OT: Master of Magic unofficial patch v1.40f

[B0rsuk]

Searching for "Master of Magic" is not trivial on this forum, but I believe this hasn't been posted yet.

Look what the cat dragged in:


changelog
---------
[credit to arablizzard for correction]

Changes (f_fixed):

Version 1.40h
-----------------------
AI ships
- AI transporting inability fixed (no stopping of full boats) + boats have full decks (AI ships leaving with capacity at least 6 units on board)
- all transporting capacity had to be put to 8 units
- triremes mvt 2, floating islands mvt 4, galleys mvt 6 (to keep FIs and galleys as an interesting option)
- Wind mastery +100 % bonus, penalty for other players removed (due to AI inability to deal with 1-mvt triremes
- forbidden AI ships creation in cities with lakes-with-river terrain

bugfixes
- max 3 vortex fix of previous bug
- wraithform correct MPs over water

other
- removed insane extra gold AI game diff bonuses - city building upkeep
- removed insane extra gold AI game diff bonuses - army upkeep

AI
- AI magic spirits bigger summon probability in later game
- reversed alternate setllers targetting (undecisiveness of AI settlers)
- reviewed the AI ships bulding decision
- more stress on AI objective in AI city building
- impass tower problem solved for AI settlers

-Includes fixed Wizards.exe
-Game now reports v1.40f in the intro and load screen from the main menu
-Main Menu->Load->Settings now shows options introduced by the patch instead of the old names
-"Strategic combat" renamed to "Automatic Combat" to avoid confusion with the v1.31 setting "Strategic Combat Only" (combat controlled by player)

Features
- "fixed" the bug from v.140e by removing Transmute, Change terrain fixes
- stable world creation (you have to wait 10-60 s, rarely even more)
- AI unit appraisal bug
- AI unit yoyo movement flaw removed
- slightly improved AI searching for better settlement
- added small chance fro settlers to seek other continent after turn 60
- enemy wizards may start with any race and neutral cities on the same continent have a more diverse racial composition (EDIT by Catwalk, not sure which version these were introduced in)


Version 1.40e
-------------
Combat fixes
- -to save from items now works for Life Drain, Holy Word, Death Spell
- Life Drain cannot be used against Death immune units anymore
- the confusion surrounding the Confusion (premature combat ending, AI dispelling unit and controlling it...) should be hopefully fixed
- AI shadow deamons (and other illusion immune shooters) now can shoot "invisible"
- AI tries more to kill off units in combat

Overland fixes
- AI units stopped action by attack bug fixed
- Windwalking should always work... like it should

AI fixes
- AI aggressivity against human player cities should now be corrected
- AI now transmutes / changes terrain always in city radius
- AI gets potentially very powerful items from lairs
- magic items are no more "lost" when AI defeats another AI's hero
- bug preventing AI's sneaky attacks (when two sides have no pact) lives no more
- rebuilt research choice is now in
- AI wizards will now summon Nagas... from time to time

Interface fixes
- Archmage now shows 50% bonus on Magic screen.


Version 1.40d
-------------

Combat fixes
- Word of Recall on regenerating unit now works (regenerated unit in your capital)
- Max 3 Vortexes can be summoned at once. You are now protected against data corruption by an error message.
- Animate Dead has received first partial correction. (Stability is unknown, use at your own risk.)

AI fixes
- Most notably, AI should use bigger stacks.
- AI should be actually able to target your fortress (bug removed).


version 1.40c
-------------
v.140c

This version tries to be everything that 1.40bb for some reason was not. Very important fixes (VIFs).

(other news)

Features taken back - because of instability
- chopped POP
- hotkeys on Game screen
- Alchemy tool correction

New tweaks
- Alt+RVL now gives Detect Magic along with Nature Awarness (for testing purposes only)
- Up and Down arrows on City screen now working


version 1.40bb
--------------
v1.40bb

Overland fixes
- "Monsters Gone Wild" extra difficulty setting is fixed, no more bugs
- the settings help info is now adjusted
- City defenders now receive help from City walls / Walls of fire, only when the city has built them up (strategic combat bug; this will make AI players much better at taking over neutral cities)
- AI declaring war on demand without any regards to its treaties - bug
- default Tauron now has the correct number of books [Lydon]

Combat fixes
- AI settlers (or other units) are now unable to flee during your first turn
- data instability issue with Counter Magic was solved

Altered game features
- excess city population is no more 'chopped away' when a city grows by 1,000

Interface changes
- incessant city growth messages are now limited by POP < 10,000
- you may now "Escape" from Item Creation screen without creating anything
- "SPACE" now works on most screens as a simple "proceed, go back, go to the next position, I have seen the message". It also works as "Wait" command for units overland. On Change production screen it pushes OK. In combat it has the function of "Done".
- you may now use Left and Right cursors to browse through Spellbook on the Spells and Research screens, Up and Down on Armies and Cities screens
- L should Patrol unit, but for some mysterious reason, you have to push it twice.
- Q quits the game from the game screen

