OOps sorry.
I played only once with it, and I think they could be boosted, their only nice features are capital only, as far as I can remember.(crappy OB, crappy mages)
But I tested them in v 3.06(or.04?), haven't they been changed since ?
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10 times more numerous, by nigth and backstabbing.
Thousand year ginseng can't be used by celestial mages =( Plus it's a little overpriced. 2-3 gems is a much more appropriate cost for /Internal alchemy/ so 1-2 gems is more about right for the ginseng. Personally they were fine in dom 2's cb modded S&A. Essentially they were s2 and no old age. s1 isn't so bad considering the 10% now and the lack of huge astral powers in EA but s1 and old age is pretty darn lame when you compare them to say Caelum who has better mages in both cap and non cap AND better army capabilities.
I propose allowing thousand year ginseng to be castable upon any commanders. The caster can select a commander to reduce the age.
Thematically, ginsengs are rare objects usable by anyone. The emperors won't be keeping the imperial alchemists on the payroll if the ginsengs do not affect them.
That said, I think the gisengs and internal alchemy should have a much more drastic effecitve to be worthwhile. Say reduce age by 20 and 40 respectively.