Master of Magic (MOM) FAQ and Strategy Guide

Welcome to the Master of Magic (MOM) FAQ and Strategy Guide. This is version
1.02 of that guide. It is mostly made up of material that was posted originally
to the internet by various authors. Thanks to all who contributed. You should
be aware that some editing has been done on the articles as submitted by the
original authors. Any mistakes this may have introduced are the responsibility
of the editor Dave Chaloux. The information in this document follows this
outline:

1. What is MOM?

2. Frequently asked questions
2.A What is the latest patch?
2.B Where can I get it?
2.C When is the next patch coming out and what will be in it?
2.D. Why can't I build Dwarven Steam Cannons?
2.E Why does my Strength 7 hero get butchered by Strength 4 Swordsmen?
2.F When is Alan Emrich's Strategy Guide coming out?

3. What bugs are known to exist?
3.A Program Hangs or Crashes Occasionally
3.B Breaking non-existant pact
3.C Raiders and Non-rampaging monsters
3.D Elven Lords with Demon Wings Bug
3.E No final War!
3.F NightStalker Bug
3.G Trade Goods Bug
3.H Controlling Enemy Units Bug
3.I Guise Display Bug
3.J Twelve Units in a Stack Bug
3.K Subversion Spell Bug

4. Strategy Guide
4.A Building Strategy
4.B Comments on the races (general)
4.C Comments on specific races
4.C.1 Dark Elves
4.C.2 Gnolls
4.C.3 Halflings
4.C.4 High Men
4.C.5 Klackons
4.C.6 Lizardmen
4.C.7 Trolls
4.D Comments in general about magic
4.E Comments on specific colors of magic
4.E.1 Chaos Magic   (Red)
4.E.2 Death Magic   (Black)
4.E.3 Life Magic    (White)
4.E.4 Nature Magic  (Green)
4.E.5 Sorcery Magic (Blue)
4.F Starting Combinations
4.G Allocation of Spell Points
4.H Miscellaneous Ideas
4.H.1 Flying Warships!
4.H.2 How to deal with Flying Warships.
4.H.3 The Best Way to Dispell Enemy Incantations
4.H.4 The (almost) worthless unit tactic

5. Cheats
5.A Artifact Cheat
5.B Bypassing Planar Seal

6. Tables
6.A Hero List for Master Of Magic
6.B Expected Combat Results Table

================================================================================
1. What is MOM?
================================================================================

MOM is a game of exploration, research, and conquest based on magic. It
is programmed by SIMTEX for MicroProse. Their other game is Master of
Orion and many things are loosely based on it (for example diplomacy). It
also has similarities with such games as CIV and Warlords II. Its magic
system is color based and reminds some of "Magic: The Gathering".
You start the game with just one hamlet. You need to manage your
resources to produce and maintain armies, research magic, increase your
skill in magic, and have mana with which to cast spells. You eventually need
to get rid of all your competitors. You can do this either through conquest
or by casting the Spell of Mastery. Of course, the other Wizards in the
game are trying to do the same to you.

Like MOO it has a great deal of replayability because their are 14
different wizards to play against with various strengths and weaknesses.
At the same time, you can design your own wizard or play one of the ones
they have provided. There are also various races you can be and again
they have various strengths and weaknesses. Elves, for example, are good
at magic but they don't reproduce very quickly.

A fair amount of micromanagement is involved if you like that sort of
thing. For example, you can control the buildings that are produced in
your cities as they grow. You can also control tactical combat. On the
other hand, you can let your Grand Vizier do the micromanagement of the
towns for you. You can also have the computer take control of the tactical
combat.

This is a complex game and is probably not for the 20 minute at a sitting,
hack and slash crowd.

Contributed by: Dave Chaloux

================================================================================
2. Frequently asked questions
================================================================================

2.A What is the latest patch?

The latest patch is version 1.1.

2.B Where can I get it?

This patch is available from the following places:

1) The Microprose Bulletin Board. The # is (410) 785-1841. You need settings
   of 8,N,1 and it supports up to 14.4 Kbs.

2) It is on ftp.netcom.com in /pub/game-patches and is called momv11.zip.

3) It is on wuarchive.wustl.edu in /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/games/patches
   and is called momv11.zip.

4) It is on bell.ecs.soton.ac.uk in pub/pc/games/patches.

2.C When is the next patch coming out and what will be in it?

The version 1.2 update is tentatively scheduled to be available Nov 11th...

Coming in version 1.2, a scoring system will be implemented in the game.
In other words, when you finish the game, you will be told how well you
did - and we'll probably deflate some egos along the way. ;-)

Contributed by: MicroProse


   This week, Steve Barcia and the MOM team are hammering in lots of new
stuff for the AI. When the next patch makes its way out there, it will be
known as "The AI patch." Steve promises no more easy military victories
for MOM players. Cities and, especially, enchanted fortresses will have
tough nuts to crack. He promises that most games will be won in the
future, not through military conquest, but by casting the Spell of
Mastery.
   Frankly, I can't wait. :-)

   PS - That patch will also make gold much more scarce. Better watch your
budgets in the future, too.

Contributed by: Alan Emrich, MOM book coauthor


2.D. Why can't I build Dwarven Steam Cannons?

Get the patch. Also, you need a miner's guild.


2.E Why does my Strength 7 hero get butchered by Strength 4 Swordsmen?

The answer is that there is strength in numbers.  The 4 "swords" that it 
shows in the upper right combat window represents the strength of one 
swordsman in the unit.  Humans typically have 6 humans in a unit. 

Here comes the math.  Each "sword" represents a 30% chance of doing one 
"heart" of damage to an opponent.  Each "shield" represents a 30% chance 
of blocking a "heart" of damage.  When all "hearts" are blacked out the 
unit is dead.

Let's assume that this hypothetical hero has 7 "swords",  5 "shields", 
and 8 "hearts" (this would make hime pretty close to The Rogue in stats). 
 Let's also assume that the swordsmen are Highmen Regulars.  This will 
give each figure in the unit 4 "swords", 2 "shields", and 1 "heart" a 
piece. 

Now the melee starts.  All melee combat is simultaneous.  The hero swings 
and typically does around 2 "hearts" damage (30% x 7 "swords" = 2.1). 
All of the swordsmen swing and typically do around 7 "hearts" damage (30% 
x 24 "swords" = 7.2).  After the damage is calculated each side gets to 
shield itself.  The hero typically stops around 2 "hearts" (30% x 5 
"shields" = 1.5, we'll round this up to 2).  This means that he will be 
taking around 5 "hearts" damage this round.  He only has 3 left.  The 
swordmen take their damage one figure at a time.  Each figure typically 
will shield 1 "heart" (30% x 2 "shields" = .6).  So the first figure 
rolls his saves and stops 1 "heart".  Unfortunately, there are 2 "hearts" 
of damage to apply so he takes the unshielded "heart" and dies.  Now 
there are 5 swordmen in the unit and one hero who has taken quite a 
beating this round.  If he goes another round he will most likely die.  I 
guess it wasn't a good idea to attack those swordmen. 

This example showed one round of combat with no modifiers.  Typically,
there will be quite a few modifiers due to experience of units, special 
abilities of units, and the use of magic and items.

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


I did a little playing around with numbers to see if I could gain some
insight into the combat system. Here is some of what I learned.

1) Given Identical Stats (corrected for # of units), the unit with the
fewer # of figures will on average win.

Say that we have a unit of six skullcrunchers with each unit rated
7 offence(Swords), 3 defence (Shields), and 2 hits(Hearts). This gives
a total ability of 42 offence, 18 defence, and 12 hits. Say it is fighting
a unit of browbeaters with only 1 figure with stats of 42, 18, 12. Who
will win? The browbeaters have it hands down. Here is why.

