Although you start out with a fixed set, you may find a hybrid approach useful. With every handful of spells researched, you pick a new tome from any school, adding five new spells with a common theme to your researchable pool. Shadow magic is curses, backstabbing, and harvesting souls to reform into undead monsters. Materium is industry, siege engines, and money for bigger armies. Nature increases healing and food yields (ie: population) while also summoning beasts and forest spirits to poison and ensnare foes. Like Master of Magic (or its surprisingly faithful remake), AoW's magic replaces research in the traditional 4X structure, divided into flavoured schools that align with a key resource, and encourage certain playstyles or unit types. Each comes with a starting hero and traits for their cities units, plus a set of spellbooks that determine what research you'll have access to upfront. Some of its playable races are the usual elves and goblins, but most have a twist, like the cannibalistic dwarves, gold-obsessed necromancers, or the "cursed toadlings" I picked almost reflexively: a people transformed along with their warrior Queen Charming. As it stands though, its generally high quality and interesting systems just haven't captured my imagination. Played less intensely over a longer period, I imagine more of its intricacies becoming clear, and more custom playstyles emerging to encourage more replays and challenges. I've enjoyed most of my time with it, and the parts I didn't were probably down to caning it too hard in too short a time.
I don't feel very strongly about Age Of Wonders 4. An accomplished fantasy 4X with RPG leanings and cleverly interlocking systems that plain hasn’t grabbed me personally, despite some colourful ideas.
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