| Shore | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Maximum Population | +0.5 | ||||
| Town Bonuses |
 +10% * | ||||
| Movement Point Cost |
 N/A 1 1 1 | ||||
| Possible Minerals (Arcanus) |
None | ||||
| Possible Minerals (Myrror) |
None | ||||
| Change Terrain |
No effect | ||||
| Gaia's Blessing |
No effect | ||||
Shore is a type of Terrain in the world of Master of Magic. Shore tiles line the edges of any landmass, separating the land from the Ocean. This includes the edge of the southern and northern poles of each Plane. Shore tiles also appear inland, as the edges of lakes of varying sizes.
Shore tiles provide a small bonus to the Maximum Population of Settlements constructed near them, and increase the income of any Town situated right next to one by +10% (non-cumulative). This also unlocks the construction of naval Town Buildings, starting with the Shipwrights' Guild; which allow the town to build ships to explore the oceans and ferry ground troops across them. A few races also need a Shoreline in order to build the Merchants' Guild, which greatly boosts a town's Gold output.
Shore tiles are considered water tiles rather than land tiles. Thus, movement through Shore tiles is possible only for 
Sailing, 
Swimming, 
Flying and 
Non-Corporeal units. Most units that can enter will use up 1 Movement Point on a Shore tile. It is not possible to build Roads on these tiles.
No spell can change a Shore tile into any other type of Terrain.
Description[]
The "Shore" is simply a term that describes the meeting place between a body of water and a bit of land. In fact, it is the place where the land starts to run underneath the water, or rather, where the land sticks up above the surface of the water. The term "Shore", especially in the context of Master of Magic, does not indicate the type of land encountered beyond this meeting place.
Humanoids, being land-based creatures, find settlement along Shorelines quite desirable. Many animals live next to the Shore and can be hunted for food, and fish are easier to catch close to the land. Fishing boats, finding it harder to venture into the deep ocean, can look for large congregations of fish and other marine animals in the shallow waters.
Geography[]
Shore tiles are exceptionally common, since they line the edge of each and every landmass on the map. Where the land ends, there is always a Shore tile, beyond which lies the open Ocean. There is never direct contact between any land tile and an Ocean tile, not even diagonally; there is always a Shore tile in-between.
Shore tiles also appear away from the Ocean. Inland lakes are, in fact, comprised entirely of Shore tiles. The simplest lakes, one tile in size, are actually a single Shore tile that has land on all sides and water in the middle. This, of course, is much rarer than the Shores on the edges of continents.
Town Development[]
Shore tiles are defined as water terrain. Towns may not be built directly on top of a Shore tile. However, building at least one town directly next to one or more Shore tiles is imperative to any empire that wishes to have access to the Ocean, and vicariously to other continents.
Shore tiles themselves are not very helpful to nearby Towns. They do provide a small yield of sustenance, about as much as a Forest, but give no bonuses to 
Production.
However, when a town is built directly next to one or more Shore tiles (including diagonally), it receives two important benefits. One is a bonus of +10% to the town's income, that can only be gained once, regardless of the amount of neighbouring Shore tiles. The other is that the town may advance down the naval development branch, which will allow it to construct ships, and may eventually even boost its Gold output by a massive amount.
Maximum Population[]
- Main article: Maximum Population
A Shore tile within the catchment area of a town will provide +0.5 to that town's Maximum Population. In other words, if a town were to be surrounded entirely by Shore tiles, its Maximum Population would be 10.5 (21 tiles * 0.5 = 10.5). Of course, this is not possible within the game's geographical constraints, but serves to illustrate that Shore tiles are not too beneficial to a town's growth.
Maximum Population dictates the absolute maximum number of citizens a town can have. Once it reaches this many citizens, it will simply stop growing. Population Growth also depends on this value: the larger the gap between a town's current population and its Maximum Population, the faster the town grows.
Furthermore, Maximum Population also determines how much 
Food can be produced in a town before inefficiency sets in. Once this limit of Food production is reached, additional citizens assigned to Farmer duty will produce much less Food - making them less efficient. Higher Maximum Population means a higher Food production efficiency threshold, thus allowing more Farmers to be assigned while still retaining full efficiency.
Since Shore tiles do not contribute much to Maximum Population (and considering that the Ocean tiles beyond the Shore are even less useful in this respect), it is often beneficial for seaside settlements to limit the number of Shore tiles in their catchment area. It is also important to look for sites that have access to Rivers, or other similar high-yield tiles; offsetting the low yield of Shores, and enabling reasonably good growth.