First round
Both do 12.6 hits. 5.4 of those hits are defeated. This means the units
take 7.2 hits. The skullcrunchers just lost 3 figures and one of the
remaining figures is half dead. The browbeaters still have their
one figure they started with.

Second round
Browbeaters do the same amount of damage and the skullcrunchers die.
The skull crunchers hit for 6.3 hits but 5.4 of those hits are
defeated. The browbeaters lose another .9 hearts but the unit
survives.

2) The way advancement works, it heavily favors the units with more
figures. This is because you can one sword and one cross when you
advance a level. However, remember that swords and crosses are multiplied
by the number of figures in the unit.

3) Plusses in the too hit are extremely significant. Say we have the
same two units we started with but this time the skullcrunchers have
+1 to hit (40% chance each sword hits instead of 30%). The browbeaters
do the same damage as was originally calculated. However, the skullcrunchers
now do 16.8 hits - 5.4 defeated = 11.4 hits actually landed. About half
the time, the skullcrunchers will blow away the browbeaters in the first
round of combat.

NOTE: The above is over simplified since defence is done one figure at
a time. This favors the single figure unit even more than show above.
Thanks to Brian Wade for pointing this out to me.

Contributed by: David Chaloux


2.F When is Alan Emrich's Strategy Guide coming out?

... So far, it's shaping up to be 28 chapters (my usual books are about 15!),
plus appendicies. We've got a ton of hard data and formulae, plus a zillion
strategy tips. I think it should hit the shelves around January, with any luck.

Contributed by: Alan Emrich


================================================================================
3. What bugs are known to exist?
================================================================================

How much time have you got? Seriously, in its current form (v1.1), it still
has quite a few bugs but it is playable.

Some of the known bugs with this patch follow:

3.A The programs still hangs or crashes occasionally. Some specific
instances are detailed below.

3.A.1 Has anybody else noticed that casting flame strike crashes the game
with a "not a valid sound file" error? I was sure they would
fix such an obvious bug in v1.1.

Contributed by: sungod@worf.infonet.net


The problem of the "missing sound file" only occurs when I have sound
turned off.  If I re-enable the sounds, then the problem goes away.

(I checked with a save file)

Contributed by: Paul D. Walker


3.A.2 Last night I discovered another annoying lockup - whenever the opposing
wizard cast ice bolt, the sound bite would play, but no spell animations
would be shown, and the combat screen would lock up.  The mouse could move,
and ctrl-alt-del would reboot, but nothing else.

Contributed by: Tyson Tu

3.A.3 Well, where before I would have random crashes and crashes related
to hitting the Plane button, now I seem to have crashes when
somebody casts an overland enchantment - usually "Death Wish".

Contributed by: Jason Woods

3.B A wizard I had a pact with asked me to break my pact with another
    wizard...but I didn't have one.

Contributed by: Ron Pepper

3.C MOM v1.1 introduces a new annoying bug. The raiders and rampaging
monsters can no longer move around to attack city or unit.

Contributed by: DKurniawan

3.D My chaosed elven lords with demon wings could not attack some gargoyles.
Both sides showed wings. fortunately I had enough archers.

Contributed by: Daniel F H Kassiday

3.E I just played a game out, casting the spell of mastery. What ever
happened to the "final war" once you start casting it anyhow? My
relations stayed good with all the computer opponents up until the
spell completion.

Contributed by: David Pugh

3.F Last night I was playing a later nighter when I summoned a
Nightstalker and sent him running across the countryside to a town of
mine on the front lines.  As this unit passed enemy units the enemy
units would engage in battle with it (even though it's supposed to be
invisible but only seems to be once in combat), *but*, once in the battle
screen the enemy units, no matter what type or how large a stack, would
simply FLEE because, I'm assuming, they couldn't see any units because
they Nightstalker was invisible.  In the process of fleeing they would
lose half their stack.  So, with this tactic it's possible to take out
incredibly large armies with *ONE* Nightstalker.

Bug!

Contributed by: Pigdog from SF Bay


3.G Trade Goods Bug

Anyone else have the problem with getting so much income with the trade
goods setting in ver 1.1 that one acquires negative $? My main city is
getting so much money that i can't set it to producing trade goods
because it goes negative. it's really weird...

Contributed by: Warren Mjollnir Ransom


3.H Controlling Enemy Units Bug

This is likely a bug: whenever I can not move my units (magic sleep
etc...) I can control the enemy units instead!

Contributed by: salend@aol.com


3.I Guise Display Bug

Guise doesn't work completely from the City display screen. if you
are next to an enemy wizard's city, and right-click on it for a city
overview screen, the units will still appear in their guise. but, if
you pass the pointer over them, the correct name of the unit will
appear. recently, Jafar's capital city had a Hell Hound unit, a Djinn
unit and a Skeleton unit all of which were Swordsmen under Guise.
but, using this city display cheat, made it pretty clear that Jafar
wasn't just getting lucky with his mercenaries. "gee, why isn't that
Djinn using its fireball attack?" :-)

Contributed by: Eric Siebert


3.J Twelve Units in a Stack Bug

[I] went to kill 3 rampaging monsters in a stack. But they happened to be on
a node square that had 9 other creatures. This violates the 9 unit stacking
limit.

Contributed by: Admiral (brubaker@expert.cc.purdue.edu)


3.K Subversion Spell Bug

   The black spell Subversion is actually the blue spell Spell Blast when 
it is cast in version 1.1 of MoM.

Contributed by: Dave (sungod@worf.infonet.net)


================================================================================
4. Strategy Guide
================================================================================

4.A Building Strategy

My build strategy is always Builders Hall, Granary,
Shrine, Smithy, Marketplace, Farmers Market & then either
Temple or Library. If it is the main recruitment centre I
may build stables as well.

Contributed by: Bill Soo


The suggsted order is fine for late (although depending on situation I might
go for smithy/marketplace sooner) but the first city needs to make a few
military units and/or a settler before all those buildings get done.

Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg


If you have any mines nearby, build a Miners Guild soon.  If you left click
on the gold on the City Screen, it will tell you (in version 1.1) how much
gold you are getting from a mine.  If you get any, build a miners guild.

Contributed by: Bill Poitras

4.B Comments on the races (general)

One place is to look in the appendix in Table B.  It gives you overview.
A few observations:

- Races which produce warships (High Men, Barbarians, possibly others) are
  pretty good if you decide to rule the sea.  2 warships together are good
  enough to keep the opposition from landing troops on your soil, unless of
  course  they are escorted by Warships (I've very few opponent warships).
  I also have found that Berzerkers make good ground troops.
- Lizardmen can swim, making them great for exploring anywhere.  They can
  produce Dragon Turtles pretty cheaply, and they are good fighters.
- Although Krackens don't seem like much, they produce engineers and Stag
  Beetles, the latter a very good ground troop (though probably expensive)
- Halflings aren't too bad because they produce population very fast, and
  have a decent missle troop: Slingers.
  In MOM patch 1.1, all missle troops only sling one missle per round instead
  of two, but that balances troops better.
- High Elves produce Elven Lords (powerful ground troop) and LongBowmen (good
  missle troop)  and also can produce Magicians, which are pretty powerful.
- High Men (humans) are a great balanced race.  No special abilities, or
  strange troops, but like in many fantasy games, humans can pretty much
  produce all "normal" fantasy troops (Paladins, Magicians, Priests,
  Warships) but nothing "fantastic" like Stag Beetles, or Griffins or stuff
  like that.