Non-visible features
- hopeless computer wizards will no longer spend half the game researching Hydras, only to never summon them afterwards...
..and some other limited attempts to make the I from AI better


version 1.40a
-------------
Overland fixes
- famine bug & problems based on city food should be fixed [based on work of TRAC]
- AIs create items for their heroes
- the Chosen can be summoned by AIs
- Suppress magic now does not suppress Spell of Return
- AI will not cast heroism & co. on summoned units
- Diplomacy should no more be broken (+ anything involved, Charismatic trait, Subversion, Aura of Majesty). Note: I tried to make the diplomatic activity as troublesome as possible to maintain the continuity with the original. Still, your diplomatic actions now matter!
- items received from lairs should now be weighed correctly (weak from weak, strong from strong) [Lydon]
- Chaos channels will now never "destroy" thrown attacks with fire breath
- more engineers at the same place trick (only one building, all counting) should not work (other engineer tricks probably will)
- AI strategy combat has been freed from several hidden bugs, as a result, AIs should be able to collect Fame and sometimes able to overcome their AI opponent
- during the end of Next turn phase, your units will never start moving on other plane (when at a tower, this fixes several bugs, like engineers on water etc.)
- you can't throw "normal units only" type of spells on chaos channeled units; you cannot even "black channel" them
- chaos channeled units now actually gain experience from combat
- Charismatic trait now allows you to get merchant offers when low on money
- Rampaging monsters now never appear later than should
- lairs, keeps, dungeons now have 50% chance of having Nature and Chaotic creatures inside (was only Nature, a bug). I decided to omit Death completely, since it has so many other places already!

Combat fixes
- Raise dead hopefully fixed [Asfex's work]
- attackers won't suddenly lose movement [another one]
- Spell lock works in combat
- Call lightning "working" on magically immune units fixed
- all human player's and the AI's heroes now can use their spells (Morgana, Ravashack, Torin...)
- demon skin now should give only +3 defense in combat
- weapon immunity bonus (+10) will never override missile immunity (+50), see Demon creature as an example
- items give invisibility
- fear attacks fixed (and anything involved)
- AI will not cast possession on your heroes
- axes now actually give their to hit bonus
- AI is now always capable to cast spells in its own fortress (was frozen when having too much mana)
- City walls now give protection to all units stationed in
- heroes now should never Disenchant spells belonging to their master

Altered game features
- units with merging are now immune to Cracks call (AI believes they should be immune, therefore I made them so)
- the fortresses of all players are now much better placed. Note: the fix makes the game almost "freeze" during the world creation, please be patient. Rarely (with an unfavourable setup, like "Small lands" + 4 opponents), the game may freeze completely. It will be corrected in the next version. Restart in this case, please.
- when scouting a lair, you can now estimate the number of opposition (either 1-3, normal text, or 4-9, text with "many")
- neutral cities now actually can sometimes build a building (was badly implemented)
- in the Game settings screen there are 2 new options in Extra difficulty departement: "Revolting raiders" and "Mosters gone wild". Be careful - the stability is unknown & it can be quite powerful, sometimes

Non-visible features
- AI changes (most of them straight bug fixes)
- simply play the game to experience them (or cast the disassembling True sight)


Sadly the developer has abandoned it due to lack of time. So there might be a few bugs left (like Flying Fortress not working; not mentioned above). But many things work properly for the first time, such as Cloak of Fear spell. Take Gnolls, build Granary, Stables, Wolf Rider. Attack a city and cast Cloak of Fear. I've just killed 4 High Men swordsmen with barely a scratch.

Files (check the readme first):
http://koti.mbnet.fi/ton_hur/files/mom/

The newest version 1.40h:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?x3nzvpjcr5ng4cf

Enjoy !

Update 17/10/2010 Plight - New patch from another person, compatible with the above. It fixes ingame information, race, item, spell, building, dialog box descriptions to make them complete and accurate.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=391983

[NTJedi]

Where's the multiplayer component?? :(
I've heard discussions about multiplayer hacks for MoM, but how balanced and stable does it work?

[B0rsuk]

Where's the multiplayer component?? :(
I've heard discussions about multiplayer hacks for MoM, but how balanced and stable does it work?

The main limitation of the multiplayer hack (Called Multiplayer Shell) is that it simply switches players between AI and back. As a consequence it is impossible to have a tactical battle where both players can issue orders.

ftp://users.aol.com/mmoms/mmom42s.zip

The Shell requires Master of Magic v1.2, v1.3, or v.131. I doubt it works with the unnoficial patch.

[NTJedi]

Will the multiplayer work for a game where multiple humans are allied against the AI opponents? Sounds like it should.

[B0rsuk]

Will the multiplayer work for a game where multiple humans are allied against the AI opponents? Sounds like it should.

It should. But (unchecked) rumour has it that AI has been purposedly made (even more) moronic in the multiplayer patch. Expands very slowly. Sounds true - if I wanted to transform MOM into a 1v1 game, and were unable to remove other players outright, that's what I would do.

