Master of Magic

The first title I am reviewing is the Microprose game Master of Magic but before I do that I'd like to share with you the expanded ratings data I have scraped from My Abandonware:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4NCn8v5YnqhWWhqcnRCSGQwcjg

Anyhow, what is Master of Magic? In short, it's a game that doesn't seem to be as well known as it ought to. If the title seems reminiscent of Master of Orion that is the case entirely because Microprose are also the authors of that series and in many respects these games are similar to each other or indeed to other 4X games. However, it certainly deviates from Master of Orion in its overall theme: where the games of the Master of Orion series are predicated on the founding, development, defense and conquest of entire planets with godlike technology, Master of Magic takes place on the much more cozy scale of imagined Iron Age villages, towns and cities, all redolent with the odor of burning wood and cowshit. There is no direct superluminal travel from one system to another and often long and arduous journeys overland must be undertaken by units wanting to get from point A to point B. Nonetheless, one thing about this world where people don't yet know how to treat in-game outbreaks of Yersinia pestis with antibiotics is very advanced and that is the element of magic that makes the title so fitting. In Master of Magic you play the role of a powerful sorcerer (or sorceress) overseeing subjects first of one race, then ultimately of several as your empire expands, all towards the end goal of banishing all your rivals in the magical realm into nothingness and establishing your total and final dominion over the entire world.

An experienced player reading this will note that I have made a mistake when I said "world". I should have said "worlds" because there are actually two and this is one of the things that gives the game its charm and distinctness. With all but one of the default leaders, you will start in the world of Arcanus which is much like our own except for the high fantasy setting. From here it is possible to seize towers typically occupied by powerful, nasty creatures that you will not be able to beat very early on in the game and gain access to the world of Myrror, pictured below, which, with its earthy color scheme seems like it might be deep within the Earth, but is described in the manual as a world on another "plane of existence" from our own altogether. Whichever of these two is really the case, Myrror is a world of more potent magic and a world where (relatively) fantastic races are found: Beastmen, Dark Elves, Draconians, Dwarves and Trolls, each with unique advantages and disadvantages. (It is worth bearing in mind that in Arcanus the plainest race of all, with neither distinct pros nor cons, is that of the Orcs, who are nowhere to be found in our world.)

The strange world of Myrror

Wherever you start in Master of Magic, these towers are bidirectional, allowing free passage from one world to another once seized.

A more general distinction among the leaders of the game is what sort(s) of magic they are skilled with. The five disciplines that distinguish wizards in ability are:

• Life, focusing on healing, inspiration and protection mainly but also allowing transit from Arcanus to Myrror and vice versa in one instance
• Death, which summons undead and is otherwise oriented towards terrorizing enemies and causing disasters to beset them
• Chaos, bringing beneficial changes to allies and harmful ones to foes and otherwise just fucking shit up with fire and lightning
• Nature, which turns the elements to your favor in various ways and also allows divination of things otherwise far out of sight
• Sorcery, allowing great power over the winds, even to giving flight to otherwise flightless creatures; the power of illusion and also powerful opposition to the spells of other wizards

Lastly all wizards have proficiency in Arcane magic which allows summoning heroes, creating artifacts for those heroes and includes various other general purpose spells. Arguably the most important of these is the Spell of Mastery which, when cast—and this is very expensive in mana and time simply to research much less actually cast—will result in the end of the game with you as the victor and all the other wizards banished into the void. (This research- and economy-based victory is analogous to being the first to reach Alpha Centauri in the Civilization games or, elsewhere in the Civilization universe, being the first in the Alpha Centauri system in turn to attain the Ascent to Transcendence in SMAC.)

Note that, in addition to the various default wizards available to the player it is also possible to compose custom wizards much like it is possible to compose to custom races as in Master of Orion 2: one has a number of picks that are gradually exhausted by raising the various magical proficiencies and adding other perks.

In my most recent winning game, I had it set on Normal difficulty (REEEEEE) with only two opponents out of a possible four due to some earlier irritating false starts where I was hemmed in by aggressive psychopathic rivals from the very beginning. I like room to expand and mind my own affairs in the beginning. Land size was set to Large for the same reason. Magic was also Normal, giving an intermediate level of magic power from shrines, libraries etc. as well as special magic nodes that can be found and controlled throughout Arcanus and Myrror.

I then went on to choose one of the default wizards, Tauron, the Chaos specialist. He has ten spell levels in Chaos and none anywhere else, in addition to Chaos Mastery which accelerates his research of spells in his specialty. (Note that as mentioned elsewhere, Tauron still has the full complement of Arcane spells.) I was then given a choice of races to govern in my first village and in later settlements founded from their population. Because I like to develop my settlements to the fullest, I chose Orcs, who have no restrictions on what they can build in a given settlement. (I will likely choose differently in future games but more on that later.)