Contributed by: Bill Poitras


In 1.1 they made the barbarians better and they made the hammerhands a
bit better. I consider the barbarians and dwarves on par with the other
races now. The hammerhands are the toughest thing this side of summoned
units. However, the gnolls are still the most pathetic things I've ever
seen. They get no city upgrades, they grow slowly, and their wolf riders
are nice, but can't even beat pikemen, which are only the second best unit
for humans and nomads. They have nice halbardiers, but the dwarf
halbardiers are better. To make the gnolls balanced, I would give each of
their units an extra hit. Then their halbardiers would be as good as
pikemen, and their wolf riders would be as good as wyvern riders or elven
lords. Come on, gnolls are supposed to be badasses, not wimps on the level
of humans. I couldn't believe it when I looked at their units and saw one
little heart.

Contributed by: Dave (sungod@worf.infonet.net)


One should start out planning to take over cities manned by other races.
Indeed the starting race determines how you play -at the start- but no more.

Contributed by: Drew Fudenburg


     I'm starting to wonder if the way I've been thinking about a starting
race is really a valid one.  The race that you pick only seems to matter for
the first portion of the game, after which you end up conquering so many
other race's cities that you have your pick of unit types to build.  Based
on this, I'm not sure if the slower growing ones are really worth it.  I
still like dark elves though, that extra mana that you pick up is really
worth it.  Based on growth, however, the barbarians are pretty darn fast,
and their berzerkers aren't too bad either.  I haven't played the orcs yet,
but they seem to be on par with barbarians.  The gnolls seem pretty
pathetic, as others have noted before me, but the wolf riders are worth it
if you happen to pick up one of their cities.
     The high men do produce those cool paladins, but it takes so long to
produce the buildings necessary that I'm not sure they're worth it.  The
high elves were nice too (extra mana) and the elven lords can take on much
of Arcana.  Except for the dragon turtles and stag beetles,  I didn't really
like the lizardmen or klackon, but they do have one thing going for each of
them - water travel for those of you who like to explore without having to
wait till the magic develops, and that bit about two less rebels in klackon
cities if the capital is klackon.
     These days, I've been playing quite a few games with nomads.  These
guys seem average at best, but they seem to be able to build cities
anywhere, and those rangers!  After building up my central city to the point
that I could get veteran units with magic weapons, I sent out three units of
rangers to explore and have a little fun.  These little guys decimated a few
cites (make sure that they're not defended by magician or shaman elite
units) and took out a few magic nodes and monster lairs/temples/ruins.  Sure
they took a little damage, but they all healed and went on.  I wonder what
they could have been like if I had played Warlord.  Super-elite rangers,
what a concept.
     If you like to play the other side and start on Myrror (I did, but it
gave too much of an advantage - cast planar seal and you get quite a bit of
magic power to yourself), the dark elves are the best.  The dwarves are cool
too, since their golems are damn near indestructible (never used those steam
cannons, so I'm not going to get into that discussion), and the hammerhands
are good for city defense.  The draconians are good (doom drakes) but they
can't follow the damn roads.  This is really annoying since all roads built
in Myrror are enchanted, so normal units can zip around for free while these
flying units are crawling across the landscape.
     Still, after all this analysis, my favorite game is still the hero
conquest game.  I haven't been playing as 'famous' lately, but IMHO, this is
still the best starting characteristic since it gives you almost unlimited
units to choose from, and good heros from the start.  If you couple it with
a fast developing race (for the money), you could have a really good power
base in a relatively short amount of time.  Ever notice the computer tries
to copy this by casting True Cause all the time?

Contributed by: Tyson Tu


4.C Comments on specific races

4.C.1 Dark Elves

The darkelves are just to cheezy. Once you have a wizards guild you can get
them Warlocks out. 8 or 9 fireballs in ranged attack! You also have healers.
Their fantastic stabels produce Nightmares [2/3 wings and ranged attacks and
above avrage melee] which makes it the most powerful allaround force.
They are just too good!

Contributed by: Jacob Jonsson


They are pretty tough, but you use up 2 picks to get them.

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


4.C.2 Gnolls

I like gnolls.  Sure they're low-tech, that's what subject races are for.  You 
need engineers?  Conquer the Klackons.  You need magic?  Conquer some Elves. 
The key that people are missing on the Gnolls is not their high-end units 
(wolfriders), it's their low-end units (spearmen and swordsmen).  The gnoll 
player should immediately go on the offense.  Make enemies, conquer the raider 
cities.  The +2 strength on their cheap fighters makes them more than a match 
fo the early opposition on Arcanus.  Aggression, aggression, aggression. 
(Warlord wouldn't hurt either).

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


Believe it or not, I play Gnolls. Willingly. Not only that, I play them 
usually led by an all-death or all-sorcery spellcaster, cutting down
significantly on the offensive magic you can use to support the troops.
The reason why? Well, to be honest, the real reason was to try a 
challenge :-), but I've found a pretty decent Gnollish technique:
build lotsa cities right away, and forget buildings. You can't build
them anyway. Maybe a stable or two. Crank out the troops. That's all
they exist for. You then use your endless Gnollish hordes to take over
the other races, whose slaves are quite happy to provide you with the
nifty buildings your master race just doesn't want to bother with.

Success? So far, I'm winning my fourth straight game on Impossible level,
with maximized opponents (varying landmasses, though).

Contributed by: David R. Henry


4.C.3 Halflings

Halflings are limited in what they may build. I played a game where I
took over a nomad city in the beginning and without them I think that
not much could have been done. Shamans and slingers doesn't stand much
chance againts Hordes of bowmen and magicians and swordsmen.

Contributed by: Jacob Jonsson


I've had goold luck with halflings despite their lack of a good melee unit,
lack of magicians, and lack of  several buildings; They grow quickly and
slingers are more powerful than bowmen or even longbowmen. so I can tke over
a few cities and nodes quickly and grow from there.

Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg


4.C.4 High Men

Paladins are great!  Their innate immunity to magic and first strike
capabilities make them good offensive weapons.  Only two things to
remember:  a) missiles can hurt them, so gaurdian wind is a great
addition to any paladin  b) They can't first strike what they can't
hit, so if you can cast flying on them (in or out of combat) or
cast web on their opponent, it is well worth the mana spent.
Watch out for "negate first strike" enemies like pikemen and kill 
them off with supporting heros and/or spells.

The building capabilities for High Men allow them to make very
advanced cities that produce a nice cash flow, be sure to use it.
(bank, mechanicians guild, merchants guild, etc...)

