Master of Magic: Scourge of the Seas DLC Coming Feb 8

MuHa Games and Slitherine have announced the second paid DLC for Master of Magic “Scourge of the Seas” to be released on February 8. The DLC contains a new race; the ethereal cursed (predominantly orc) pirate “Scourgers”, 4 new Wizards, 3 new Heroes, new Wizard traits and Hero skills, 3 new Water Lairs, Water Resources, an Arcane spell and new Boss Lairs. This will be launching alongside a free update with new content for all players. If you missed our review of the base game and Rise of the Soultrapped DLC, we got you with these links.

Cursed pirates are a long running trope in entertainment and are a flavorsome option for a race and playstyle in a strategy game. We don’t have full information about the Master of Magic: Scourge of the Seas DLC yet, just some teasers, but it’s already looking to have some interesting ramifications for gameplay.

New race: Scourgers

Once fearsome orcs who refused to give up their war-like ways and became pirates, the Scourgers have been cursed, becoming spectral beings driven by greed and envy. They can traverse land and sea effortlessly, and they have unique buildings and units to enhance their abilities.

The Scourgers, being non-corporeal, defy the boundaries of land and sea. Their ghostly ships and troops seamlessly traverse both realms, a formidable force haunting the waters.  Cloaked in fear, the Scourgers embody the terror of the undead, striking fear into the hearts of those who dare cross their path.

These cursed pirates introduce three unique buildings to their spectral cities:

• Raiders Hut: Harvesting the bounties of the seas, this building brings prosperity to seafront cities
• Ghost-Shipyard: Crafting incorporeal vessels anywhere, even on land, ensures the Scourgers’ dominance over the waters
• Indentured Workers Guild: Prisoners captured during pirate raids contribute to the city’s well-being, but beware of potential rebellious citizens!

The Scourgers boast four distinct units, each with its own ghastly skills:

• Sea Creature: A mutated deep ocean beast, bound in servitude, wields a powerful melee strike and a petrifying gaze.
• Rusalka: An exotic water nymph, captured and forced to dance for eternity, mesmerizes the battlefield with her mud-dazzling spells.
• Captain: Twisted by the curse, the spectral Captain mutates across the deep sea, haunting multiple ships simultaneously. The shackles in his grasp bind boundless prisoners into servitude.
• Paragon Ghostship: Incarnate curse of the wraith-orcs, this infernal vessel rises from the ocean depths to claim the souls of the fallen.

4 New Wizards and New Wizard Traits

Belit the Cursebringer, once a mighty orc ruler alongside Bladud, walked a different path. She could not abide her kin’s growing complacency in the name of civilization. Instead, she yearned to return to a time of blood and conquest. Whether it was the betrayal of her royal lineage or the result of a hex from a spurned love, the great curse transformed Belit and her pirate brethren into Scourgers.

Pirate: The Pirate Wizard thrives on conquest and raids, offering additional bonuses and rewards for raising enemy cities. Successful raids provide mutated and indentured workers. This approach garners fame for their destructive exploits but results in fame loss if they decide to keep a city. With such aggressive tactics, a unique gameplay experience awaits.

Sea Master: Belit’s expertise bestows additional movement points on all units capable of swimming, and she can build an experienced fleet of ships at a discount, making sea conquest a breeze.

Books: Sorcery, Death

Horatio the Sea Tamer tale begins on the turbulent seas, where he served as a soldier on a ship alongside his steadfast companion, Gayn. Their dreams of becoming sea mercenaries were shattered when a malevolent Wizard led cursed pirates to attack their vessel. Despite their superior fleet, the Wizard’s dark magic turned their crew into undead minions, leaving Horatio and Gayn as the sole survivors.

Tactician: allowing him to command his troops with unparalleled efficiency. This strategic advantage provides extra movement points in combat, offering a significant edge against slower adversaries. Horatio’s ability to outmaneuver his foes makes him a formidable force on the battlefield. Horatio also always catches his enemies off guard, ensuring that he initiates every battle. This advantage is especially potent for a Wizard leading a strong, ranged army. Horatio’s ability to control the flow of battle from the outset makes him a cunning and unpredictable adversary.

Sea Master: Horatio’s influence extends beyond the land, as he bestows additional movement points on all units capable of swimming, and he can build an experienced fleet of ships at a discount, solidifying his reputation as a true master of the seas.

Books: Life, Chaos

3 new heroes with new skills and Unique Events:
Meet three exceptional heroes, each with their own captivating stories and unique events. Ph’ym the Philomath, Big Berta, and Slithers the Sea Scourge are ready to join your cause, offering their services to the highest bidder.

New Challenges and Boss Lairs
Embark on a journey to the depths of the sea, explore the Reef Island and the Wind Caves, and face new enemies and challenges. These unique locations provide thrilling encounters and treasures for intrepid explorers. Challenge yourself by confronting the monstrous Kraken bosses in the Reef Island and Wind Caves, earning unique Wizard Traits that can only be gained by defeating them.

Harness New Water Resources:
Utilize three new map resources in Master of Magic: Scourge of the Seas- pearls, reef, and fish – to enhance your shoreline cities. A new Arcane spell allows you to harvest sea resources that fall outside of your city’s catchment area.

New Arcane Spell
To make the most of these newfound sea resources, a powerful Arcane spell will be at your disposal. This spell allows Wizards to harvest sea resources that fall outside of the city catchment, ensuring that nothing goes to waste in your coastal dominion.

Master of Magic Update

In conjunction with this Master of Magic Scourge of the Seas DLC, a complimentary update will be released for all players which includes:

• Engaging water combat visuals – rafts for units without swim
• Breakdown of a town’s production incomes
• In construction manager, Ability to queue items that require prerequisites
• UI button to show resource icons on map
• Diplomatic and AI improvements such as:
• Improved AI city defenses and how to manage units
• Spell of Mastery will be more attractive for AI to use
• Implement visual feedback within treaty requests and conversations after diplomatic actions. Also, integrate diplomatic trade into the relationship, reflecting the impact of a trade and changes to the trade evaluation. Furthermore, consider Fear and Relationship as factors influencing trade acceptance, affecting the potential acceptance of a tribute or an unfavorable trade. Added visual improvements to depict the current status of a relationship with the AI.
• Fixed AI town danger rank estimation scale even in peace or panic mode issues and AI relationship changes to prevent unilateral overrides and data loss.
• A Few Changes to AI: traverse water including fixes to transport settlers targeting oversea locations; now towns should have sensible armies defense appropriate to AIs current production ability. AI will be open for more diplomatic efforts and less war trigger
• Improving Treaty evaluation and relying on relationship as gain from the treaty is beneficial regardless of the situation

It’s good to see the remastered old classic getting new content and updates. The modern successes of Master of Magic, Age of Empires II+III, Command and Conquer and more show that there was something about how games were made in the past that still has something to offer in comparison to the games made today. That said, there’s no denying new practices have a lot to add to the older games too in some cases, and it’s great to see the combination at play in Master of Magic. I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into the new race and updates, just as I did in the previous paid DLC Rise of the Soultrapped, the Free DLC Through the Mirror, and the base game itself. Scourge of the Seas is set to be released on February 8 and the base game can be bought on Steam for the standard price of $AU58.50 or $US39.99 but has been discounted up to 35% in the past and may do so again at the release of the DLC.

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