This is just smeggin annoying. I don't even play with the spell of making victory enabled so I built the forge in order to get the bonuses to fire and earth power since I got screwed out of shards in my kingdom. *ALL 8* AI factions dropped from neutral or better relations with me to hostile or so in a couple of turns resulting in over 20 treaty cancellations and 3 declarations of war in less than a game year! Not to mention making a diplomatic victory completely impossible.
That was back in 0.75 so when I started up my 0.80 game guess what structure I wasn't planning on building... Yet after building the *second last* tower I noticed all my relations dropping again so I checked and every single AI relation list had "Forge of the Overlord!" and the ridiculous -9 relation penalty listed and sure enough every treaty with every faction was gone within a few turns and I had 6 wars to fight at once within a couple game years. All because of a structure I hadn't even built yet and which even if I had wouldn't do anything significant without the spell of making enabled.
The easiest fix would be to remove that insane relation penalty of course, except that it does make a lot of sense in games with the spell of making enabled so here's my suggestion:
1. Replace the 'Book of Mastery' tech with 'Second Book of the Magi' or 'insert better name here' tech that enables the first two towers and the Call of the Titans spell. Each tower now adds +1 to all four elements.
2. Have the actual 'Book of Mastery' tech after the 'Third Book of the Magi' tech which enables the last two towers and the Spell of Making.
These changes would still allow a player to get +2 to all elements and the CoT spell without causing total world war and completely screwing any chance at an allied victory or hell, even any alliances period. Putting the last two towers into a different tech would mean not having them show up / take up room in the city building screen which is annoying in general and could lead to accidental construction and the end of civilization as we know it ... again.
Yes it does mean the full set of four towers would add +3 to all elements instead of +2 but that insane -9 to relations penalty with every other faction changes things. Now the cost of the final +1 to each element isn't just some gildar, metal, crystal, and building time - it's also every treaty with every other faction and constant warfare until the spell of making is cast, or forever if that victory isn't enabled!
Although that's actually an interesting gameplay option if it isn't forced on you without warning. Maybe all the towers should be +1 to all elements since building more than two is tantamount to declaring it's now your kingdom/empire vs the rest of the world. Perfect if going for a conquest victory come to think of it...
Oh yes, I always thought the spell of making victory was too cheap and easy so that's another reason I think the final part should be knocked back two research levels. With those changes I might start playing with it enabled again.