Contributed by: Matt Carlson


In my opinion, Paladins are the toughest normal units available that
you can start with on Arcanus. There are tougher units, but they
are only available on Myrror. These units are 
   1) Nightmares (grossly outmatch the Paladins)
   2) Hammerhands (mostly outmatch the Paladins)
   3) Minotaurs (almost evenly matched)
   4) War Mammoths (also almost evenly matched)

The following calculations are based on a table of numbers I generated
on my computer. I am including this table at the end of the post.
For the combats, I assume both units are recruits and that each unit
does the expected amount of damage. Due to the vagaries of the dice,
it is possible that the combats will not go as described but this is
what should happen on average.

a) Airships: The airship cannot be attacked by Paladins since it
is a flying unit. It can only be counterattacked if the airship
decides to melee (a foolish choice). Until then, the Paladin must
suffer through 10 rounds of 8 missile fire. With a defence of 6
(including the holy bonus) we can expect 1.0078 hits per turn
(not counting any range modifier). After 10 turns, the Paladin has
taken 10 hits and has 2 figures left, one of which is half dead.
If the Airship then proceeds to melee, the Paladin unit (atk 7 vs
def 2 (AP attack)) will inflict 1.5716 hits per figure (or 3.1432 hits) to
the Airships 0.4485 (atk 5 vs. def 6). After 6 turns, the Paladin has
been reduced to 1 figure while the Airship has taken 18 hits. The Airship
now needs 9 more turns to kill the last Paladin but the Paladin will kill
the Airship in only 2 more turns.

b) Doom Drakes: Another flying unit. The Doom Drakes can refuse
combat with the Paladin but if they attack, they will be slaughtered.
First, the Drake has a breath attack of 6 vs. the Paladins defence of 6
giving .6148 hits times 2 drakes or 1.2296 hits. The Paladins return
with 7 vs 1 for 4 * 1.8247 or 7.2988 hits, the drakes counter with
their own melee of  8 vs 6  for 2 * 1.0078 or 2 hits. In the second
round, one Paladin dies to a breath attack but the other three kill
a drake and inflict 2.773 hits on the survivor. They take another hit in
return. After another 2 rounds, the drakes will be dead and the Paladins
should still have 3 figures.

c) Elven Lords: The Elven Lords are a close match in that both units
have first strike and armour piercing attacks and 4 figures per unit.
The Elven Lords 5 vs 3 attack (+2 to hit) yields 1.6745 hits per
figure while the Paladins 7 vs 2 attack yields 1.5716 hits per figure.
The difference is the Paladins have 4 hits per figure while the Elven
Lords have only 3. So in the first round, 2 Elven Lords will die to 1
Paladin (plus 1 half dead). The second round will kill another Lord
and Paladin and the last round will finish off the last Lord and leave
one Paladin standing.

d) Golems: The Paladins first strike will be at 7 vs 4 for 4 * 1.1386
or 4.554 hits. The Golem will return with 12 vs 6 for 1.9694 hits. The
Paladins should lose a figure in 2 turns at which point the Golem is
at 11 hits remaining. After 2 more turns, the Paladins lose another figure
but the Golem is at 4 hits remaining. The last two Paladins will
kill the Golem in 2 turns with first strike preventing the Golem from
killing another Paladin.

e) Griffins: Flying troops with AP and First strike; a good match. If
the Griffins attack, they will go in at (9 vs 3) * 2 against the Paladins
(7 vs 2)*4. The Griffins will inflict 3.7626 hits and receive
6.2864 hits in return. Assuming a Paladin died, in round 2 the Griffins
inflict another 3.7626 hits and receive 4.7148. This may kill another
Paladin and will probably kill a Griffin (and inflict a hit on the other).
The Griffin now inflicts 1.88 hits per turn and the Paladins inflict
3.1432. In 3 turns, the Griffin will kill a third Paladin but the survivor
will kill the Griffin.

f) Hammerhands: The thing about these guys is their big attack times
6 figures per unit. The Paladin will attack at (7 vs 2)*4 for 6.2864 hits,
killing a Hammerhand. The Hammerhands return with (8 vs 6)*5 for 5.039
hits, killing a Paladin. Next round, the Paladins inflict 4.7148, killing
another Hammerhand and receive 4.031, losing another Paladin. The next
round sees the Paladins deliver 3.1432 hits, killing another Hammerhand
and receive 3.023, losing a third Paladin. We now have a full strength
Paladin vs 3 Hammerhands, one half dead. This Paladin inflicts 1.5716 hits,
possibly killing a Hammerhand and receives 2.0156 hits in return. In
the last round, he will half kill another Hammerhand but die in the counter
attack.

g) Manticores: They fly and have a poison attack. Paladins resist poison
with a strength of 90% (with holy bonus). Each attack will only inflict
0.6 hits on average, or 1.2 hits for the two figures in the Manticore
unit. In melee, the Paladins inflict (7 vs 1)*4 for 7.2988 hits, killing
an manticore and receive 5 vs 6 for 0.4485 hits. The second round will
finish off the manticores and leave 4 Paladins, one of which is half dead.

h) Minotaurs: The Paladins strike first with (7 vs 2) * 4 for 6.2864 hits
and then receive (12 vs 6) * 2 for 3.9388 hits. If a Paladin was killed,
then in the second round they inflict 4.7148 hits and receive another
3.9388 hits. If another Paladin was killed, then in round three, they
inflict 3.1432 hits, killing a Minotaur and receive 1.9694 hits. In round
4 they inflict another 3.1432 hits and receive another 1.9694 hits. If
the Paladin survives, then in round 5, they inflict another 3.1432 hits

and receive 1.9694 hits, losing the third Paladin. The survivor then
inflicts 1.5716 hits and receives 1.9694 hits, possibly dying but if
he survives, then he attacks for another 1.5716 hits and possibly kills
the Minotaur. In effect, if the Minotaurs don't kill a Paladin on the first
round, they will almost certainly lose. If they do, then they will
probably win.

i) Nightmares: These are very vicious flying units with good numbers (4
figures per unit), excellent melee (8) and great hits (10). They also
have a ranged attack but since it's magic, it has no effect on Paladins.
In melee, the Paladins strike first with (7 vs 2)*4 for 6.2864 hits and
receive (8 vs 6)*4 for 4.0312 hits, losing a figure. The next turn, they
kill a Nightmare and receive 3.0234 hits. In round 3 they inflict another
4.7148 hits and receive another 3.0234 hits, losing another figure. In
round 4, they inflict 3.1432 hits and receive another 3.0234 hits, losing
a third figure. In round 5 the survivor inflicts 1.5716 hits, killing the
second Nightmare and takes 2.0156 hits. In the last round he does another
1.5716 hits before dying.

j) Stag Beetle: The beetle gets a 5 breath attack before melee. This
does on average 0.4485 hits. The Paladins then melee with (7 vs 3)*4
5.3708 hits. The beetle counterattacks with (15 vs 6) for 2.7841 hits.
The next round, the beetle breathes for 0.4485 hits and gets melee'd
for 5.3708 hits. The return of 2.7841 hits kills a Paladin figure and
mostly kills another. Round 3, the beetle breathes for 0.4485 and takes
4.0281 hits. The beetle then kills a second Paladin with 2.7841 hits. In
round 4, after the breath attack, the Paladins inflict 2.6854 hits and
receive another 2.7841 hits. On the last turn, the Paladins kill the beetle
before it can melee.

k) Steam Cannon: Great missile attack, zilch for melee. The Steam Cannon
bombards with (12 vs 6) for 1.9694 hits per turn. In about 9 turns then,
it should be able to kill a whole Paladin unit. However, since it has
only a speed of 1 to the Paladins 2, it will get caught after about 5-6
turns. At this point the Paladins are down to about 2 figures but
they now inflict 3.6494 hits per turn. Since the Cannon cannot run and
fire, it is doomed to be melee'd to death.

l) Warlocks: These powerful wizards are dead meat. Since Paladins are
immune to magic, they can run up the Warlocks and melee them to death.

m) War Mammoths: Excellent attack, defence, hits plus a first strike. These
units do (12 vs 6) * 2 for 3.9388 hits and receive (7 vs 3) * 4
for 5.3708 hits. This can go either way. After 3 turns, a Mammoth should
be dead as well as 2 Paladins. Probably, they will kill each other after
about 8 turns.

n) War Trolls: Interesting in that they regenerate. If handled correctly,
they will win simply by fighting until they are low in health then running
away to heal. Fortunately, the computer isn't that smart. The Paladins
inflict (7 vs 2)* 4 for 6.2864 hits, killing a troll. They
then receive (8 vs 6)* 3 for 3.0234 hits. The trolls regenerate a hit.
In round 2 the Paladins inflict another 6.2864 hits killing another troll.
The trolls counter with 2.0156 hits, killing a Paladin. They regenerate
another point. The 3 Paladins now do 4.7148 hits, killing a third troll.
The troll survivor does 1.0078 hits. Regeneration brings back a troll with
1 hp. The Paladins do another 4.7148 hits, killing the just revived troll
and receive 1.0078 hits, losing another Paladin. The last two Paladins
finish off the remaining troll with 3.1432 hits.

o) Wyvern Riders: Flying units with poison. Similar to manticore except
slightly better defence ( 2 vs 1) and more hits (10 vs 7).
Paladins strike for (7 vs 2) *4 for 6.2864 hits and receive (5 vs 6) *2
for .897 hits plus another 1.2 hits in poison so about 2 hits. The
Paladins strike again for 6.2864 hits, killing a wyvern, and receive
0.4485 hits plus .6 hits in poison, so another hit say. Finally, the
Paladins kill the last wyvern with another 6.2864 hits, leaving
4 paladin figures, one of which is mostly dead.