[Foodstamp]

I've been playing with this patch for a while and I love it. I recommend going into the settings and changing the random monsters setting to spawn more frequently.

The AI plays more intelligently. You really notice it in their city placement.

For an added challenge, I modded this patch and gave all the settlers swimming. It makes a tremendous difference in how good the AI plays.

[NooBliss]

Btw. How do you deal with the impossible AIs? :)

So far, I've found four tricks that work more or less reliably.
1) Take all Death picks, rush enemy wizards with wraiths, then research death knights and get these you couldnt reach.
2) Take all Nature picks, rush with Gorgons. Not as reliable tho, but Nature gets some cool stuff later.
3) Take halflings and some Life books. Pick Warlord if you feel really mean, rest is optional. Halfling swordsmen with Heroism and some Healing conquer indie cities eaily, then you get Slingers and kill all enemy Wizards you can reach. Then research some big guns and win.
4) Take Sorcery, probably High elves (for extra mana), allocate everything to casting skill until you can cast Air elemental. Then kill everything.

Any other ideas? Other than 'start the game again and again until you spawn on a big island'? :)

[Finalgenesis]

Human Paladins > All, it's pretty easy to survive (or prosper even, with a little luck) until you can produce them in impossible difficulty. Throw in warlord and/or life magic if you enjoy even more overkill.

[WraithLord]

I've played MOM with the patch after years of not touching it.
I took Freya+Elves and tried summoning those bears/sprite but I'm getting stomped by the neighboring wizard (on hardest level). I don't recall MOM being so challenging...

[B0rsuk]

I've been playing with this patch for a while and I love it. I recommend going into the settings and changing the random monsters setting to spawn more frequently.


Can you enlighten me what the two extra difficulty options do ? Monsters Gone Wild - is that spawning frequency ? How about the other one ?



The AI plays more intelligently. You really notice it in their city placement.


The developer tried to make it even better, but it turned out to be harder than expected. In particular he spent 2 weeks trying to make AI understand "tiny islands with towers" are no good places to send settlers to. He also tried to make AI stop sending empty ships.


For an added challenge, I modded this patch and gave all the settlers swimming. It makes a tremendous difference in how good the AI plays.

HOW have you done it ? Do you know assembly ? One thing I would love to see is bowmen having strenght 2 missile attack by default. They're so pitiful otherwise, and considering swordsmen come earlier it shouldn't cause balance problems.

[NooBliss]

Human Paladins > All, it's pretty easy to survive (or prosper even, with a little luck) until you can produce them in impossible difficulty. Throw in warlord and/or life magic if you enjoy even more overkill.

Are you sure you played it with the latest patch? :) When I was young, I played it the same way. Just took the High Men and turtled until I had paladins.
But with the latest patch, AI is so much more agressive. And building Paladins takes forever, so you are very likely to get rushed. Besides, paladins were nerfed since the 1.0 version; I'm not sure how exactly, but they dont insta-kill everything any longer.

I've played MOM with the patch after years of not touching it.
I took Freya+Elves and tried summoning those bears/sprite but I'm getting stomped by the neighboring wizard (on hardest level). I don't recall MOM being so challenging...

Yeah, patches made Impossible MoM much harder than it was. Thats exactly why I posted these strategies. :) With these I managed to beat the impossible AIs. Everything else failed. Miserably.
Also, let me guess? Your playstyle changed over the years, as did mine. Back then, I was OK with just turtling and skipping turns until I had some imba high-tec unit. Now I want to grab something and rush somebody for good, or maybe expand really fast, etc etc.

[WraithLord]

Yes. Many years of playing all sorts of strat. games tough me to ever, scout, expand & be aggressive.
In MOM under impossible settings it's like I've too little to work with. Besides, I don't want shortcuts, I'll rework my openings until I find something that works - or discourage ;)

[NooBliss]

Hehe. :) Please post here if you find something that works.

I am still trying new strategies time after time as well. So far, just four victories. Problem is, impossible AI simply cheats, so in order to beat him you've got to find something broken (as in imbalanced) and cheat him back.
For that reason, I'm very happy with this patch as it FINALLY fixes cloak of fear. That's one more decent pick in starting death spells. :) The more good stuff to work with, the more chances to find some new strategy.
Heroism is still way better, tho.

Too bad they didnt fix the way area dispel works. I was very disappointed to find out that Archmage + Nature mastery does not prevent mass dispel from ruining all your hard-woven unit enchantments, though in theory it should've made them 3x times as hard to dispel.

[WraithLord]

Hehe. :) Please post here if you find something that works.

I am still trying new strategies time after time as well. So far, just four victories. Problem is, impossible AI simply cheats, so in order to beat him you've got to find something broken (as in imbalanced) and cheat him back.

Yes. I think I already found a way to cheat - the AI will stupidly trade spells when you first encounter an enemy wizard. So, make sure to grab some juicy spells.

