Caster of Magic Warlord mod adds a lot to the game. A downside is that some of their additions cause computer to perform extra calculations, slowing down endturn waiting times considerably, particularly in larger games.
Warlord Lite preserves the vast majority of the additions from Warlord mod. It however strategically removes or adjust a few of these with end turn wait time as a top priority, reducing end turn wait times by 60%-85% depending on game size.
The game also aims to significantly reduce the # of recruitable units in the game by limiting army size by your budget and restraining excessive production in the late game.
We provide launcher files to preserve Caster of Magic for Windows unmodded as an option. Note that these instructions assume Regular Warlords mod is installed and therefore will result in an additional slot (non-patched Master of Magic and caster non-windows DLC) being used.
1) create folder "Master of Magic Caster Windows Warlord Lite" in Master of Magic folder
2) copy all content from "Master of Magic Caster Windows" to "Master of Magic Caster Windows Warlord Lite" (Requires fresh copy of all content from CoM II's latest version)
3) extract content from from Warlord Lite zip compressed file into Master of Magic folder (overwrite all file in "Master of Magic Windows Warlord Lite" as well as Multi.config outside)
4) You may launch from launcher, select this mod (second of the 4 options), start game
Note: these are the same instructions as the full Warlord mod installation (instructions shown in this video Youtube.com), but with a different folder name.
What does Warlord 'Lite' Change from Warlord – In Detail
Spells:
Each realm has 10-11-15-12 spells in order of rarity (from 10-12-16-12), removing 10 spells
When adding books and having 10 spells of an uncommon or rare tier, the next step grants 11 instead of 12.
Books 8, 9, and 10 of a type ultimately gives you 1 more starting common than before.
Chaos common Rust changed back to Caster of Magic 'shatter' and new Shatter removed. However, new shatter also removes magic weaponry permanently, has -3 resist and costs 10
True Light removed, slight buff to guardian spirit and unicorn units to compensate.
Discipline comes back in game, albeit as a combat-only spell yet granting +1 move in combat.
Removed 'Venom', 'Insulation, 'Hierophany',' Shadow Strike', 'Mariner Mastery', 'Vampiricism', 'Transmute Equipment', 'Teleport', 'Inner Power' , 'Angelic Guardians', as well as combat-only spells like 'Eye of Heaven' and 'Divine Protection'
Blazing Eyes restored, with effects from Chaos Embrace moved to Rare
Sanctify, Focus Magic, Nature Link, and Flame Blade unit buffs restored to Caster of Magic version
Invisibility no longer grants 'stealth' programmatically
Kraken loses stealth overland when in ocean (very resource intensive)
Mystic Surge does not provide removed buff effects anymore, is uncommon-tier
Combat rare spell beat of Swiftness simplified - +2 move to all units during combat.
Combat spell Temporal Twist simplified - -1 move (minimum of 1), removes first strike, negate, teleport, and merging.
Soul Flay simplified – reduces 3 armor per level of experience instead of a mix of stats and costs 41.
Zombie Mastery simplified – reduced cost and only 'zombie' units gain +1 to melee, armor, resistance.
Demon and Darkest Hour shuffled. Demon is now very rare.
Darkest Hour, now rare, no longer grants +3 unrest on first casting and its research penalty decreased to 25%
State of Rot rare global enchantment moved to a very rare combat enchantment that costs 65, prevents enemy units from healing (inc. regeneration) and reduces enemy units 'to defend' by 12%.
Eternal Night no longer gives 'poor sight' effects in combat.
Some item powers removed, but 'create undead' and +6hp stayed.
Change terrain costs only 22 given weaker effect of plains.
Life Force grants 1.25 per pop, given population maximums are lower.
Spirit of Community and Altar of Duality grants less production.
Philosopher Stone and Magocracy grant fewer gold.
Wall of Fire doesn't have the +1 attack on defending units effect but has 0 upkeep cost.
Immolation doesn't improve existing breath attack as Warlord does, but costs a bit less.
Blood Lust cannot be cast in combat.
City Production, Economy, and Less Unit Spamming
Approach in Warlord Lite different but with similar goals, albeit more pronounced
The 'indirect control penalty' is not used. Instead, city effectiveness lower in various ways with Capital gaining bonuses.
Maximum population of cities reduced because of lower max pop terrain bonus of plains, rivers, lakes.
Capital city more productive: max pop is 25% larger, starts with 1 unrest quelling, provide 0.5 more gold per pop and more food and production relative to other cities.
Worker output has diminishing returns, similar to farmer 'overfarming' but using a different formula more in common with Master of Orion 2016. 'Planetary Mastery' spell halves this overproduction effect.
Gold from taxes significantly reduced, with players typically picking 1.25 to 1.75 gold.
Trade bonus also weakened given fewer taxes.
Most buildings require even less upkeep cost compared to Warlord 1.4.22
Many economy buildings cheaper to produce, to balance the cost ratio of mid-late game economy buildings over military units (the latter getting stronger via buildings such as war college over time).
City unrest by garrison stops at 6 units, not 8.
Mill back to fixed production (+3), Smithy produces 1 less, City Hall no longer boosts workers, Armory grants +1 production.
Mechanician Guild production is back to being a 35% multiplier
Farmer's Market gold formula is 2 + 0.25pop instead of 0.5pop
Coal far less likely to appear as a resource (and via volcanoes)
Ships cost gold to maintain
Enemy less likely to produce cheaper low-to-mid tier units, reducing unit spam.
Summon upkeep increased, particularly most advanced creatures.
Unit enchantment upkeep costs increased.
Monsters and raiders in fewer numbers to accommodate wizards having fewer units.
Other:
Tactician reverted to original.
Benefactor no longer grants the hero stat bonuses – it is relatively strong anyways thanks to now starting with 'heroic heart' and earlier mercenaries
Channeler cost reduction of combat spells is now just 5%, given that upkeep costs are more influential in game.