Contributed by: Bill Soo


Oops. It has been brought to my attention that a few errors
were included in my original post on the merits of Paladins.

Specifically, the FIRST STRIKE capability is in ADDITION to
normal melee combat (at least when on the offensive). Second,
I erred in my calculations by multiplying the shields by the
number of figures. Since all damage is applied to one figure
at a time, only his shields count. For example, a full strength unit of
Paladins will attack a nightmare with 28 swords vs 2 (halved for AP)
shields. This will yield 7.8 hits
instead of my previously calculated 6.288. If the damage is
sufficient to kill a figure (not in this case), then the excess damage may
be stopped by another set of shields.

Also, I already know that Paladins do not start at recruit
but neither do some other troops and I want to keep things
simple.

Gee, I guess I have to like Paladins even MORE now :)

BTW: If the number of swords is greater than the number
of shields, then you can simplify the equation for determining
hits to (%to hit)*(swords) - (%to defend)*(shields).

Contributed by: Bill Soo


4.C.5 Klackons

I like Klacklons too; sure they can't build much, but they don't need to!
They grow very quickly, produce stuff quickly, it doesn't take long to get
Stag Beatles which are even stronger than Dragon Turtles, and since unrest
in Klacklon cities is reduced by 2 if you have a Klacklon capital you can
scooch the tax rate up at the very beginning of the game.

Contributed by: Neal Dutta


4.C.6 Lizardmen

Lizardmen ar even more restricted in their buildings and units [than
halflings], but early on swimming settlers are great, and dragonturtles
come online sooner than anything comparable (eg stag beetles.)

Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg


4.C.7 Trolls

TROLLS RULE.
They regenerate ever turn in combat, so if the enemy moves the same speed 
as you you can jsut outrun him and heal. Even if its a full stack.
Also computers in cities usually jsut sit there and wait for you to 
approach, so your troll can fight them one by one and heal in between.
War Trolls are especially powerful because there 2 movement allows them 
to outrun most units and heal.

I started recently with trolls and with the 2 trolls that I started the 
game with I was able to take over half of Myrorr. THey are extremely 
powerful. note that trolls get 4 HP instead of one the spearmen usually get
and also +attack.

Trolls also come back to life if they die in a battle but you still win 
the battle.

Contributed by: Mike 'Krazy' Donais


4.D Comments in general about magic

Playing w/o sorcery or death spells leaves your heroes open to
crack's call. this needn't be an absolute impediment to victory but
one should keep it in mind. I won my latest game on hard (v 1.1)
as Ariel- all life spells- but I was able to take out the one Nature
wizard early. Otherwise it would have been tricky. Sorcery offers flight
(which defends against cracks call) and also counter magic, good against
all sorts of nastiness, like chaos spells.

Contributed by: Drew Fudenberg


4.E Comments on specific colors of magic

4.E.1 Chaos Magic   (Red):

I have been playing as a chaos wizard, and if its damage you
want, then it is here!  I think that for killing a single unit
Warp Lightning nay be the most powerfull spell in the game.  I
have yet to have a unit survive its power. (and the graphic is
cool too...:)

Contributed by: Tom Franklin


Chaos:  Combat.  Combat combat combat.  That's what chaos magic is all about.
Virtually all of the strategic weapons are chaos magic too.  If you want
to be able to demolish enemy cities without actually sending troops, this is
the way to go.

Contributed by: Jason Skiles


4.E.2 Death Magic   (Black):

pros: (key spells)
I was myrran and playing dark elves so i had an advantage to start but,
skeletons: quickly summoned early garrison for cities...and they're free.
black channels and darkness combo; this really gave me the power i needed
all my units were undead (heros,etc) and its not mana expensive to do.

-zombie mastery absolutely essential. creates an instant garrison any
time you take a city, and failed attacks only make you stronger (besides
the casting graphic is my favorite in the game)

cons:
Some spells like black sleep never seemed to work enough times to make
them worthwhile.

No direct damage (drain life is too slow, death spell takes too long to get
and is only useful later in the game).

Contributed by: Peter G


Additional cons on Death Magic:

Everyone hates you!

Your undead units cannot be healed.

Your undead units are subject to banishment.  This includes your heroes as I 
found out to my dismay.  I had Black Channeled a hero this worked out really 
well (so he couldn't heal, he had a vampiric weapon and was pretty tough) 
until a Dispel Evil spell banished him and his items forever.

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


I finally tried to play with Death Magic. I customized my wizard, took
Myrror and Archmage skills, and invested the rest in Death Magic. The
only reason that so far I refused to even take a Death book is that
its power is so vile, and it only brings destruction. Now I'm a person
who enjoys building and improving things. I waged war every where, but
I do not like to spread pestilence on others, or leading a horde of
zombies. Chaos magic is still okay, but Death: NO!

But, well, it's only a game, right? So for a change I become the Queen
of Darkness, for once. I call my capital Xaragoz --those who read the
Warhammer books may recognize the name. The second city is Skullhaven,
the third Rou Extase, the forth is a mockery: Nirvana, and so on.
Gosh, I am evil <sigh>. The magic is cool, although I miss all those
constructive spells of Life or Nature, and the ellusive spell of
Sorcery. But the spells are so different in nature that it's actually
very fun to play it. Now in version 1.1 Phantom Warriors have become
useless, but look at Black Sleep! I put Basiliks into slumber, can you
imagine?? One think you should bear in mind, is, since you don't have
that neat Change Terrain on the Nature Magic, that you will have to
chose the place of your new Outpost well. If you started on a tiny
island, well, it's your badluck. I recommend you to start with
Draconians, or, if you hate those 'bugs' of stacking air units, or air
units cannot use roads things, take Beastmen. A Queen of Darkness does
not consider Dwarves bizare enough. Drows were cool, but they grow too
slow for my liking. Unless Simtex gives Drows more bizzare units, I
won't consider playing them.

All in all, I think you should try to play with Death Magic. It's
quite an experience.

Contributed by: Wishnu Prasetya (--Jade--)


4.E.3 Life Magic    (White)

Life:  The ONLY way to go if you're playing a Warlord, and not just because
of the Crusade spell.  Life magic is by far the best at 'pumping up' standard
units:  Heroism, Holr Armor/Weapon, Invulnerabilty, Lion heart...  Amazing.
Prayer and High Prayer help a lot, too.  These +1's start adding up in a big
hurry.  Also, Life magic gives you all the cool city enchantments.
Inspirations is a must for any city, and don't worry about the upkeep.  It only
costs 2 per turn, and it can easily earn you 40 gold on a city that's set on
Trade Goods, so these really pay for themselves, alchemy or no.  Life magic
gives you the freebies for switching planes, and also the game-securing
Planar Seal.