I think I'm on to a good opening now. Steps are roughly:
- summon 4 bears and add to starting units
- take closest indep. town
- Churn out swordman & summon more bears.
- move a stack of 9 units and hit enemy wizards towns
So far working well.


For that reason, I'm very happy with this patch as it FINALLY fixes cloak of fear. That's one more decent pick in starting death spells. :) The more good stuff to work with, the more chances to find some new strategy.
Heroism is still way better, tho.

Too bad they didnt fix the way area dispel works. I was very disappointed to find out that Archmage + Nature mastery does not prevent mass dispel from ruining all your hard-woven unit enchantments, though in theory it should've made them 3x times as hard to dispel.

Too bad they don't release the source code :(

[Stavis_L]

Btw. How do you deal with the impossible AIs? :)

So far, I've found four tricks that work more or less reliably.
1) Take all Death picks, rush enemy wizards with wraiths, then research death knights and get these you couldnt reach.
2) Take all Nature picks, rush with Gorgons. Not as reliable tho, but Nature gets some cool stuff later.
3) Take halflings and some Life books. Pick Warlord if you feel really mean, rest is optional. Halfling swordsmen with Heroism and some Healing conquer indie cities eaily, then you get Slingers and kill all enemy Wizards you can reach. Then research some big guns and win.
4) Take Sorcery, probably High elves (for extra mana), allocate everything to casting skill until you can cast Air elemental. Then kill everything.

Any other ideas? Other than 'start the game again and again until you spawn on a big island'? :)

Do flying boats still work? All I remember is that eventually I just cast the permanent flying spell on a bunch of warships (the ones w/the catapults), and they were pretty Uber vs. most conventional troops.

[B0rsuk]

Human Paladins > All, it's pretty easy to survive (or prosper even, with a little luck) until you can produce them in impossible difficulty. Throw in warlord and/or life magic if you enjoy even more overkill.

This strategy is countered easily by a moron with Cracks Call :P. And even before the unnoficial patch AI loved the spell. It doesn't care about immunity - it affects the earth below your unit. I used to hate the spell because I was fixated on trying to tech to some imba units.

And once you'll get the brilliant idea to cast Flight on them, and Spell Lock... you'll discover the Web spell :P. It also doesn't care about immunity, it's a physical web. The more life enchantments you stack on the paladins, the more AI will laugh at you.

There might be a counter to this: Wraithform. But that's a high-level Death spell so you must abandon Life to access it.

------------

Speaking of Impossible, I like to take some race with average units, take Mana Leak and Counter Magic. If you use a spellcasting hero you can get both out in the first turn. Most of the time AI won't be able to cast anything, and - this is wonderful - enemy shamans will only fire two volleys before going silent. AI loves shamans. And another nice little spell: Resist Elements. It adds +3 to resistance against elemental spells and magical ranged attacks.

So no, it's not just big overpowered units and spells. You can peform the above strategy with gnolls. Gnolls actually have one of best rushing units: Wolf Riders. They are pretty tough if unsophisticated, only require Stables (Granary>Stables>Wolf Rider, Wolf Rider, Wolf Rider...). But they have THREE movement points. Put them on a road or use Pathfinding spell and it's like you're on Myrror.

Barbarians are also surprisingly good. I once made a point to win by knowing as few spells as possible. I ended up with Barbarians, Warlord and some other minor stuff. And guess what ? Barbarians destroy all opposition before AI can build up. Rush with swordsmen.

Invisible flying warships: should be harder now that AI's ranged units with Illusion Immunity can shoot invisible targets. Shadow Demons.

==============

I wonder how would Master of Magic play like if you could research any of the 5 colors like in Dominions 3. And if the 6th "color" was Construction...

[WraithLord]

I was just kindly tipped that war bears are a bad (as in not cost effective) summons.

Well yeah, but how do you build a starting army when all you get is nature picks + nature master (Freya) and a race with weak starting units (High elves) :confused:

[NooBliss]

If you manage to get both invisibility AND warships on Impossible, then yes, you have a good chance to win. Problem is, AI will find you much earlier and it's only so long before it gets agressive.

Gnolls, yes. I've read your original post and tried these wolf riders - impressive given how early you can get these. I have yet to see if they are good enough to rush impossible AIs, for its a race against the clock; it gets stuff like storm giants and chaos spawn surprisingly fast.
Not to mention that it builds huge hordes of low-lvl units.. for starters. AI cities grow much faster than player's. :)

I was just kindly tipped that war bears are a bad (as in not cost effective) summons.

Well yeah, but how do you build a starting army when all you get is nature picks + nature master (Freya) and a race with weak starting units (High elves) :confused:

Nah, bears are actually good. They allow you to beat an indie city or two early. And... thats more or less about it. :)
High elves have these longbowmen. Quite a good unit, not as strong as in version 1.0, but still good enough. Then they also get the Elven lords, but good luck surviving that long and getting them in sufficient numbers... hehe.

