In Master of Magic, Movement Allowance is the number of overland map or battlefield tiles a unit may traverse during its turn.
Internally, the game stores and decrements double the number of Movement Points compared to what is displayed. That is, the internal unit of measurement for movement is actually ½. This gives the engine some precision in dealing with actions whose cost isn't necessarily a whole number: e.g. Road or Non-Corporeal travel overland; Melee Attacks, diagonal movement, rough-, or paved terrain in battle.
Movement Point Display[]
Movement liberties and point-costs are complex, as may be expected of a game setting with plodding troops, fantastic beasts, odd races, ships, scouts, heroes, and of course, magic. On this wiki the top-hierarchy graphic, the Boot, generically denotes the Movement Allowance for units and armies.
However, in some contexts it will surface as a distinct sphere of movement among three, which are native to the Unit Statistics Window brought up by querying (right-clicking) a unit.
Strictly speaking, these graphics represent liberties in combat when they appear in the game. Water Movement permits entry into oceanic combat tiles (when battle occurs on Shore and Ocean, the entire battlescape is covered with these). Air Movement also does this and furthermore ignores terrain costs imposed on the inferior spheres.
- Main article: Movement Type
Movement Type applies to overland stack movement and is the most exacting description of a unit or stack's liberties. Depending on the assets, the game uses as many as three of the following icons to depict it accurately.
Movement Point Expenditure[]
Both overland and in the combat screen, costs and restrictions for entering a tile depend upon the unit's Movement Type and the terrain at the destination. The tile of origin does not matter.
As long as a unit has at least 0.5 Moves remaining, it can perform another action in its turn, including expensive moves like walking onto a Mountain tile overland, maneuvering diagonally in combat, firing a Ranged Attack, and all the rest. At 0 Moves remaining, though, the unit's turn is ended, and it can no longer even perform free, magical actions like traveling along Enchanted Roads, or shifting between planes.
Combat Tile Movement Summary[]
The table below shows the Movement Point costs faced by Walking and Water units in combat. Flyers always pay 1 and 1.5 for cardinal and diagonal moves respectively.
Terrain Square | Name | Cost to Enter | Description | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arcanus | Myrror | Cardinal | Diagonal | ||
Road | .5 | 1 | Normal or Enchanted Road passing through square - direction does not matter. | ||
Grass | 1 | 1.5 | Default flat terrain. | ||
Tree | 1.5 | 2 | Single tree on square or casting a shadow across it. | ||
Rock | 1.5 | 2 | Single rock on square. | ||
Trees | 2 | 2.5 | Multiple trees on or clustered around square. | ||
Rough | 2 | 2.5 | Small hills on square. | ||
Ocean | 1 | 1.5 | Uniform tileset for Shore and Ocean combat. |
Note that Forester, Moutaineering, and Pathfinding have no effect on combat movement, even though it seems they should. In addition, Merging or Teleporting units always pay exactly 1 Movement Point to move, regardless of terrain.
Combat Actions[]
A Melee Attack costs 50% of a unit's maximum Movement Allowance. Casting a spell costs 100% of it. A Ranged Attack costs 10. Remember that as long as a unit has at least 0.5 remaining, it can perform another action in its turn.
For the most part, a Ranged Attack will cost all of a unit's movement points in effect, but Heroes enchanted with Haste can potentially achieve a Movement Allowance greater than 10 in combat. In this case, the Hero can make two Magical attacks, or four Bow attacks (two shots per attack command, with corresponding ammunition usage), per round.
Overland Tile Movement Summary[]
Overland movement does not care about diagonals, just terrain type. Flyers pay 1 for every terrain type except Enchanted Roads, while units with Pathfinding pay 0.5 (provided they can enter the tile at all). For all other units, there is usually a normal cost, and a special cost that can be granted by an ability:
Terrain Square | Name | Cost to Enter | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Arcanus | Myrror | Normal | Special | |
Desert | 1 | |||
Sorcery Node | 1 | |||
Grassland | 1 | 3 | ||
Forest | 2 | 1 | ||
River | 2 | 1 | ||
River Mouth | 2 | 1 | ||
Tundra | 2 | 1 | ||
Hill | 3 | 1 | ||
Swamp | 3 | 1 | ||
Mountain | 4 | 1 | ||
Volcano | 4 | 1 | ||
Shore | n/a | 1 | ||
Ocean | n/a | 1 |
Related Magic[]
The following magic increases Movement Allowance. For an overview of magic related to Movement Types, which increase the effective number of moves in context, see that article.
- Chaos Channels: Demon Wings increase moves to 2, if less.
- Flight increases moves to 3, if less.
- Endurance increases moves by 1.
- Jewelry/Armor: increases moves by 1-4 (Heroes only)
- Haste: doubles moves (only in battle)
In battle, Jewelry and Armor modifiers are applied BEFORE Flight (whether Unit Enchantment or Item Power). For example a Hero with Flight and a +1 move Jewelry has 4 moves on overland, but only 3 in battle. On the other hand, a Hero with Flight and Endurance has 4 moves both overland and in battle.