Contributed by: Jason Skiles


4.E.4 Nature Magic  (Green)

Nature:  My favorite.  Lots and lots of critter summoning spells, plus
the extremely useful Change Terrain and Earth Lore spells.  Short on combat
spells, but with Giant Strength, Stone Skin, Iron Skin, and whatnot, you
can get by.  Earth to mud is great if you've got missile troops, and crack's
call can take out even the meanest bad guys.  Regeneration is one of the
most powerful spells around.  Although it's expensive, a few of them can
make a tough army unstoppable, because it's impossible to 'wear down' a
regenerating army.  If you don't completely smash it, it's back to full
strength for the next fight.  Water walking comes early.

Contributed by: Jason Skiles


4.E.5 Sorcery Magic (Blue)

Sorcery:  Neat.  Neat neat neat.  Confusion is one of THE all-time coolest
spells, and certainly your best price/performance combat pick.  I've
successfully snagged everything from spearmen to storm giants with this
spell.  It only costs 15 spell points (11 if you've got ten books) so even
early in the game you can throw two or three per fight.  Phantom warriors
and beasts are really nifty too.  Sorcerers get the flight spell, invisibility,
mass invisibility (another favorite) and (fanfare) Wind Walking.  This is
an amazingly useful spell.  It lets the target and everyone stacked with him
fly, AT HIS SPEED.  I had Deth Stryke moving nine per turn and dragging four
heroes and four sky drakes with him.  A real experience if you're used to
struggling with those damned airships.  At the high end, Sorcery magic is
awesome.  Suppress magic is too cool for words, and Time Stop would be, if
I could just figure out this mana thing.  I have trouble keeping that spell
up.  Spell Binding (steal enemy global enchantment) is a winner as well, and
the Sky Drake is the most impressive summoned creature I've ever seen.

Contributed by: Jason Skiles


Don't forget Gaurdian Wind and Magic Immunity seperately or  in combination
on a unit.  Being immune to all long ranged missile and/or magic attacks is
great for any offensively powerful but defensively weak unit.

Note the high mana upkeep for summoned islands (4 or 5 mana). Depending on
your specials (summoning, lots of sorcery books, etc...) it may be cheaper
to just disband the island when its use is done and summon another one a few
turns later to the exact spot you need it.

Contributed by: Matt Carlson


I've only played one game w/ a custom wizard so far, and he had loads of
Sorcery.  I LOVED it!  Some people will claim flight and windwalking are
great and the best part, but I found that my favorite spell was:

Magic Immunity!  Not only are you immune to all funky spells (except for
dispells, but I had sorcery mastery which made it hard to dispell), but
all ranged magic attacks are reduced to ZERO!  Throw in guardian wind, and
for about a 5 or 6 mana upkeep nothing short of hand to hand combat can
touch the unit!

Invisibility can do the same thing, but there are always those sky
drakes, etc... that can see past invisibility.  I preferred to cast
invisibility only in combat just to protect specific units at specific
times.

Contributed by: Matt Carlson


4.F Starting Combinations

Most abusive combination I've discovered:

Fame, Charisma, Alchemy, Warlord, Life 5, Halflings.  This will ensure that 
you can buy your way to victory with Ultra-Elite mercenary troops.

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


4.G Allocation of Spell Points

One of the decisions you need to make in MOM that can have a profound affect
on the course of the game is how you allocate your mana between mana storage
(for casting spells), spell research, and spell skills.

I personally have switched to a rather radical distribution. In particular,
I am allocating NO, NONE, ZERO points toward mana storage. I do this
even though I am NOT playing with the alchemy characteristic. If I need
mana to cast spells or for maintenance (of spells or units) I convert gold.

Once mana gets into the reserve, it cannot be spent on research or skill
improvement. Since I have found that gold is a relatively plentiful
resource and is easily converted, I prefer to do things this way. This
allows the fastest possible increase in spells researched and skill
gained.

Now, if as Alan says, gold actually becomes somewhat hard to come by in
the next version of the game, I might have to rethink this strategy.

Contributed by: David Chaloux


I would agree with Dave. I allocate zero mana to the reserve as well.
In addition, I also micro manage the amount of mana I put into research.
That is, I try to adjust the research amount such that the cost of the
spell you are researching is an exact multiple. For instance, if the
spell I'm researching costs 700 rps and my research setting is 300 rps,
then it will take 3 turns to research. But 3 turns at 300 is 900 rps so
you lose 200 points to wastage. Instead, I'll try to adjust it to either
350 rps (and get the spell in 2 turns) or reduce it to 175 (and get it
in 4 turns). Usually, the incremental bar won't let you get exactly what
you need but you can reduce wastage by a large amount. In addition,
I always check the amount whenever I capture (or lose) a node or build
a source of mana since these events will change the mana allocation.

BTW: This strategy is also used by each city when constructing things,
excess workers, who do not contribute to getting a particular item out
faster are converted into farmers. At least then, their output of food
can be converted into gold (contrary to at least one poster, it DOES work,
at least in v1.1).

Contributed by: Bill Soo


4.H Miscellaneous Ideas

4.H.1 Flying Warships!

I tried out my "flying warships" idea, and on the whole it worked
out fairly well.  In fact, I'd say it was possibly even a bit unbalancing.

The warships do not deal well with passengers, though.  They will try to
make any friendly normal unit in the same stack a passenger, but will then
refuse to move at all.  The only way out of this situation is to have the
normal unit move out of the stack - then the flying ship can proceed.
(this is v1.1).

To carry out this strategy, it's easiest to put 11 spellbooks into sorcery
magic, so as to get a researched flight (or wind walking) spell right away
(and pick a race which can build warships, of course).  Dropping the
casting cost of flight to 75mp doesn't hurt, either :-).

BTW - if there is one thing more obnoxious (and unbalancing) than a flying
warship, it's an invisible flying warship.  (Unfortunately, or maybe
fortunately, you can't start out with both flight and invisibility as
"freebies").

(... where ARE those rocks dropping from, anyway?  Bonk.  Aieeee!  <grin> ).

Windwalking works with warships too, but due to the stacking problem
so far the only thing I've seen which works is to cast windwalking on
one warship and stack it with a bunch of others.

The other warships can't move or maneuver in combat, but are reasonable and
fairly tough (and not overly expensive) cannon fodder.

Spell locks or invisibility are handy to keep the flight from being
dispelled (it's annoying and time consuming to recast the spell at 75mp,
and though your ship will not crash when flight is dispelled, it will
not move in combat or on the map until you recast it, and it stays
gone once dispelled.)

Contributed by: Bronis Vidugiris


Yes, the Flying Invisible Warship is the closest thing to a truly
unstoppable unit this game has.  'Sok, though, because since I
discovered this fact (about a week after getting my copy) I have
carefully abstained from building them -- just too good.  Of course, if
the AI really does skyrocket in v.1.2 I may rev up the shipyards again...

The really nice thing is that it's in the spirit of the game:  a flying
warship!  Of course!

"My lord!  My lord!"
"Fool!  My incantation of Mastery awaits!"
"My lord, the Frigates of the Golden Horde loom outside our walls!  They
shimmer in the air, their broadsides unseen reave our walls, our troops
fall as grass beneath the thunderhead!"
"What...?  Wait -- no --- aaaaah!"

And, in fairness, a good True Sight or Disenchant or Dispel Magic _will_
make them quite vulnerable.  So I don't think they're outrageous.  But
flying warships are, IMO, the coolest unit in MoM.

