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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 Icon Movement GroundMovement Points compared to what is displayed. That is, the internal unit of measurement for movement is actually Icon Movement Ground½. 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 Icon Movement GroundBoot, 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.

Moves


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 Icon Movement Ground0.5 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 Icon Movement Ground0 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 Icon Movement GroundWalking and Icon Movement WaterWater units in combat. Icon Movement AirFlyers always pay Icon Movement Air1 and Icon Movement Air1.5 for cardinal and diagonal moves respectively.

Terrain Square Name Cost to Enter Description
Arcanus Myrror Cardinal Diagonal
CombatTile Arcanus Road CombatTile Myrror Road Road Icon Movement Ground.5 Icon Movement Ground1 Normal or Enchanted Road passing through square - direction does not matter.
CombatTile Arcanus Grass CombatTile Myrror Grass Grass Icon Movement Ground1 Icon Movement Ground1.5 Default flat terrain.
CombatTile Arcanus Tree CombatTile Myrror Tree Tree Icon Movement Ground1.5 Icon Movement Ground2 Single tree on square or casting a shadow across it.
CombatTile Arcanus Rock CombatTile Myrror Rock Rock Icon Movement Ground1.5 Icon Movement Ground2 Single rock on square.
CombatTile Arcanus Trees CombatTile Myrror Trees Trees Icon Movement Ground2 Icon Movement Ground2.5 Multiple trees on or clustered around square.
CombatTile Arcanus Rough CombatTile Myrror Rough Rough Icon Movement Ground2 Icon Movement Ground2.5 Small hills on square.
CombatTile Arcanus Ocean CombatTile Myrror Ocean Ocean Icon Movement Water1 Icon Movement Water1.5 Uniform tileset for Shore and Ocean combat.

Note that Move Forester Forester, Move Mountaineer Moutaineering, and Move Pathfinding 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 Icon Movement Ground10. Remember that as long as a unit has at least Icon Movement Ground0.5 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 Icon SorceryHaste can potentially achieve a Movement Allowance greater than Icon Movement Ground10 in combat. In this case, the Hero can make two Icon Ranged Magic Magical attacks, or four Icon Ranged Bow 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. Icon Movement AirFlyers pay Icon Movement Air1 for every terrain type except Enchanted Roads, while units with Move Pathfinding Pathfinding pay Icon Movement Ground0.5 (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
Terrain Arcanus Desert Terrain Myrror Desert Desert 1
TerrainSpecial SorceryNode TerrainSpecial SorceryNode Icon SorcerySorcery Node 1
Terrain Arcanus Grassland Terrain Myrror Grassland Grassland 1 Move Mountaineer 3
Terrain Arcanus Forest Terrain Myrror Forest Forest 2 Move Forester 1
Terrain Arcanus River Terrain Myrror River River 2 Move Swimming 1
Terrain Arcanus RiverMouth Terrain Myrror RiverMouth River Mouth 2 Move Swimming 1
Terrain Arcanus Tundra Terrain Myrror Tundra Tundra 2 Move Swimming 1
Terrain Arcanus Hill Terrain Myrror Hill Hill 3 Move Mountaineer 1
Terrain Arcanus Swamp Terrain Myrror Swamp Swamp 3 Move Swimming 1
Terrain Arcanus Mountain Terrain Myrror Mountain Mountain 4 Move Mountaineer 1
Terrain Arcanus Volcano Terrain Myrror Volcano Volcano 4 Move Mountaineer 1
Terrain Arcanus Shore Terrain Myrror Shore Shore n/a Move SwimmingMove Sailing 1
Terrain Arcanus Ocean Terrain Myrror Ocean Ocean n/a Move SwimmingMove Sailing 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.

In battle, Jewelry and Armor modifiers are applied BEFORE Icon SorceryFlight (whether Unit Enchantment or Item Power). For example a Hero with Icon SorceryFlight and a +1 move Jewelry has 4 moves on overland, but only 3 in battle. On the other hand, a Hero with Icon SorceryFlight and Icon LifeEndurance has 4 moves both overland and in battle.

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