Death). The latter two were melded into Cult Leader, which now only costs 1 pick (and there was much rejoicing) and no longer requires certain books.
Unmodified retorts:
Conjurer, Charismatic, Warlord. Note that they aren't the same, though. Changes to the way maintenance costs are calculated gives a very tiny nerf to Conjurer. Similarly, changes in the gains from experience levels makes Warlord a little weaker (still incredibly powerful though). Meanwhile Charismatic has received a huge indirect buff because CoM has an actual functioning diplomacy system.
Modified retorts:
Alchemist - Barbarians no longer benefit from auto magic weapons, otherwise the same.
Channeler - In addition to all its old effects, now increases the chance that combat spells will pop up for research
Archmage - Now boosts starting skill by 50%, instead of flat +10. Otherwise unchanged.
Artificer - Now only starts with Enchant Item, but ensures Create Artifact will be the first Rare spell available for research. Also in addition to its old effect of 50% cheaper item creation, also makes all Arcane spells 25% cheaper. Note that Enchant Item as a spell has been reworked to be way more useful.
Sage Master - Now confers a starting 15 RP bonus on top of original benefit.
Myrran - Big changes here. Now only costs 1 pick and no longer confers bonus power from Fortress. Picking it also "flips" enemy wizards, causing the majority to start on Myrror and only one or two to start on Arcanus.
I'm just going to put an aside in here - I love this change so much. The Myrran races are so cool but 3 picks was just way too punishing for what you got.
Famous - Now only costs 1 pick, quadruples mercenary chance, and increases odds that heroes will join at a higher level.
Runemaster - In addition to double effective dispelling, also doubles research of Arcane spells, makes all your spells 150% tougher to dispel, and increases the chance that global enchantments will pop up for research. Now costs 2 picks.
Node Mastery - renamed to Astrologer for reasons that are unclear. Instead of doubling node power production, it instead causes nodes to produce an extra 2 power for every 6 turns. This could be better or worse depending on your strategy, but it still lets you cast spells in nodes no problem.
New retorts (I've just copypasted the readme for most of these, since there's no comparison to MoM)
Aforementioned Specialist and Cult Leader
Guardian: The player's city garrisons receive a +1 Resistance, +1 To Hit and +1 To Defend bonus during combat. Cities of the same race as the one the wizard started the game with have a +6 maximal population. Costs 2 picks.
Tactician: All of your units gain +1 defense during combat. Heroes gain 2 defense, 2 resistance, and attack power instead. Mutually exclusive with Warlord. Costs 1 pick
Omniscient: Gives your cities bonuses based on your spellbooks: Gold from Life books, Research from Sorcery, Population from Nature, Power from Chaos, and Production from Death. First book in a realm gives a large bonus, each additional book gives a small bonus.
Another aside here - I love this retort so much. It's very cool both conceptually and mechanically. Because the first book provides the biggest bonus, it works well with both rainbow strategies and single-school builds. Also I just have to say - while not the strongest build I've done, or even the strongest use of this retort, 10 Chaos+Omnicient+Myrran+Dark Elves is the most fun I've ever had in a strategy game.
Spellweaver: All of your overland spells cost 33% less except summoning and item creation. Mutually exclusive with Archmage, 2 picks.
So, as you can see, a fair bit to take in here. With more total picks, broadly cheaper retorts, and no spellbook restrictions, there are just a massive amount of combinations. This alone completely revitalized the game for me. I do kinda miss 11 book strategies though, even if they were mostly good for a laugh/quick win.
Overall Gameplay Changes
Faster units - 2 is now the default movement speed, with cavalry averaging around 4 and Doom Bats having 6. Only a few units (Settlers and Zombies, mostly) have 1 movement. To compensate for this, roads have been altered - normal roads provide no movement bonus and instead just negate terrain penalties, enchanted roads function as normal roads, taking 0.5 per square to move through.
Honestly this is IMHO one of the best changes the mod has made and is a reason to get it even if you don't like 90% of the other things it does. One of the biggest problems with MoM was pacing and this mostly resolves that.
Cheaper spells - Casting costs have been reduced more or less across the board. Again, such a massive, massive change for the better. A lot of spells in MoM were way too expensive for what you got, particularly at the Uncommon and Rare tiers. I summon Gargoyles now, guys. Gargoyles. And I don't regret it. Beyond this, many enchantment spells also have significantly lower upkeep - most Common unit enchants have no upkeep at all!
Lower resistance almost across the board for Arcanus races. Definitely something you want to be aware of going into your first game. Curses are more likely to stick and Poison is a fair bit deadlier.