Contributed by: Daniel Starr


4.H.2 How to deal with Flying Warships.

How do I deal with those Invisible Flying Warships that Jafar keeps 
sending against me?  (Okay, it isn't frequently asked, but the answer may 
provide some strategy tips)

a.  Flee - This is what the computer opponents will typically do.  This 
is not really a good idea as you will lose around half your forces and 
the warships may pursue.  It should only be used if there is no other 
alternative.

b. Storm Jafar's Fortress - This is the preferred approach, but not really 
applicable in most cases.

c. Cast Spell of Mastery - An even better approach than Approach B, but 
even less practical.

d.  Disenchant Area - This is a good approach as it may strand the 
Warships on land even if you lose the fight.  Assume a base spell cost of 
175 (this is casting cost of Invisibility) in you calculations.  See the 
section on dispelling in the FAQ for more details.  This brings up the 
question of "How do I deal with Spell Locked Invisible Flying Warships?". 
This will be left as an exercise for the reader.

e. Fight fire with fire - Turn your units invisible.  Mass invisibility 
will make all of your troops invisible.  When invisible they can't be 
targeted by ranged weapons.

f.  Use non-directed spells - Some spells can be cast that don't require 
knowing where an opponent is to be effective.  These spells include 
spells that directly damage the warships, for example Flame Strike, Magic 
Vortex, and Wrack,  and those spells which can weaken the opponents 
attack such as Black Prayer and Terror.

g. Wall of Darkness - This will prevent the warships from using thier 
ranged attacks against units stationed in the city.

h. True Sight - Cast upon a unit, will allow the unit to see the 
warships.  If the creature is magic using, flying, or has a ranged attack 
it can attack the warships while they are flying.

i. Use undead and creatures with Immunity to Illusions - Undead and a few 
other creatures and heroes can see invisible creatures.  Zombie Mastery 
is great for this as you can get undead versions of most any unit.  In 
addition, Sky Drakes should be able to easily deal with the warships.

j. Toughen them up - Use tough creatures or magically toughen your forces 
defenses.  The warships will typically have 10-15 "rocks" damage. 
Creatures and heroes with this many "shields" or more will be very hard 
to kill.  There are many, many spells that can help here.  In addition, 
Golems are naturally tough enough that they will be able to defend 
indefinitely against the rocks from the warships, unfortunately they 
can't attack back (unless they fly - hint, hint).  Regeneration doesn't 
hurt either.

There are probably other techniques that don't fall into one of the above 
categories that will work as well.

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


4.H.3 The Best Way to Dispell Enemy Incantations

In my games, the question has come up on frequent occasions as to whether I
would be better off trying one large attempt at dispelling something or
several smaller shots at the same thing. The book gives your odds of
dispelling as (Dispell_Cost/(Casting_Cost + Dispelling_Cost). Since they
were nice enough to provide the formula, an answer to this question is
easy to work out.

It turns out that in terms of percent chance of eventually getting rid
of the spell, you are better off breaking the attempt into several
smaller ones. For example, if the spell you are trying to get rid of
cost 200 and you try to get rid of it using 200 your odds are
200/(200+200) = 50%. If you break that into two attempts of 100 each then
each attempt has a (100/200+100) = 33.33% chance of working. Together,
this gives you a 5/9ths = 55.55% chance when the two are combined.

A further advantage is that if you happen to get it on the first attempt,
you save all that Mana.

A possible disadvantage is you may need to get rid of that opposing spell
NOW. The cost of failing may be disasterous. In that case, load up and
hope for the best.

I have done the math in the general case but it is messy. Just remember
the results; when you have time, break up your attempts to dispell into
several smaller tries.

Contributed by: Dave Chaloux


Other things to consider are:

1. The Sorcerors "True" versions of the dispels get two points towards 
dispelling for every mana point spent.  In the above examples, you would 
have only needed to spend 100 mana if you had the "True" versions to get
the same results.

2. Dispel Magic and company will often remove more than the enchantment 
you were really concerned about (but it will never be detrimental to the 
caster). Say the target had 5 enchantments on it and you really wanted to
get rid of one of them.  The dispel may fail to get rid of the one you really
wanted removed, but may get rid of a few of the others.

3. Spell Blast always works (in my experience, anyone beg to differ?). 
The catch is you have to blast it before it is finished casting (Detect
Magic comes to mind).

4. The Area versions of Dispel Magic (Disenchant Area) will affect all 
units and city (if there is one) in the target square or the battlefield.
This can be a real bargain.  Remember that it only works on spells detrimental
to your cause (beneficial spells on enemies, detrimental spells on your units).

5. Think creatively.  Dispel Area can strand or incredibly weaken a 
whole enemy stack.

6. Protect yourself from dispelling (and banishment) by Spell Lock. 
This is a continuous 150 (I think, check it yourself) point dispel magic field 
against dispelling magics (did that make sense?).

7. Countermagic and related spells (Tranquility comes to mind) are 
preventative Dispel Magic spells and can be quite useful.

8. Nightshade is a free Dispel Magic (I'm not sure how many points) for 
your city.  When possible build your cities near it.

9. Spell Bind is good alternative to Disjunction is you are a really 
good Sorceror.

10. Some special abilities make your spells harder to dispel (Sorcery 
Mastery, Archmage, etc.).  Take this into account when you guess how much 
mana to spend.  Does anyone know if these bonuses are cumulative?

Contributed by: Brian Wade (FLEBO@AOL.COM)


4.H.4 The (almost) worthless unit tactic

In my latest game I have been playing a sorceror/life combo. One of
the early (and cheap - 10 mana) spells you get is Phantom Warriors.
This guys do NOT hold up very well against better units. However,
I find myself using them a lot (even though I have much better
things I can summon now). Why?

Because, the enemy AI will often target them instead of your better
units for destruction! With the missile attacks, etc. going at these
hapless creatures, it lets your better units close and get the job done
with minimal casualties first.

Just because a summoned unit is no good does not mean that it is
worthless!

Contributed by: David Chaloux


================================================================================
5. Cheats
================================================================================

5.A Artifact Cheat

It is possible to make artifacts other than staves and wands that have
spell charges.  Start the artifact as a staff or a wand and select the
spell charges you want.  Then switch to the actually desired artifact
without un-highlighting the desired spell charges.  Select four powers as
normal.  When the artifact is finished, you'll have the four powers you
selected, plus the spell charges.  Neat, eh?

Contributed by: Jeff (jeffrey729@aol.com)


5.B Bypassing Planar Seal

I found a way to bypass Planar Seal in MOM v1.1.

I went through a tower of Wizardry to Myrror to see what
Sss'ra was up to. As it turned out, he had pretty much
colonized the main continent, although he had left the
nodes alone. So I sent in a few heros and Paladins to take
some nodes and treasure (I was particularly interested in spell books).
 Along the way, I took a few of Sss'ra's cities (hey, he
started it by casting corruption by my fortress).
A few turns later, he cast a Planar Seal.

Now at this point, I was fairly well established so I didn't
bother to disjunct the seal. Besides, Ariel had been making
a nuisance of herself by sending in killer stacks via
Planar Travel. But I did want to send in a few more units.

So I transfered my summoning circle to a city in Myrror at a cost of 50 mp
then proceeded to cast Word of Recall on
selected units at a cost of 20 mp apiece. Contrary to what
is described in the manual, the unit appears in the Summoning
Circle, NOT the fortress. I even cast this spell on Warships
(flying, of course).

