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Magic Sites

Magic Sites are present across the map from games start. Most sites are initially hidden, though there are some that are revealed as soon as a province is taken. Sites are revealed by using the "Search for Magic Sites" action of mages or through the use of remote site searching spells (e.g. Dark Knowledge).

Most sites provide their owner with gem income, though they can also provide recruit-able units/commanders, bonuses to ritual spells, spreading disease, and other effects on a province. Diligent site searching can greatly increase your gem income and let you break into magic paths that your nation may not have.

Other than their effects magic sites have a rarity, level, and a set of terrain tags. The rarity controls how likely a site is to spawn, with rarity 0 being the most likely and rarity 2 being the least likely. The level determines how skilled a mage needs to be to find the site. The set of terrains controls where the site can spawn and if the site is unique. Mixed terrains appear to be able to spawn any site available to any of their individual terrain types.

Some site effects apply even before the site has been discovered. These include:

Site Searching Strategy

The information below is taken from this analysis of magic sites. Please visit this guide if you are interested in the full numbers and a more detailed explanation than those below.

Element Breakdown


Many fire 33 sites may be found on land; the only fire 44 site is unique, and may be found in a Waste.
There is only one underwater site with path greater than fire 11, a unique fire 33 site which may be found in a Sea.


Many air 33 sites may be found on land; only air 44 site is unique, and may be found in a Plain.
Though infrequent, air 22 sites may be found in Seas, and a single air 11 site may exist in Deep Seas.


All terrains may have water 33 sites except for Deep Seas, which (perhaps ironically) cap at water 22. The only water 44 site is unique, and may be found in any land provence.


earth 33 sites may be found everywhere, though underwater there are few possible earth 33 sites. There are two, unique earth 44 sites; one may be found in any non-Cave land provence, while the other may be found in a Cave or Waste.


Caves and Deep Seas have up to astral 33 sites; there is a relatively common (rarity 0) astral 44 site, the Unfound Door, which may be found in any other terrain except Wastes. There are five unique astral 44 sites; two may be found in a Waste, one in a Mountain, and two in any non-Cave land provence. The only astral 66 (!) site is unique, and may be found in a Forest, Mountain, or Waste.


death 33 sites may be found in all terrains, except Deep Seas which cap at death 11. Several sites spread disease; in the Army Setup menu for a provence (Hotkey: 't'), the Hotkey 'd' will select all diseased troops - a sudden outbreak of disease may indicate a hidden site. There are two unique death 44 sites; one may be found in a land provence, the other only in a Mountain (this one spreads disease, and so may be detected by an observant player).


nature 33 sites may be found everywhere, save Seas and Caves (which cap at nature 22) and Deep Seas (which cap at nature 11). Note that a nature 11 site, the Kelp Fortress, may be found in coastal underwater provences and creates a free fort. There are three unique nature 44 sites; one may be found in a Forest, one in a Waste, one in a non-Cave land provence.


Blood sites are never found underwater. On land, all terrain types may have blood 33 sites, though Caves only have access to a single, rarity 2 (though non-unique) site. There are two unique blood 44 sites; one may be found in any land provence, one may be found in any non-Cave land provence.


There are few Holy sites; all land provences may contain up to holy 33 sites, while underwater provences cap at holy 11 (Deep Seas have access to only one site, at rarity 0). There are two unique holy 44 sites, both of which may be found in non-Cave land provences.

Remote Site-Searching

Each magic path contains at least one ritual spell for finding magic sites. Casting a remote site-searching spell on a friendly province reveals all sites of the targeted path, regardless of level. The spells are:



Augury

Path: fire 22
Cost: 2firegem
Range: 5

Locates all Fire sites.



Auspex

Path: air 22
Cost: 2airgem
Range: 2

Reveals all Air sites. Cannot target sea or target provinces across the sea.



Voice of Apsu

Path: water 22
Cost: 2watergem
Range: 3

Finds all Water sites. Can target enemy-held provinces, but cannot target underwater provinces. Other nations with commanders in the province will also be notified of the discovered sites.




Voice of Tiamat

Path: water 22
Cost: 8watergem
Range: 4

Finds all elemental sites, but can only target underwater provinces. Other nations with commanders in the province will also be notified of the discovered sites.



Gnome Lore

Path: earth 22
Cost: 3earthgem
Range: 3

Locates all Earth sites. Can be cast underwater



Arcane Probing

Path: astral 11
Cost: 3astralpearl
Range: 4

Reveals all Astral sites. Can be cast underwater.




Acashic Knowledge

Path: astral 33
Cost: 25astralpearl
Range: 10

Finds all sites, but is very expensive. Can be cast underwater.



Dark Knowledge

Path: death 11
Cost: 4deathgem
Range: 3

Locates all Death sites. Can be cast underwater.



Haruspex

Path: nature 22
Cost: 2naturegem
Range: 3

Reveals all Nature sites. Can be cast underwater.



Bowl of Blood

Path: blood 11
Cost: 5bloodslave
Range: 5

Reveals all Blood sites. Can target underwater, even though there are no Blood sites underwater.

Expected gem income

The following pictures show expected gem income when sitesearching provinces with only one tag in Early, Middle and Late Age at default site frequency settings.

Site Generation procedure

Terrain Modifiers

Manysites
Throne
Farm
Waste
Cave
Kelp Forest
Forest
Mountains
Highland and UW
Highland
Deep Sea
Plains / Sea

+25
+20 (stacks with other terrains)
-20 (to a minimum of 5)
+20
+15
+10
+10
+10
+15
+5
+10
+0

Based on large numbers of experimental analysis, it has been possible to gain a rough understanding of how magic sites are generated on the map. Each province has a magic site frequency, which is the sum of the global site frequency (determined at game creation) and a terrain specific modifier. Generally (but not all the time), the most positive terrain modifier takes precedence in the case of provinces with multiple terrains.

Higher site frequency is associated with more magic sites: For each province, the initial chance to spawn a site is global site frequency + terrain frequency modifier. It repeats this process until it has made 8 rolls, but the chance of each subsequent roll generating a site is 75% of the previous. For example, if a province had an initial chance of 80 to generate a site, the second roll would have a 60% chance, the third 45%, the fourth 33%, the fifth 24%, the sixth 18%, the seventh 13%, and the eighth 9%.Therefore provinces with a high site frequency are almost guaranteed to have a few magic sites, but it grows increasingly uncommon for sites to have four or more.

Additionally, sites have an assigned rarity, which is detailed in the inspector tool. The odds of each rarity site spawning following a successful roll are as follows:

Rarity Probabilty
0 3/4
1 9/40
2 1/40

Certain rarity 5 sites may spawn naturally. The odds of these spawning is currently unknown, but they do appear to be rather rare. These sites have unique independent pretenders which are always present guarding the site. The list of rare independent types lists these, along with other special independent spawns.

Additionally, some sites are flagged as unique, in which case the game can only place one of them.

magic-sites.txt · Last modified: 2022/03/30 21:32 by joste