Independent casting - Units with both spellcasting and a magic ranged attack (e.g. Djinn, Efreet, most heroes) no longer use their SP as ranged ammo, the two are independent.
Free Summoning Circle: That's right, the Summoning Circle spell is now free. As in 0 mana. As in you can always cast it instantly as soon as you've researched it. This is a really, really helpful change (Word of Recall and Recall Hero are no longer in the game, if you were wondering).
Unit templates - Most templates have been tweaked or modified in some way, but there are three changes that really stand out. First, Spearmen now have only 6 figures (Halflings and Trolls excepted). This weakens Spearmen significantly and makes them most useful for suppressing unrest or an emergency guard - if you want a garrison you're better off with Swordsmen or Bowmen. Which brings us to the second, Bowmen. Their damage has been improved significantly - they're definitely worth building now. Third, Magicians. The Magician template has been added to the Trolls and Halflings, and Magicians now actually cast spells like heroes do. They have 20 SP and will always be able to cast Fireball, but will also have access to everything the wizard has researched (but of course can only cast anything with a base cost of 20 or less).
Casting from beyond the grave - Banished wizards can still cast combat spells, albeit at always 3x cost (Channeller reduces this to always 2x cost). Only combat spells, no overland, but still. This can cost you on your first game if you're not prepared for it.
Rebalanced heroes - A whole bunch of new abilities have been added for heroes, and individual heroes have been rebalanced. Check the readme if you want all the changes, but I'm just throwing out now - be prepared to reevaluate everyone. Most of the strongest heroes are still incredibly powerful, but many of the weak heroes are now quite handy.
AI: Oh baby is the AI better. They fight smarter, they cast smarter, they build smarter. Like I said at the start, be prepared to play a few difficulty settings lower than you're used to.
First things first, play on Normal for your first time. Maybe try Fair if you're used to playing MoM on Impossible. The game is a fair bit more difficult and you're getting hit with a whole bunch of new stuff. Even if you've been playing for decades, you'll still likely lose your first game.
Wizard Customization
Some pretty dramatic changes, here. First, you'll notice that you now have 12 picks. The rest of the changes fall into two categories:
1. Books.
Life and Death are no longer mutually exclusive.
10 books per school is now the maximum at the start. 10 books allows you to pick 2 Uncommons to be "guaranteed," meaning you will be able to research them from the start of the game.
You generally get less starting spells (at most 5 free Common spells with 10 books).
2. Retorts. This is the big one.
All spellbook requirements have been waived.
Removed retorts: Mana Focusing
Consolidated retorts: Chaos/Nature/Sorcery Mastery, Divine/Infernal Power. The former three were combined into Specialist, which adds the Mastery bonuses to whichever school you have the most picks in at the start (including Life or Death). The latter two were melded into Cult Leader, which now only costs 1 pick (and there was much rejoicing) and no longer requires certain books.
Unmodified retorts:
Conjurer, Charismatic, Warlord. Note that they aren't the same, though. Changes to the way maintenance costs are calculated gives a very tiny nerf to Conjurer. Similarly, changes in the gains from experience levels makes Warlord a little weaker (still incredibly powerful though). Meanwhile Charismatic has received a huge indirect buff because CoM has an actual functioning diplomacy system.
Modified retorts:
Alchemist - Barbarians no longer benefit from auto magic weapons, otherwise the same.
Channeler - In addition to all its old effects, now increases the chance that combat spells will pop up for research
Archmage - Now boosts starting skill by 50%, instead of flat +10. Otherwise unchanged.
Artificer - Now only starts with Enchant Item, but ensures Create Artifact will be the first Rare spell available for research. Also in addition to its old effect of 50% cheaper item creation, also makes all Arcane spells 25% cheaper. Note that Enchant Item as a spell has been reworked to be way more useful.
Sage Master - Now confers a starting 15 RP bonus on top of original benefit.
Myrran - Big changes here. Now only costs 1 pick and no longer confers bonus power from Fortress. Picking it also "flips" enemy wizards, causing the majority to start on Myrror and only one or two to start on Arcanus.
I'm just going to put an aside in here - I love this change so much. The Myrran races are so cool but 3 picks was just way too punishing for what you got.
Famous - Now only costs 1 pick, quadruples mercenary chance, and increases odds that heroes will join at a higher level.
Runemaster - In addition to double effective dispelling, also doubles research of Arcane spells, makes all your spells 150% tougher to dispel, and increases the chance that global enchantments will pop up for research. Now costs 2 picks.