Btw, about the rush with barbarian swordsmen - you may rush one impossible AI, yes. I find that quite hard, too, but it may be possible. Next AI is gonna cast a wall of fire on his capitol, for example, and you're toast (I play with 5 AIs). Soon, AI will have these doom bats, fireballs and chaos spawns. (replace it with something just as nasty for other paths).
For me, it didnt work.

[lch]

Nice, thanks for the info, I wasn't aware that somebody dabbled with this.


For an added challenge, I modded this patch and gave all the settlers swimming. It makes a tremendous difference in how good the AI plays.

HOW have you done it ? Do you know assembly ? One thing I would love to see is bowmen having strenght 2 missile attack by default. They're so pitiful otherwise, and considering swordsmen come earlier it shouldn't cause balance problems.

Dunno if that's how Foodstamp does it, but there are a couple of game editors for MoM around. Have a look at the "Game Editors" section (12.1) of http://uk.faqs.ign.com/articles/372/372466p1.html

The links are now defunct, but you'll find those files on other sites, too.

[Foodstamp]

I've been playing with this patch for a while and I love it. I recommend going into the settings and changing the random monsters setting to spawn more frequently.


Can you enlighten me what the two extra difficulty options do ? Monsters Gone Wild - is that spawning frequency ? How about the other one ?



The AI plays more intelligently. You really notice it in their city placement.


The developer tried to make it even better, but it turned out to be harder than expected. In particular he spent 2 weeks trying to make AI understand "tiny islands with towers" are no good places to send settlers to. He also tried to make AI stop sending empty ships.


For an added challenge, I modded this patch and gave all the settlers swimming. It makes a tremendous difference in how good the AI plays.

HOW have you done it ? Do you know assembly ? One thing I would love to see is bowmen having strenght 2 missile attack by default. They're so pitiful otherwise, and considering swordsmen come earlier it shouldn't cause balance problems.


Monsters gone wild make the monsters from ruins spawn more frequently and with larger stacks after the initial start of the game. Revolting rebels or whatever it is called makes the neutral cities more aggressive in how many units they send and what kinds.


I used an editor to edit the patch. I made a few other little changes too such as alchemist guild for Trolls, 4 units in war bears, first strike for Gnoll wolf riders. I gave some of the crappy heroes new abilities to make them a slight bit more useful.

The site I downloaded the editor from is now defunct, but I have a copy of it laying around here. Ah here it is, as a matter of fact here are 3 editors I am going to attach to this post.

[WraithLord]

Is there a way you can "release" your "MBM" (MOM Balance Mode) so that we could use it as well?

I for one would prefer it w/o the extra aggressive indies. I'm having enough troubles as it is with the better AI.

[Foodstamp]

Yeah, I think it only affects the .exe file. It is not really "balanced" though. MOM is an SP game, so I prefer for it to not be balanced, just interesting.

I will attach it here. Just be sure to remember I am not 100% certain it will work with your installation, and be sure to back up your old magic.exe just in case it does not work.

[Daynarr]

I'd really like if someone would make a remake of MoM. You know, the kind so many other old games have. Open source project that keeps same gameplay, improves graphics a bit and adds some modability to the game.Eventually expanding and adding new features, etc.

[Foodstamp]

There have been many projects like that over the years, but they end up failing. I think Elemental will eventually (A Year or 2) be flexible enough to do a total conversion to Master of Magic.

[B0rsuk]

I'd really like if someone would make a remake of MoM. You know, the kind so many other old games have. Open source project that keeps same gameplay, improves graphics a bit and adds some modability to the game.Eventually expanding and adding new features, etc.

I would totally contribute to that as well as playtest it (check my new signature !). The problem with many open-source game projects is they're like Wesnoth or Freeciv - they believe things like "Keep It Simple, Stupid". As a result they don't do anything new, only safe, proven ideas. Plain chicken with rice excites no one. I would love to have a MOM-like project which is more like Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Foodstamp:

I don't think there have been many open-source Master of Magic projects. Of course closed-source, hobby Master Of Magic projects die. They try in vain to reinvent the wheel. They don't share their work. So if one person loses motivation others can't benefit from earlier achievements.

[Foodstamp]

You are absolutely right! I missed the open source tag there :). I feel the same way you do. I don't get into Wesnoth, and FreeCiv is not my cup of tea either.

[NTJedi]

Yeah, I think it only affects the .exe file. It is not really "balanced" though. MOM is an SP game, so I prefer for it to not be balanced, just interesting.

I will attach it here. Just be sure to remember I am not 100% certain it will work with your installation, and be sure to back up your old magic.exe just in case it does not work.

Great stuff Foodstamp... does this work with the multiplayer shell as well?

[Foodstamp]

I've not used the MP shell in probably 6 to 7 years so I have no idea.

[NTJedi]

Since Atari owns the rights for MoM... have any group of gamers tried requesting Atari to release a MoM expansion pack which works on the operating systems of today? Also emphasizing we don't need 3D high resolution graphics. I think a little effort from Atari would make lots of gamers happy and Atari would recieve a little money plus a good chunk of respect.

