DeletedUser1353
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A small guide for using the Magic Academy (or MA for short)
Hey y'all! I see a lot of discussion about the MA, a lot of people find it useless and wants it removed etc. Please keep these discussions to the general forum and not in this guide, thanks!
If you have any feedback about the guide itself, please don't hesitate to write here.
Introduction
The MA is a building that you unlock in the end of the first chapter. You will get a quest that tells you to research the MA (this is obligatory to move on in the research tree) and then you will get a quest to build the MA itself.
The MA can be upgraded to a maximum level of 5 and it costs diamonds to upgrade it from lvl 2 and onwards. Upgrading the MA will make the production of spells go faster and will allow you to queue more spells.
Humans have the best MA, since theirs only takes up 4x5=20 squares while elves MA takes up 5x5=25 squares. Otherwise the buildings have the same qualities except for the visual looks.
***NOTE!!! Once you build the MA there's no turning back, it can't be deleted!***
So your options are:
1. Build the MA and finish the quest.
2. Ignore the quest (it will be there for ever) and don't build the MA.
The MA converts relics into Spells, these spells have different temporary benefits. The relics used to produce the spells are always of the type that is not your boosted type. That means that creating spells will not bring down your resource production. It requires a street connection to function.
The more relics it takes to produce a spell the longer it takes to produce.
Since the introduction of seasonal events like "King Snow and the Snow Flurry" the MA has become more important, since it's common to get non-declinable quests that require you to produce spells in these events.
The Spells
Power of Provision
Effect: Increases toolproduction by 200% on a single workshop.
Duration: 10 hours
Cost: 2 relics
I personally find this to be the most usefull spell, and if used smartly it will actually affect 19 hours of tool production instead of 10, let me explain:
Everyone sleeps, and I'm guessing most people will use the 9 hour tool option on their workshops while sleeping (basket of Groceries). If you use this spell right before you collect the tools in the morning, the 9h queue will gain the 200% boost. So that's already in a way 9 hours of your tools boosted in a matter of seconds.
To make the most use of the boost I'd recommend to do it when you have time over to produce the low time productions if possible (beverages/simple tools/bread). Plan when you want to use them, but as i said earlier, it works extra well if you use it right after a long time production has ended.
Ensorcelled Endowment
Effect: Increases culture bonus by 5%
Duration: 2 days
Cost: 2 relics
***Note! The bonus only works if you already have 125% culture boost or higher! This means the spell is useless if you are at 100% culture bonus. ***
You use this on a culture building of your own choice. The best culture building to place it on is the one that awards the highest amount of culture. This is because the spell only works when the culture building you put it on is polished by a neighbor or Fellowship member. FS-members are more likely to polish your best culture buildings (hopefully), that way you have the highest uptime as possible.
If you see someone with this spell active on one of their culture buildings, you should always polish that building if it's not already polished, to help him/her out.
Magical Manufacturing
Effect: Increases goods gained by a single manufactory by 50%
Duration: 13 hours
Cost: 4 relics
This spell works just like the Power of Provision spell, but on manufactories instead of Workshops, and 50% instead of 200% production increase.
I would recommend always using this spell on your Tier 3 manufactories which is: Gems, Elixir and Magic Dust. The only time I would use it for something else is if you have trouble trading T3 goods into lower goods and you really need for example Silk.
Just like with the Power of provision spell this can be used right before collecting the resources, so if you use it before collecting a 9 hour (or more) queue you will gain alot more from it.
Inspiring Meditation
Effect: Increases your limit of Knowledge Points (KP) you gain over time from 10 to 20
Duration: 2 days
Cost: 3 relics
Unlike the other spells you have to unlock this in the research tree, it's in the end of the 3rd part and it's a mandatory reseach to progress in the game.
This spell is best used when you know you are going to be away for some time and won't be able to use your KP before it hits the limit of 10. It's the only spell that isn't casted on a building, instead it casts automaticly on the KP bar when you use it.
Since the spell takes some time to produce i would only recommend using it when you're going to be away for 15 hours or more, but the choice is yours!
Some theory regarding the usefullness of the spells (work in progress)
To finish off the guide I would like to check how useful the spells really are.
Let's start with the Power of Provision spell (PoP).
While the spell is active on a workshop that workshop now produces the same amount of tools as 3 regular workshops would together. So It's pretty much 2 extra workshops. With a lvl 2 MA you're able to produce rougly 1,85 PoP:s per day. One spell basicly gives you 2 extra workshops for 19 hours (if used smartly) otherwise 10 hours.
If we assume you only produce PoP your magic acadamy will be the same worth as 1,85 * (20/24) = 1,54 workshops. 1,85 PoP per day times the hours you use them per day (more than 20 if you use the spell before collecting the first goods).
Dwarven workshops takes up 15 spaces, and with the space for culture and population needed it pretty much doubles the size taken (ca 32 spaces total with dwarven residences and Temples of Holy fire).
1,54*32=~49 , so a MA (25 squares for elves 20 squares for humans) is about as effective as 49 squares worth of dwarven workshops if you're only producing PoP. If you use the spells "smartly as i mentioned before you'll gain even more.
Another bonus is that you can use the spells when you really need them, allowing you to increase production when demand rises, like when you have to upgrade a bunch of buildings.
PoP is less useful in the early stages of the game when workshops ar fairly small compared to the MA and the boost doesn't gain you that many extra tools.
So as ending words I'd say the MA is good if you want an efficient village and have workshops over lvl 10 or so (will check this on a later occasion).
For me the MA has been extremely useful as I've reached the dwarven age. Upgrading the residences and other buildings aswell as the new dwarven granite mines and all the tools the research takes to activate has put an enourmus strain on my workshops, I would be far less progressed without my MA. If you're going in to this age without the MA, i recommend building some extra workshops.
Thats all for now, will try to update regularly.
Edited: Zanyah - 2016-05-23 - corrected a typo
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