Is this normal spell-casting ai behavior ?

[Wauthan]

Spellcasting AI seems to consider the closest enemy only. It's a great strength in missileweapons that they got better targeting.

See if you can try the same scenario again but with elemental magic mixed in. The mages should start tossing lightning and fire at the statues instead of summoning, once they get into range.

I'm just glad I'm not the one responsible for balancing the AI. If it's too good then mages would be even more of a menace than they are now. There would be little need for troops if mages were able to bLast commanders on turn 1. That said it would be nice to tell mages what spells they should NOT use and have the AI work along this decision. A small spellbook icon on the unit screen that allows you to pick say 10 spells for the individual mage. The topmost spell gets the highest priority etc. And a way to copy this spellbook between commanders?

It would be very different from the current system and a fair bit more micromanagement though.