|
Buggy Feature |
| As of Master of Magic v1.31, Nature's Eye is known to be malfunctioning in at least one way. Please read the Known Bugs section below. |
| Nature's Eye | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Realm |
 Nature | |
| Spell Rarity | Uncommon | |
| Spell Type | Town Enchantment | |
| Casting Cost |
 75 | |
| Upkeep Cost |
1 | |
| Research Cost |
 350 | |
| ||
|
Reveals all unexplored map squares up to 5 tiles away from the target Town. The enchanted Town detects any non-Invisible enemy unit approaching to within 5 tiles from any direction. | ||
Nature's Eye is an Uncommon Town Enchantment from to the Nature Magic Realm. For 75, it may be cast on a friendly Town to increase that Town's sight range to 5 tiles. The increased sight immediately reveals all unexplored areas within 5 tiles of the City, and will continuously detect any enemy units within that area as long as the spell is in effect. The spell must be maintained with an Upkeep Cost of 1 per turn.
Effects[]
Nature's Eye increases a Town's sight range to 5 tiles. It both reveals any unexplored lands around the Town, and allows spotting any enemy unit approaching within that range.
Sight Range Bonus[]
Increasing a Town's sight range has two separate effects. First, any unexplored tiles up to 5 map squares away from the Town itself (in any direction, including diagonals) are immediately revealed. Geographical features, Cities of other players, and Terrain Specials in those tiles, will be permanently visible to the casting Wizard.
Additionally, while Nature's Eye continues to stay in effect, the enchanted Town automatically detects all units and armies within its 5-tile sight range. In other words, any enemy unit that is no more than 5 tiles away from the City can be seen by the Wizard controlling the Town. The only exceptions are Invisible units, who will not be spotted in this manner.
If the spell dissipates, revealed world tiles will still remain visible. Only the Town's enemy detection range is reduced back to its normal value - whatever that may be at the time.
For reference, a 5-tile sight range for a Town is a square 11x11 map tiles wide, with the Town at its center. This is almost exactly the entire size of the map screen view.
Usage[]
Nature's Eye may only be cast on the overland map, for the Casting Cost of 75. It must be targeted at a friendly Town which does not already have a Nature's Eye spell affecting it. This will cause the icon of a tree with an eye in it to appear in the panoramic view when inspecting the Town from the City Screen. The spell's name, in the color of the casting Wizard, will also be listed in the "Enchantments" panel of the same screen.
The spell requires an Upkeep Cost of 1 per turn to maintain. Failure to pay this Upkeep Cost due to lack of Mana will cause the spell to dissipate. However, as long as the spell is paid for (and is not dispelled by a rival Wizard), the Town continues to enjoy its benefit. Nature's Eye may be cancelled manually at any time by clicking on its name on the City Screen.
Acquisition[]
As an Uncommon Nature spell, Nature's Eye may become available to any Wizard who possesses at least one Nature Spellbook. However, its availability during the game is not guaranteed unless the player starts with, or obtains during gameplay, at least 8 books. Customized Wizards possessing 11 Spellbooks at game creation may choose Nature's Eye as one of their starting spells, in which case it will already be researched and available for casting immediately on the first turn.
Wizards who possess at least 8 Spellbooks, or Wizards with 11 Spellbooks who did not select Nature's Eye as a starting spell, will be able to Research it at some point during their campaign. Wizards with fewer than 8 Spellbooks have a random chance of being able to Research Nature's Eye, which increases with the number of Nature Spellbooks that the Wizard possesses or obtains during gameplay.
Nature's Eye has a base Research Cost of 350.
With at least 1 Spellbook, the Nature's Eye spell may also be acquired as Treasure from clearing Encounter Zones, or found when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who has already researched this spell.
Strategy[]
Possibly the best use for Nature's Eye is to cast it at Towns along an empire's borders. This provides a way to keep an eye on opponents and incoming Neutral stacks, without having to send out scouts, which may possibly anger neighbouring Wizards.
Naturally, any Town that is in danger of being attacked can benefit from Nature's Eye, allowing the Town's defenders to prepare for any onslaught.
Known Bugs[]
In the earlier versions of the game (up to v1.2), Nature's Eye only extended the enchanted Town's sight range to 4 tiles, same as the Oracle Town Building; a fact that is still reflected in the spell's in-game help entry even in the latest versions. Unfortunately, when the developers updated this range to 5 in patch 1.3, the help text was not the only thing they overlooked. The presence of an Oracle, and its setting of the sight range, occurs only after the similar adjustment of Nature's Eye, meaning that this building will not only render the spell useless, but also reduce the Town's sight range back to 4.