[Foodstamp]

There have been attempts, the most notable being Stardock. Atari wanted more as much for the IP rights as it took to develop Stardock's latest title, Elemental.

[Lizardo]

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_magic

You can download a DRM free version here, I think it's only at 1.31 but you can contact the site owners and request they find the 1.4 patch.

Atari really gave Stardock a hard time in the negotiations wanting really weird conditions, it gives the sense that they really just want the title to die. Of course Atari isn't noted for its business sense.

[NTJedi]

Alright I've done some researching and found what appears to be a better multiplayer version: http://www.roughseas.ca/momime/

[NTJedi]

So why does this unofficial patch readme say on step4... "uncheck the Strategic combat option on the bottom left!" ?

[Foodstamp]

I noticed that too. I didn't do it and it seems to work fine. I think maybe it was a joke about strategic combat making the game too easy vs the AI :).

[Daynarr]

Argh, you guys are making me play MoM all over again. :(
And I have to play Dom3, Minecraft, some Elemental, SC2. Geez. So much to do, so little time.

[NTJedi]

Alright I've done some researching and found what appears to be a better multiplayer version: http://www.roughseas.ca/momime/

Any singleplayers can use this update as well which provides many more game options... such as larger maps.

A few tips... the armies and cities button don't appear to work with the unofficial 1.4f update, however right clicking on either of them from the main map works.

[DonCorazon]

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_magic

You can download a DRM free version here, I think it's only at 1.31 but you can contact the site owners and request they find the 1.4 patch.


True yesterday, not true today. Gog is now shut down. Quite a bummer.

[Valerius]

True yesterday, not true today. Gog is now shut down. Quite a bummer.

Wow, that's too bad. I purchased several games after you mentioned them a few months back, including MoM just recently.

[Joelz]

Luckily enough you seem to be allowed to re-download the games you've purchased. Check GOG.

[DonCorazon]

Wish I had known ahead of time - I would have bought a couple more. Its so nice not to have to look for a disc to play a game.

[NTJedi]

Alright I've done some researching and found what appears to be a better multiplayer version: http://www.roughseas.ca/momime/

Has anyone been able to get the custom maps working? Anytime I increase the size of the maps it's waiting for human players even when I selected zero.

I would really enjoy a game with 10 AI opponents on a very large map, but I'm having no luck with starting a game after increasing the map size.

[Adept]

Where's the multiplayer component?? :(
I've heard discussions about multiplayer hacks for MoM, but how balanced and stable does it work?

I absolutely loved MoM for years, and we played big hotseat multiplayer games. It was a lot of fun.

[Hadrian_II]

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/master_of_magic

You can download a DRM free version here, I think it's only at 1.31 but you can contact the site owners and request they find the 1.4 patch.


True yesterday, not true today. Gog is now shut down. Quite a bummer.

they did not shut down, they just ended their beta phase (and their humor sucks)

[DonCorazon]

Yeah, that is clear now. I guess I should now say - "true today"

Pretty lame publicity stunt. I'll think twice before I buy anything else from them.

[B0rsuk]

I've just executed a vicious combo:

Artificer
create a staff -4 Spell Save, 2 charges of Black Sleep

Remember Black Sleep ? The spell no one likes because it's 15 MP, depends on enemy resistance, and renders enemies so helpless the designers decided there will be no xp for killing them ? (or something, or was it fame ?). One word:

Ghouls.

Every normal unit killed mostly by ghouls rises as undead under your control. They never heal, but require no upkeep. The good thing is they keep citizens in shape (2 units: unrest -1). Oh, and because it's Zaldron the sage who does the spellcasting, I don't have to spend a single mana point !

The combo is a little hard to pull off (you need to save lots of mana for the item). But my hero is now a walking undead factory. It's like low-level Zombie Mastery, but trickier and more flexible. And it's creepy as hell: units zombified in unnatural black sleep. I can reliably zombify 4+ units per battle, but you need empty slots so it can be walking a thin line. There are ways to get the most out of it: I'll be using Darkness and favoring units with first strike (cavalry), bowmen, so as to not take any damage. Of course, if you can spend 750 (or close) mana on an item, there are probably ways to use it better. But they are not as creepy.

Black Sleep is an amazing spell - when it works. It's almost like killing an unit outright. Any attacks against the sleeping unit automatically hit for maximum damage, no shields. And the funny thing is, the spell makes bowmen scary. Heh, I may wraithform a squad of bowmen and ghouls (+pathfinders from nomads) and perforate people with regular bowmen just for fun.

I already valued ghouls for rushes. While ghouls are expensive, there are ways to use them without Black Sleep. Weakness is very good, because it's so cheap, only 5 MP. But it won't work against unusual races with resistance > 4. (It's fine against High Men, Nomads, Orcs, Lizardmen; these are the cities I want to conquer with Wolf Riders when I play Gnolls). Cities zombified early with ghouls can have ridiculous taxes.

Long story short, if you need a mean combo ask b0rsuk.