Note: There are a few occasions where a Shore tile adds +2.0 instead of +0.5 to the town's Maximum Population. This only happens with Shore tiles that have Rivers running into them, and even then, they have to be of one of the following three configurations:
| Shore Configuraton | Maximum Population |
|---|---|
 Single tile lakes with a River Mouth
|
+2
|
 Shores with two River Mouths
|
+2
|
 Shores with a single River Mouth surrounded by Ocean
|
+2
|
All other Shore tiles will always yield only +0.5.
Gold Output Bonus[]
- Main article: Road, River, and Ocean Gold
If a Town is placed immediately adjacent to a Shore tile, its gold income from trade will increase by +10%; this effect is not cumulative with multiple Shore tiles, but is cumulative with the effects of Rivers, Roads, and the racial trait of Nomads. However, the total bonus from trade is also limited to 3% per 1,000 population, and the smaller out of these two values is what the actual bonus will be at any given time. The Surveyor tool can be used to confirm a town's potential trade Gold bonus from Terrain alone before settling there.
This bonus is based on the amount of Gold produced by the town's citizens through Taxation, plus any Gold income from nearby Minerals such as Silver Ore, Gold Ore or Gems. If a Miners' Guild is present in the town, its effect on the value of such Minerals is calculated before the bonus from the Shore, thus increasing the Shore's total benefit.
For example, imagine a town that produces 60 Gold from Taxation plus 20 Gold from nearby Minerals - for a total of 80. If this town is also directly next to a Shore tile, the Shore will yield another 8 Gold (80 * 10% = 8). Adjacency to several Shore tiles does not increase the bonus. Only 10% is given regardless of how many Shore tiles are present.
This is not an especially large bonus, and on a large continent with a strong network of Roads it may eventually become irrelevant.
Ship-Building[]
Any town built directly next to a Shore tile has access to the naval development branch. All Races except the Lizardmen can gain great benefits from this: the town will be able to construct, at the very least, a Shipwrights' Guild, which then enbles the production of Triremes. These are basic ocean-going vessels that can ferry units across large bodies of water quite rapidly. They may also be used in combat to some extent.
Many races can advance beyond the Shipwrights' Guild towards better structures like the Ship Yard and/or Maritime Guild. Towns containing these structures can build stronger and better naval vessels, some of which are truly powerful. However, for any further development, the Town must also fulfil another Terrain requirement: its catchment area has to include a Forest tile as well. This is necessary to build a Sawmill, which is one of the prerequisites for constructing the Ship Yard.
Finally, a scant few races can eventually reach the Merchants' Guild - an extremely powerful (and expensive) building that doubles Gold income in the town. As a result, such races will endeavour to build many towns along the shoreline of any body of water in close vicinity of a Forest.
On the down-side, towns on the Shoreline often have reduced Maximum Population and/or Production ratings due to the presence of many Shore and Ocean tiles in their catchment area. This means that a town hoping to build many ships will need to be placed in a Shore area that also has access to plenty of Forests, Hills, or even Mountains - as well as plenty of Grassland and/or Rivers! Such locations are rare, but careful consideration of the terrain can mean the difference between a struggling town that takes ages to build one ship, and a large metropolis that can churn out these units on very short notice!
Common Minerals[]
Since Shore tiles are essentially filled with water, they never contain any Minerals or Terrain Specials of any kind.
Movement[]
As water-based tiles, Shore tiles are inaccessible to the majority of 
Walking units. Such units may not enter a Shore tile under any circumstance, and must instead rely on spells or transport units to get across.
On the other hand, Swimming, Sailing, and Flying units can enter Shore tiles freely. This costs the unit exactly 1 Movement Point.
Units with the Non-Corporeal ability are also able to walk on water, and can enter this tile at a cost of only 0.5 Movement Points.
Roads and Road Construction[]
Roads may not be built on top of water-based tiles. This includes Shore tiles. As a result, it is not possible to speed up movement across Shore tiles this way.
Change Terrain[]
The 
Change Terrain spell cannot affect any water tiles. It cannot change a Shore tile into any other type of Terrain.
Gaia's Blessing[]
The Gaia's Blessing spell also has no effect on any Shore tiles near the enchanted town.