From then on, no matter what other conditions you chose to start with, your empire starts as a single pitiful little village (typically) defended only by a Swordsman and Spearman unit of your chosen starting race. You will notice that, just as in virtually every other 4X game, virtually the entire map is shrouded in blackness but for your immediate environment. The Swordsman is a little stronger among the two so set him on patrol mode in your village, then—and make sure of this!—start production of your first building, such as a granary, in your first village and after this start exploring with the Spearman for a good site for your next settlement and for other features of interest, including rival settlements that you should steer clear of until you're more powerful. Good sites for a new settlement are those on the shore of the ocean (inland lakes are typically poor places to build harbors on because of their lack of access to anywhere else), with a mixture of terrain types nearby conducive to balanced development and prosperity. (The details on terrain types can be found in the manual and also viewed interactively with the Surveyor tool under the Info menu.) You will also come across various caves and ruins. It makes sense to explore them immediately, because you have an option of whether to fight the denizens or not and the site may be unguarded altogether, usually netting you some gold or mana crystals. It's essentially a risk-free undertaking unless you want to try to wipe out the current occupants. Another thing I would recommend doing early on is reducing the allotment of total magical power to the magic reserve, total mana available for casting spells, shifting it to research and casting skill (how much mana is available per turn for overland spells and in each battle—often very critical for victory when the odds are otherwise against your forces). Of course if you find yourself running low on mana this can be altered but for most of the game I tend to keep total magical power alloted to the magic reserve fairly low. (Remember that you also have the option of alchemy: turning gold to mana or vice versa if you are long on one and short on the other.)

What I like to do as far as my initial strategy is concerned is get some industry and commerce up and running in my first village which soon becomes a larger town. This means having things like a Sawmill and Miner's Guild which speeds all further production as well as a Granary and Marketplace to encourage growth and revenue generation. After this is done I want to start the cycle of creating one foot soldier unit and one settler unit and then installing them in sites that look promising with the single soldier there to "hold down the fort" until further, more substantial defenses can be arranged. Even if there is only one defending unit you can intervene against attackers with what magic you have at the beginning of the game. It bears mentioning that these are not only forces sent by competing wizards but also raiders from other settlements and even wandering monsters. A settlement not defended will soon be wiped out, ravaged or seized outright. Another thing that bears mentioning with your foundling settlements is that as outposts you settle turn into hamlets they will not do anything but produce new housing until you set them to do anything else!

Anyway one thing you can be sure of at some point is coming into contact with the other wizards. There are various diplomatic options that can be entertained with them but I don't make extensive use of them. For one thing, in this game, there is no such thing as diplomatic victory (something I've never attempted in other 4X games either anyway), only victory through total military conquest or casting the Spell of Mastery. Diplomacy is ultimately just pretend in Master of Magic. For another thing, as in other 4X games, the other wizards are all at heart hostile, faithless sociopaths and the only difference is a matter of degree. If for example the wizard you're dealing with has a Ruthless personality, why bother? You might only delay the inevitable declaration of war by a few turns. Another thing I've noticed about the AI wizards is that every single one of them does not want any concentration of your units on its territory, even if it's only just one scout we're talking about. Initially, if my scout Spearman encounters any rival wizard settlements I will just get him the fuck out of there and explore elsewhere until I'm competent enough to handle a declaration of war on me.

Another avenue of exploration that I seriously recommend is to get a boat in the ocean as soon as possible. If your initial settlement isn't on the ocean shore then you should build one there pronto and develop it to where you can at least get a trireme built and exploring, maybe even a galley or warship if you want to wait longer to build the facilities for these more advanced vessels. Triremes can move two squares which is, at least, more than most land units not on roads. Galleys can do three and warships can do four. (Galleys have larger capacity though, being capable of carrying five units.) Whatever your decision is about what kind of ship to send out at first you should also include at least one armed unit and a settler unit in case you have the opportunity to make landfall in unoccupied territory and start a colonization effort.

As you progress further in the game you will pretty much inevitably build up your total magic power base which is essential for victory by Spell of Mastery which will other things being equal probably net you a lower final score than direct military conquest but most likely will also be a lot less tedious for you as the player, so I recommend at least preparing yourself for it. Another thing is that the sociopathic rival wizards are bound to start declaring war on you at some point. The bad news is that I suspect that the AI cheats, a suspicion shared by other players of the game. The good news which overshadows the bad news considerably is that the AI is severely retarded. The following is a fairly typical AI attack on a well-defended city:

Retarded, ineffectual attack on the capital of my empire

Enemies would very frequently throw away a few piddling units at a time (or even one) rather than try to concentrate any real force on my most important settlements. Very occasionally I would lose a less important town or city to a more serious offensive only to be able to reclaim it fairly easily in the coming turns, with only one exception that came late in the game.

Ultimately I won by casting the Spell of Mastery. When you attain this spell you likely have nothing else to research at this point so obviously you should take all magic out of research and divide it all between magic reserve and casting skill for any major battles to come.

You get to review the odious shitheads you are finally getting rid of after Spell of Mastery is cast

Of course as mentioned I won the last game I played but in the current one I am playing I went as far as to create a custom wizard with eleven spell ranks in Chaos rather than Tauron's "mere" ten. Chaos is by far my favorite magic discipline in the game with its no-nonsense focus on direct devastation to the enemy and I have not regretted emphasizing this capacity at this expense of everything else. I also did a lot more to try to raise up my military prowess earlier on and break into Myrror as well as conquer neutral cities and cave or ruins and am currently bringing one enemy city after another under my control. Additionally I started off with High Men rather than Orcs as they are a much better race to start with, having very powerful Paladin units. (I also think very highly of the Lizardmen's Dragon Turtles and the Dwarves' Golems.)

Final advice I would give you is that, although it is quite easy to get caught up in the action of the game it is entirely possible to save and save often, something I recommend doing especially before risky military ventures. Lastly if you are confused and don't want to look in the manual, remember that right-clicking most things will give you very important information on what it all means.

All told, given the fantasy and 4X themes here, the hours required to finish a given game (not even taking the replayability into account), fairly deep strategy and pixelated mid-90s graphics I am going to give this one a final rating of turbo autism/5.