[NTJedi]

Alright I've done some researching and found what appears to be a better multiplayer version: http://www.roughseas.ca/momime/

Has anyone been able to get the custom maps working? Anytime I increase the size of the maps it's waiting for human players even when I selected zero.

I would really enjoy a game with 10 AI opponents on a very large map, but I'm having no luck with starting a game after increasing the map size.


I'll take that as NO. :D

[chrispedersen]

Human Paladins > All, it's pretty easy to survive (or prosper even, with a little luck) until you can produce them in impossible difficulty. Throw in warlord and/or life magic if you enjoy even more overkill.

Are you sure you played it with the latest patch? :) When I was young, I played it the same way. Just took the High Men and turtled until I had paladins.
But with the latest patch, AI is so much more agressive. And building Paladins takes forever, so you are very likely to get rushed. Besides, paladins were nerfed since the 1.0 version; I'm not sure how exactly, but they dont insta-kill everything any longer.

I've played MOM with the patch after years of not touching it.
I took Freya+Elves and tried summoning those bears/sprite but I'm getting stomped by the neighboring wizard (on hardest level). I don't recall MOM being so challenging...

Yeah, patches made Impossible MoM much harder than it was. Thats exactly why I posted these strategies. :) With these I managed to beat the impossible AIs. Everything else failed. Miserably.
Also, let me guess? Your playstyle changed over the years, as did mine. Back then, I was OK with just turtling and skipping turns until I had some imba high-tec unit. Now I want to grab something and rush somebody for good, or maybe expand really fast, etc etc.

There are lots of really, really good strategies for mom. But my favorite cheese was always taking trolls with life. Making sure to nature. Take enough life and you are guaranteed endurance. Take web as your nature spell.

Trolls regenerate - and with endurance you can out run (circles) around most things. 50 turns and all your troops come back....

[B0rsuk]

Guarranteed spells have been removed in one of the official patches. Now you only spawn with Common spell for each book in a school beyond the first, and if you start with 11 books you get a rare and uncommon spell too. Since you're talking about Nature + Life, you must've been playing an old version.

There are interesting ways to beat paladins. In my current game Jafar was stuck on two islands linked by a tower. A turtler got his wish granted - he started with High Men. I went with Klackons and Chaos. Long story short I assaulted his islands with a stack of 8 chaos channel (wings) stag beetles and a draconian shaman (removed from each battle so he can live). I cast Warp Reality each time I fight a significant number of paladins (4+). It gives all non-chaos units -2 to hit. Wings meant beetles weren't scared of first strike, in fact with innate fire breath they were the ones doing first strike. The beetles were otherwise fairly basic: Elite with no magical weapons (Alchemy) or even Metal Fires. I'd be much more afraid of pikemen and magicians if I didn't pick Flamestrike from a myrran lair.

The game can be wonderfully surprising and epic. In the same campaign, I strayed a bit too far on my quest to raze Horus's cities. I entered Myrror and torched a city in the same turn. Two heroes with 60 casting skill each made it easy. Next turn Horus casts... Planar Seal, and I'm a bit behind in casting skill and nowhere near researching Disjunction. I had to camp in a draconian town while fighting then challenging groups of priests, bears, pikemen, catapults deprived of my most powerful heroes. By the time I got them back

[B0rsuk]

Bad news. The patch appears to have broken at least 1 thing: the great Magic Vortex spell. There was supposed to be a bug - if you cast the spell more than 3 times it could lead to data corruption. So the developer added an error message saying only 3 vortexes can be active at a time. The thigh is, I get the error message even if there are no vortexes (vortices?) :(.

[Gregstrom]

Good news: gog.com has a discount on MoM, so I can buy it cheap and see what all the fuss is about!

[B0rsuk]

Look what the cat dragged in ! A new version ! See the first post for the full changelog and link (at the bottom).


AI now actually can and does use the ships for military transport! The downside is, I had to increase all transport capacity to 8 to overcome this complicated bug.
But the AI ship invasions are working now. Beware... and enjoy!

[Ragnarok-X]

Whats the url for the latest patch or even better the development page ?

[Ragnarok-X]

In addition, can someone upload the balance patch 2.0 ? Dragonsword is down.

[B0rsuk]

I don't think there's any official development page, but the developer is very active in this thread:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43788&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

As for MoM 2.0, all the links seem down. I don't like the patch,(questionable changes AND a pretensious name) but I'll post it to Sendspace. From there it's up to you to carry the torch, as the link is only temporary.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/44veee

[Ragnarok-X]

Thanks a lot.

[B0rsuk]

Oh, and incidentally, there's a new patch from another developer. It's compatible with kyrub's unnoficial patch, and fixes ingame info only. The stuff under right mouse button etc. All spells, items, races, dialog boxes, buildings have complete and accurate descriptions.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=391983

[Foodstamp]

Borsuk, I don't understand your signature, has someone made a poor MOM clone? I would be interested in seeing any completed attempt at recreating MOM. Thanks!