Node Mastery - renamed to Astrologer for reasons that are unclear. Instead of doubling node power production, it instead causes nodes to produce an extra 2 power for every 6 turns. This could be better or worse depending on your strategy, but it still lets you cast spells in nodes no problem.
New retorts (I've just copypasted the readme for most of these, since there's no comparison to MoM)
Aforementioned Specialist and Cult Leader
Guardian: The player's city garrisons receive a +1 Resistance, +1 To Hit and +1 To Defend bonus during combat. Cities of the same race as the one the wizard started the game with have a +6 maximal population. Costs 2 picks.
Tactician: All of your units gain +1 defense during combat. Heroes gain 2 defense, 2 resistance, and attack power instead. Mutually exclusive with Warlord. Costs 1 pick
Omniscient: Gives your cities bonuses based on your spellbooks: Gold from Life books, Research from Sorcery, Population from Nature, Power from Chaos, and Production from Death. First book in a realm gives a large bonus, each additional book gives a small bonus.
Another aside here - I love this retort so much. It's very cool both conceptually and mechanically. Because the first book provides the biggest bonus, it works well with both rainbow strategies and single-school builds. Also I just have to say - while not the strongest build I've done, or even the strongest use of this retort, 10 Chaos+Omnicient+Myrran+Dark Elves is the most fun I've ever had in a strategy game.
Spellweaver: All of your overland spells cost 33% less except summoning and item creation. Mutually exclusive with Archmage, 2 picks.
So, as you can see, a fair bit to take in here. With more total picks, broadly cheaper retorts, and no spellbook restrictions, there are just a massive amount of combinations. This alone completely revitalized the game for me. I do kinda miss 11 book strategies though, even if they were mostly good for a laugh/quick win.
Overall Gameplay Changes
Faster units - 2 is now the default movement speed, with cavalry averaging around 4 and Doom Bats having 6. Only a few units (Settlers and Zombies, mostly) have 1 movement. To compensate for this, roads have been altered - normal roads provide no movement bonus and instead just negate terrain penalties, enchanted roads function as normal roads, taking 0.5 per square to move through.
Honestly this is IMHO one of the best changes the mod has made and is a reason to get it even if you don't like 90% of the other things it does. One of the biggest problems with MoM was pacing and this mostly resolves that.
Cheaper spells - Casting costs have been reduced more or less across the board. Again, such a massive, massive change for the better. A lot of spells in MoM were way too expensive for what you got, particularly at the Uncommon and Rare tiers. I summon Gargoyles now, guys. Gargoyles. And I don't regret it. Beyond this, many enchantment spells also have significantly lower upkeep - most Common unit enchants have no upkeep at all!
Lower resistance almost across the board for Arcanus races. Definitely something you want to be aware of going into your first game. Curses are more likely to stick and Poison is a fair bit deadlier.
Independent casting - Units with both spellcasting and a magic ranged attack (e.g. Djinn, Efreet, most heroes) no longer use their SP as ranged ammo, the two are independent.
Free Summoning Circle: That's right, the Summoning Circle spell is now free. As in 0 mana. As in you can always cast it instantly as soon as you've researched it. This is a really, really helpful change (Word of Recall and Recall Hero are no longer in the game, if you were wondering).
Unit templates - Most templates have been tweaked or modified in some way, but there are three changes that really stand out. First, Spearmen now have only 6 figures (Halflings and Trolls excepted). This weakens Spearmen significantly and makes them most useful for suppressing unrest or an emergency guard - if you want a garrison you're better off with Swordsmen or Bowmen. Which brings us to the second, Bowmen. Their damage has been improved significantly - they're definitely worth building now. Third, Magicians. The Magician template has been added to the Trolls and Halflings, and Magicians now actually cast spells like heroes do. They have 20 SP and will always be able to cast Fireball, but will also have access to everything the wizard has researched (but of course can only cast anything with a base cost of 20 or less).
Casting from beyond the grave - Banished wizards can still cast combat spells, albeit at always 3x cost (Channeller reduces this to always 2x cost). Only combat spells, no overland, but still. This can cost you on your first game if you're not prepared for it.
Rebalanced heroes - A whole bunch of new abilities have been added for heroes, and individual heroes have been rebalanced. Check the readme if you want all the changes, but I'm just throwing out now - be prepared to reevaluate everyone. Most of the strongest heroes are still incredibly powerful, but many of the weak heroes are now quite handy.
AI: Oh baby is the AI better. They fight smarter, they cast smarter, they build smarter. Like I said at the start, be prepared to play a few difficulty settings lower than you're used to.
