It's complicated.

Right now, I make use of AI values in the XML as a base plus I look at the class of spells.

New variables I'm looking at is how many turns the unit has taken, the number of ranged units on each side, the overall disposition of each side, which tiles I can move into without the other team being able to hit me, which spells the other side has, how effective my spell is likely to be compared to their spell resistances, how much mana I have, how much health they have (no point in wasting spells on wimpy units), how wounded I am, how close the nearest unit is, what shards I have firmly under control, what units are coming up in the move list, what spells are currently queued up to be cast, the range of my particular spell, how much mana the other player has (so I can try to roll the dice on whether the other player is likely to cast a spell).

Like I said, it's complicated.

That's now.

In YOUR build it is:

for i = 1 to num of spells

should I cast spell = rand()%;

That is going to be some sweet tactical AI. I can't wait to try it out. 

I would say I wish I could be a fly on the wall, but then you are a frog... 

Such a tease. Is one of em Dispel Magic? We need a dispell-spellllll!

Aha! The AI does cheat!  I don't know how much mana my opponent has. 

Touche. 

I have been studying the current spell list to get a better idea of what I can use for my Ivory Towers Mod. There are alot of good spell functions, but some of them are bugged right now for modding.

That reminds me. Will the AI be able to specialize in Earth Magic when it starts next to an Earthshard? I remember you saying something about checking to see if a shard was safe from attack in some thread. 

Does this AI work also apply to when I choose AutoTurn? Or is that a different AI?

Yep. And how much do the shards you control actually impact the spells you cast, other than needing to remember the quantity for each and then run a math equation to extrapolate the damage/level/impact.

Simple solution: Seperate spell acces from caster level, apart from maybe a basic spell per level or two. You get a fire spell when you level up, but if you want the entire lot, see magic research tree. Way at the end, the spell of ubar nukeyness will nuke your foes. But that takes time. No shards? Why bother!

Agreed. You can go for a sovereign with all the spell schools if you want to. Taking only fire is a calculated risk you decide upon.

"Torax, who grinds mountains to dust - I SUMMON YOU!" *throws red-white ball on the ground*

But thats the point. You don't know what shards you will have access to.

I guess magical Sov builds are simply a lot riskier than other builds? (although you could have a trait which gives you a bonus to all shards/shard-mana production. Vs a lesser trait which gives a small bonus to non shard-based mana production.

-> I guess you could have traits which offer bonuses to specific elements (which currently exist)

-> and traits which benefit all casting in general (or evokation vs summoning traits, each that benefit all casting of a particular variety) (these I think also exist)

-> And traits which improve various forms of mana generation (which might exist, but if they don't I think they should)