[B0rsuk]

Foodstamp:

Elemental is arguably the poor attempt.

[Catwalk]

Insecticide (kyrub's patch v1.40h currently) and Catnip (my own mod project) have moved to new locations at Realms Beyond (http://www.realmsbeyond.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56). We've also just launched a tournament where the objective is to build a power of 200 in the shortest amount of time. All players start on the same map with the same wizard but may choose any arcane race.

[B0rsuk]

Version 1.40i - new features
Note, that this version contains several risky changes. Preserve your game data, be cautious and eventually report the bugs, with a savegame.

Version 1.40i
-----------------------
reversed ship speeds to the original

(Bugs in general)
Animate dead should now work (but casting when > 6 units are dead still crashes the game!)
monsters extra difficulty option - significantly harder
raiders extra difficulty option - easier
human player can run into an enemy unit when using enchanted roads pathfinding (hopefully fixed)
AI is not trying to dispel Haste from an item
AI stacks, after an attack, does not move next turn (fixed)
Great wasting destroys any pacifying effects from city buildings
AI priests are now capable to cast healing
the "250 production" bug allowing you to miraculously complete any production, gone
Conjurer trait now rounds 25% mana bonus on monster maintenance up (2 maintenance -> 1 saved, 5 -> 1 saved, 6 ->2 saved)
Invulnerability and Possession now can be dispelled
Dispel from all pre-combat spells now actually fonctions!
Dispel evil is impossible against non-dead, non-chaos units
a hero will not disenchant the positive spells from his own peers (second attempt)
removed text "Endurance, as swiftness spell"
looping music for 'Building was completed' was removed from the game to avoid CPU consummation
you will see Demons and Werewolves in lairs, also Air elemental and Phantom Beasts had their values switched (corrected)

(World creation)
fortress creation has been optimized and runs without any delays, in the same quality
all races can be AI wizard's starting races on impossible
SOM research does now costs 60% (was only 5%, a bug) of its value for wizards with 11 books
Torin and Alorra won't have arcane power, useless to them
small lairs monster cash has had range increased; big lairs has got bigger minimum to avoid being actually small
fixed a bug where the game would sometime fail to give a lesser companion in the lair
Torin and Alorra will never get arcane power, useless to them

(AI)
AI ships - earlier expansion based on world_size
AI pathfinding is not updated (unit blindly bumps into your army) - should be fixed
AI should care more about the closer units in combat (reversed)
AI mana leak dispelling obsession
AI aggressive mvt in cmbt (temporally reversed, before better solution can be found)
AI contra immunity factor is less important in combat casting
AI is not getting scared by Immolation


Download link:
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1583&stc=1&d=1291432809

Forum thread link:
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4211

[DrPraetorious]

For those having trouble:
Take 5 Sorcery, 2 Life, 2 Chaos, Artificer and Runemaster.

This is classically known as "cheating", b/c it gives you the ability to forge items which can then be alchemized for more mana than it cost to make them, so you can spend all your magic income on skill.

Furthermore, when you get a hero, you can make items to give him huge stat bonuses, invisibility, magic immunity and flight, thus enabling this hero to conquer everyone by himself.

[Ragnars Wolves]

I am confused as I never played MOM. Is this about a patch for the NEW game (I think it is Elemental) or for the old MoM game> I understand the new game is almost unplayable and was waiting until I heard it was fixed.

Does this just help a 'little', or is this a major fix?

[Gregstrom]

This thread is for the real MoM. Elemental? Pah! It's a mere shadow of the Real Thing :D

[DeadlyShoe]

Does this just help a 'little', or is this a major fix
Mostly its a dramatic AI improvement, as well as fixing several long standing and very irritating bugs. For example, there was a bug in the raise dead spell that would shift the identity numbers of every unit in the game, causing them to turn into other units and hopelessly corrupting a savegame.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

Also tried the new MoM patch during christmas time.
Though, after my HE capital was hit by a call the void (very rare chaos spell) in a very early stage of a hard game, I wonder if the AI is just cheating more or if the AI now knows to use its cheating advantages.
The opposing chaos wizard (with just 4 chaos books) was on Myrror and couldn't even see me.
Unfortunately my HE can't purify corruption due to lack of prists, therefore my captial was more or less crippled after that attack.

The AI cheating is almost insane... :eek:

[NooBliss]

Are you sure it wasnt a meteor random event?

[ArkhanTheBlack]

I'm not sure, I didn't see anything in the event log.
I just saw the impact hit in my capital followed by huge corruption in the area.
My conclusion was that Sss'ra was casting it from Myrror since he declared war a few turns ago.
Though I don't know exactly if it was call the void since I don't know the exact animation anymore. But it was the only spell that could cause such a huge area of corruption. So I assumed it was from Sss'ra.

[FizRep]

So, I used to LOVE MoM. Is this a patch for the old DOS game, and if so, what exactly will I need to download to get this patch to work with the game?

I'm excited! I still talk about this game to people :D