Guide · Magic
  1. Contents
  2. Getting started
  3. Races
  4. Units
  5. Buildings
  6. Economy and upkeep
  7. Combat and sieges
  8. Magic
  9. Map and movement
  10. Guilds
  11. The round and scoring
  12. Glossary

Magic

Magic is information and tempo — seeing, slowing, holding — never a second army. The Mage Tower's levels →

Every figure here is at a world's normal pace, speed 1. A faster world scales them: at speed 2 every time halves and every rate doubles.

Mana

A Mage Tower makes mana: 12 an hour at level 1, ×1.19 each level after, from every tower you hold. The store holds 48 hours of it, one hour more a Magic level (576 for one level-1 tower); a full store is the only waste. Magic science adds +25 % a level to the mana and to every force's magic.

Casting and resisting

Every body counts toward a force's magic — its units' magic summed, which resists the spells cast on it — but only a caster, a unit of 30 magic or more, casts. A city casts 2 hexes plus one a Tower level; an army with a caster in it, 3 hexes. A spell's price grows with what it touches and with the target's magic against yours, never under its minimum; there are no cooldowns — mana is the limit.

The spells

SpellMagicOnWhat it doesMana
Arcane Eye1an enemy army, an enemy cityThe exact count and composition of one army or garrison you can see.5 a body, at least 200
Farsight1a hexReveals two hexes around a spot for 12 h.5 a body, at least 200
Haste2your armyAn army of yours or an ally's marches a quarter faster for 12 h.6 a body, at least 3,000
Slow2an enemy armyAn enemy army marches at half pace for 12 h.13 a body, at least 600
Dispel2your army, your city, an enemy army, an enemy cityEnds the strongest effect on a target — a curse on yours, a buff on theirs — against its caster's power.9 a body, at least 400
Ward3your army, your cityAn army or city of yours or an ally's resists magic at twice its strength for 24 h.6 a body, 200 a Keep level, at least 2,000
Freeze4an enemy armyHolds an enemy army where it stands for 2 + Magic hours; its march goes on after.32 a body, at least 4,000
Breach5an enemy cityThe walls count as nothing and the gates stand open for 2 × Magic hours — siege works by magic.1,300 a Keep level, at least 4,000

Magic is the caster's science level a spell needs. “Your” army or city is yours or a guildmate's.