Magic Scale

[Manuk]

What's the main difference of taking

+1 magic (bonus +1 to research per mage)
cost=40

Versus

+2 magic (bonus +1 to research per mage)
cost=80

or +2 Drain versus +1 Drain.

[calmon]

Magic 2 and Drain 1 are just dump.

You just take either +1 magic (+1 Research) or +3 magic (+2 research).
On drain you stay with neutral scales or go for 2 drain instead.

I'm a fan of this. In dom2 you got for Magic 3 a +3 Research bonus and this was too good in my eyes.

[Agrajag]

Err... IIRC the difference between magic+1 and magic+2 is that in magic+2 you get another -1 to MR.
Same for drain (only +1MR)

[Gandalf Parker]

It is supposed to affect your spell casting, not just your research.

[DrPraetorious]

I believe that fatigue cost is +/-10% per drain scale, but I'm not sure how it might round. I'll do some experiments when I get back next week.

[Sir_Dr_D]

Does the fatigue cost and the magic resitance affect both you and your opponet equally. To me that +1 resitance you get with drain sounds like a good thing, because if it is in your dominion, you are likely the one being attcked.

And how is the loss of fatigue for a magic scale supposed to help you, if the enemey gets the same bonus?

[llamabeast]

Well if you're very magic heavy and plan to have lots of mages, you might take a strong dominion and a strong magic scale and try to spread your dominion ahead of your armies so your mages will have an easier time of it. If you have more mages than him, the advantage is greater for you. Also if you have lots of astral or death magic (which often have to overcome magic resistance) and your opponent has say fire magic (which isn't affected by magic resistance), a high magic scale is again more useful for you than for him. If you're worried about the magic resistance of your own men though, drain might be better.

Playing Ermor makes this a difficult decision, since research is pretty critical, but taking drain protects your undead from banishment in your own domain.