This is a far easier way to get to Myrror than Planar Travel,
Planar Shift etc. It's cheap and easy to get (Summoning Circle is arcane
common, Word of Recall is sorcery common) and is
quite versatile in that units are transported not only across
the plane (and planar seal) but vast distances as well.

The only condition is that you have to have a city in the other
plane first. This is not too hard to do if you can get a tower
of wizardry early in the game. All it takes is one good unit
across and you can capture a city (enemy or neutral).

Contributed by: Bill Soo

================================================================================
6. Tables
================================================================================

6.A Hero List for Master Of Magic:

Most of this is self explanatory. All of the abilities go from most logical
to those that might vary from game to game. The only Excpetion is the
Paladin/Black Knight. I am pretty sure their abilities don't change.

I do not know if certain people always have super abilities or not, I
think that each hero has a chance of getting the super ability, or the
noble ability. Of course I might be wrong. Feel free to send any level 0
(that's Hero level) stats of heroes you find, If there is enough demand
I'll print the Super Hero levels and the Demi-God Levels.

Upkeep 2 Heroes

Name          Me    Ra    Df    Re    HP   Specials
--------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf         5     -     4     10    11   Const +1, Mount
Barbarian     6     -     3     6     10   Might +1, Thrown 3
Sage          1     6     4     6     5    Sage 3, Cast 7
Dervish       4     4     4     6     6    Noble, Arrows*8
Beastmaster   5     -     4     6     7    Cast 5, Scout 3, Forest
Bard          4     -     5     6     6    Leadership, Cast 5
Orc Warrior   7     -     4     6     8    Might +1, Mount, Thrown 3
Healer        3     6     5     7     5    Pray +1, Cast 7, Healer
Huntress      5     4     3     6     7    Blade*, Arrow*8, Pathf
Thief         5     -     6     6     7    Agl +1, Charmed

Upkeep 3 Heroes

Name          Me    Ra    Df    Re    HP   Specials
--------------------------------------------------------
Druid         1     8     5     6     7    Cast 7, Scout 3, Purify
War Monk      6     -     6     6     6    Agl*, Charmed
Warrior Mage  4     4     5     6     7    Cast 5, Lucky, +1 Hit
Magician      1     8     5     10    5    Arcane +1, Lucky, Cast 10, +1 Hit
Assassin      3     -     5     6     6    Blade*, Poison 5

Upkeep 4 Heroes

Name          Me    Ra    Df    Re    HP   Specials
-------------------------------------------------------
Wind Mage     1     6     5     6     7    Cast 7, Windwalking, Noble
Ranger        7     5     5     6     8    Arrows*8, Scout 2, Pathfinding,
                                           Might +1, Cast 5,
Draconian     8     -     5     6     8    Flying (3 fly), Fire Breath 5,
                                           Might* +1, Legend +3
Witch         1     8     5     6     5    Charmed, Cast 5
Golden One    6     6     7     6     6    Spell *0, Agl +1, Pray +1

Upkeep 6 Heroes

Name          Me    Ra    Df    Re    HP    Specials
--------------------------------------------------------
Ninja         6     -     6     6     8    Invisibile, Agl +1, Blade
                                           Const +1
Rogue         7     -     5     6     8    Leader, Legend* +4,
                                           Noble
Amazon        8     -     4     6     8    Charmed, Thrown 4, Might +1,
                                           Blade, Arms +2
Warlock       1     8     5     10    5    Cast 5, Lucky, +1 Hit
Unknown       5     5     5     10    8    Spell*0, +1 Hit, Lucky,
                                           Legend +3, Arms +2, Agl +1

Upkeep 10 Heroes

Name          Me    Ra    Df    Re    HP   Specials
--------------------------------------------------------
Illusionist   1     6     4     6     5    Illusion, Cast 10, Charmed
                                           Pray +1
Swordsman     6     -     6     6     11   Arms +2, Const +1, Might +1,
                                           Agl +1, Leader, Legend +3
Priestess     2     8     5     6     5    Heal, Purify, Cast 12, Pray +1,
                                           Charmed, Noble, Arcane +1
Paladin       10    -     6     6     8    Magic Im, AP, First Strike,
                                           Leg +3, Heal, Pray +1, Agl +1,
                                           Might* +1
Black Knight  10    -     5     6     11   Magic Im, AP, First Strike,
                                           Leg +3, Might +1, Const +1,
                                           Arms +2, Blade
Elven Archer  5     8     6     6     6    Arrow *8, Forest, Arms +2,
                                           Charmed, Blade*
Knight        8     -     5     6     10   Leader*, Leg* +4, Const +1, Blade,
                                           Noble
Necromancer   1     8     5     6     5    Arcane* +1, Cast 12, Life Steal,
                                           Pray* +1
Chaos Warrior 8     9     6     9     9    AP, +1 Hit, Cast 10, Arcane +1,
                                           Lucky, Agl +1, Pray +1, Const +1

Upkeep 12
Name          Me    Ra    Df    Re    HP   Specials
--------------------------------------------------------
Chosen        13    -     8     12    13   Cast 5, Magic Im, Pray* +1,
                                           Might* +1, Const +1, Arms +1,
                                           Blade, Leader*

Contributed by: Dana Huyler c569836@monad.missouri.edu


6.B Expected Combat Results Table

The following is the table I used to generate my combat calculations.
It assumes a to hit chance of 30% and a defence chance of 30% (I made
another chart for the High Elves and their +1 and +2). At the top are
the number of shields (per figure) of the defending unit. Each row
lists the expected number of hits given the listed number of swords.

                               Defence Chances
          1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9      10
ATK  1  0.2100 0.1470 0.1029 0.0720 0.0504 0.0353 0.0247 0.0173 0.0121 0.0085
ATK  2  0.4470 0.3318 0.2455 0.1811 0.1333 0.0978 0.0716 0.0524 0.0382 0.0278
ATK  3  0.7029 0.5455 0.4210 0.3233 0.2471 0.1881 0.1427 0.1079 0.0813 0.0611
ATK  4  0.9720 0.7811 0.6233 0.4942 0.3896 0.3056 0.2386 0.1854 0.1436 0.1108
ATK  5  1.2504 1.0333 0.8471 0.6896 0.5578 0.4485 0.3587 0.2855 0.2262 0.1784
ATK  6  1.5353 1.2978 1.0881 0.9056 0.7485 0.6148 0.5021 0.4078 0.3296 0.2651
ATK  7  1.8247 1.5716 1.3427 1.1386 0.9587 0.8021 0.6670 0.5515 0.4536 0.3713
ATK  8  2.1173 1.8524 1.6079 1.3854 1.1855 1.0078 0.8515 0.7153 0.5977 0.4968
ATK  9  2.4121 2.1382 1.8813 1.6436 1.4262 1.2296 1.0536 0.8977 0.7606 0.6411
ATK 10  2.7085 2.4278 2.1611 1.9108 1.6784 1.4651 1.2713 1.0968 0.9411 0.8034
ATK 11  3.0059 2.7203 2.4458 2.1852 1.9402 1.7124 1.5025 1.3110 1.1378 0.9823
ATK 12  3.3042 3.0147 2.7343 2.4653 2.2098 1.9694 1.7454 1.5385 1.3490 1.1768
ATK 13  3.6029 3.3107 3.0256 2.7499 2.4857 2.2346 1.9983 1.7776 1.5732 1.3854
ATK 14  3.9020 3.6077 3.3191 3.0380 2.7666 2.5066 2.2596 2.0267 1.8089 1.6067
ATK 15  4.2014 3.9056 3.6142 3.3289 3.0517 2.7841 2.5280 2.2844 2.0546 1.8394

Contributed by: Bill Soo