Revisiting Master of Magic
The Community Patch that comes with the Steam/GOG release is truly excellent, it fixes loads of bugs and greatly improves the AI and diplomacy. Furthermore, work is being done by some very dedicated people to add customization options in the game. You can actually configure the random map generator now and use lots of optional game rule mutators.
The customization features are not officially released yet, but you can download the patchers to apply them here and apply it on top of either the original 1.31 version or the latest Community Patch version.
https://masterofmagic.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Drake178/Key_Binder
I'm playing with neutral cities souped up in quantity and strength. Just trying to stay alive becomes an exciting challenge. I find it way more fun to deal with and conquer neutrals than build new settlements from the ground up.
I start with an Orcish town in a horn of a continent. This is a very defensible position against raids from neutral cities.
Their raids were frequent. By chance, the surrounding neutral cities are also Orcish. My units would not be better than theirs, trying to fight back by building my own army would just make me lose by attrition. Instead, I will have to rely on magic. My wizard, being focused in Nature magic, has access to summon Sprites, flying units that are fragile but have a decent magical ranged attack.
A hero soon joined my cause. He is a magic user who also has a magic ranged attack. After a few levels, his offensive capabilities will greatly surpass those of Sprites'.
With their help, I was able to capture the neighboring neutral town, which was only garrisoned by swordsmen. Though my infantry were outnumbered, using a barrage of magic attacks to soften up enemy units before having my infantry engage them proved to be an effective strategy.
The raids continue to intensify, the neighboring cities are now sending large waves of Shaman that outnumber my ranged magic units. I would not have stood a chance if I didn't have the Web spell, another very useful Nature spell that disables enemy units until they can destroy the web with their melee strength. This is most effective against ranged units that specialize in ranged attack rather than melee. My hero can assist me in combat by casting spells just like my wizard so I can actually cast two spells per turn.
My next target is this heavily fortified city. My Sprites and hero would not do well here because the city's walls greatly reduce the effectiveness of their magic bolts.
They wouldn't survive a turn anyway because the city is garrisoned full of Shaman who have their own magical attack.
My plan is to send an army of swordsmen. Without magic, they cannot hope to survive. However, my wizard's expertise in Nature magic gives her two spells that will be pivotal for this siege. Resist Elements will give my swordsmen some protection against magic ranged attacks, while Cracks Call will help me to bring down sections of their walls and allow me to defeat what few melee units they have.
Pre-enchanting units before going into battle costs more mana but will allow me to use my mana pool during combat for other spells.
The battle was more difficult than expected, Resist Elements was not as strong as I remembered it to be. And my taking too long to attack was probably also a factor, most of the enemy Shaman had already been trained to elite rank. By the end, I managed to capture the city only after losing three quarters of my veteran swordsmen.
