Actually it's not the Myran Retort that gives you the +5 mana per turn. It's just having your Fortress on Myrorr that does that. So just as 2HS said if you manage to relocate your Wizards Fortress into a city on Myrror then it becomes your new default race and capitol, thus giving the +5 mana bonus.

In addition lets say you start the game choosing the Myran pick and thus have your capitol on Myran. IF later on your Fortress/Capitol is moved to Arcanus you would LOSE that +5 Myran mana bonus.

So all in all it's probably a very good thing that you cannot get Myran retort as a reward since it wouldn't do anything for you.

PS ANY time your fortress is moved to a new town, wherever it is, it becomes your new default race.

3 picks for Myrran strikes me as a bit steep unless you're the only one who starts there. Sometimes even then.

Here's the thing, that 3 picks not only starts you on Myrror with that +5 mana but it also allows you to pick 1 of 5 "Elite" type races that you cannot otherwise choose. For those who don't know them take a peek below.

Each of these 5 races will usually beat any of the Arcanus ones hands down, only possible exception imho are the Dark Elves vs Highmen because Pallys have Magic Immunity.



Dark Elves all have that magical ranged attack as well as generating 1 Power per population. They also have the Doom Bolt firing Warlocks and the only non summon, non hero, invisible unit in the game. (My only real problem regarding Nightblades is their lousy speed of only 1)

Trolls aka endless regenerating army hordes. Unless you manage to kill off every dang unit he attacks with they just pop right back to life. Sadly these guys have quite a few building restrictions namely they cannot build Alchemists guild to take advantage of Mithril/Adamantium is the biggest flaw to me.

Draconians who all have Flying, and their melee units all have Fire Breath as well. They each also generate 0.5 mana per pop just like High Elves do. Not really any building restrictions either.

Beastmen like Draco and HE's also give that 0.5 Power per popultation. No real restrictions on buildings. Their basic troops also have 2hp more normal along with usually +2 Melee atk strength.

Dwarfs, arguably the best Myran race. They have probably the 2nd most powerful unit after Paladins which is Hammerhands. They double mineral bonus's along with 2x taxes which can make you very rich quite quickly. Sadly these guys have quite a few building restrictions as well although no where near as bad as Trolls.

That's true, but it's still a lot to give up when you can ultimately get Paladins with High Men.

FWIW, Beastmen do nothing for me. The Minotaurs are good, but also unbearably slow. Dark Elves are good, but the crushing growth penalty makes them tricky. Draconians are fun, and flying units is a powerful ability, but I find their high-level units (Air Ships) disappointing. They're effective, but stylistically lacking. Dwarves are very, very good. Their bonuses are really powerful (if you have a city of them next to a couple of gold squares, you'll be rolling in money) and their engineers are by far the best. Hammerhands are nice, although the Golems are a bit disappointing.

You're underrating Trolls, IMO. They're superb at what they do best, which is a rush strategy. Their regular units are powerful enough to wipe the floor with the units of other races in the early game, plus they have regeneration. True, their building options are limited and they can't use mithril or adamantium, but if you use them right that's a strength not a weakness. Troll cities won't be wasting time building stuff they don't need, and you don't have to waste time searching for special metals for optimum city sites.

Besides, War Trolls are the second-best unit in the game after Paladins, IMO. Especially with Black Channels or - less awesome but still good - Chaos Channels.

To get back to the point, though, the Myrran races are fun, but they all have liabilities that make them tougher to play than most of the normal races. Three picks at start is a high price to pay to start on Myrror. It is worth it if you are alone there, but probably not if you have to compete with one or more rivals. That's the big reason to stat on Myrror, to avoid having to fight for territory until you get your kingdom rolling.

Also, you don't have to pick one of the Myrran races if you pick Myrran at startup. You can start on Myrror and still take High Men, for example. It can be quite effective, particularly if you take a race like Barbarians, because all the Myrran races are slow-growth. You can overwhelm them with your population advantage.

Two picks for them on the other hand is too low a price. I think in one of the older versions of MoM, Myrran cost 2 picks instead of 3, which made it possible to grab something extra.
And you will almost always have to face less opponents in Myrran than in Arcanus, so even if you are not alone there you are better.
Not to mention adamantium deposits. Gotta love adamantium deposits.

I agree with that, too...unless you start on Myrror with two rivals. I've had that happen before. Lo Pan was on Arcanus and he made short work of the other wizard there, so he was free to expand without opposition for a long time.

It's a bit of a gamble because you can't be sure what you're going to get.

While it is possible to start in Myrran with 2 rivals, playing as Sssr'a does reduce those odds, by requiring 2 more wizards to pick Myrran. Tauron is usually one of them, or at least the one I seem to encounter more often. Not sure if their extra picks are random or always the same though, would be nice to know.

P.S. I also think that on anything other than impossible, Sssr'a is the only one that can start on Myrran, since I think the extra picks aren't enough for it. May be wrong though, EvilLoynis will hopefully correct me :)

Nope. I've seen two rival wizards on Myrror happen on Insecticide Normal. It's rare, but it does occur.

I'm not really complaining about it, either. It's one of those unusual starting circumstances that make MoM such a great game, but if you pick Myrran and end up with two rivals on the same plane, you're going to be miffed. If you pick Myrran and end up alone on Myrror you're in a really strong position.

This is one reason why Insecticide is a MOD and not just a patch. It's not "fixing" anything to let other wizards get Myran on Normal difficulty as they are supposed tobe default.


JM it's on Normal and below that enemy Wizards are "Default", the PRE MADE Wizards that you can choose from. On Hard and Impossible they get extra picks and also are more random in creation and thus can get Myran. Just tested by choosing Hard and Ssraa myself and Raven had 10 Sorc Books + Myran as well.

I was thinking about it, and it may have been on Insecticide Hard where I saw two rival wizards on Myrror...I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I do play Hard occasionally. Sorry to undercut your indignation. The fault is entirely mine. ;)

Anyway, it can still happen on Hard or above, not just Impossible. Really my only point about Myrran as a pick is that it's outcome is unreliable compared to the other choices.

I was under the impression that on Hard they got 2 extra picks, and on Impossible 4 extras. Myrran costs 3, so they shouldn't be able to afford it. Or do they remove an already chosen pick as well?

Picks are randomly assigned, within certain parameters; in one game, Horus might have 9 Life and 2 Nature spell books; in another, he might have 8 Life plus Myrran. (This is just an example; in reality, Chaos and Death-based opponents such as Rjak and Tauron — and of course, Sss'ra — seem to be the most likely to pick Myrran, especially with the extra picks available to them on Hard and Impossible.)

Yes, there is some randomness to it. So it's still possible I was playing on Normal when I got two rivals in Myrror. More likely it was Hard, though. It was Sssra and possibly Rjak (although I don't remember that for sure either) on Myrror. If I'd realized it was going to be significant I would have paid more attention.

I just remember for sure that Lo Pan was alone on Arcanus with either Freya or Ariel, and whichever one it was got obliterated by his swarms of hellhounds so there was no one to stop him for a long, long time.

In that case, Myrran was not worth 3 picks.