Below is an excellent fan-made patch which fixes many bugs and issues in Master of Magic. It's been updated many times and the fix list is extensive. The goal is to make the game "as bug-free and as AI-challenging and as user-friendly as possible without modifying the content" - -- essential for any MoM fan.

Download the latest version here: http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4211

Previous GOG discussion concerning the patch can be found here; this thread has been created for updated info, link, sticky purposes, etc.

Are those patches comprehensive? If I'm still with MoM 1.40f or something, can I apply 1.40j direclty, without installing previous versions?

Yep. Unzip into MoM directory and overwrite everything. You should be able to use your previous savegames as well.

1.40j is much better than 1.40f version.

Thank You for information, even more thanks for Your work on improving those (Master of Magic and Master of Orion) classical games!.

@kyrub

Great work - thank You!

It's nice to see that someone is still patching this game, although the AI changes and extra difficulty levels probably are more interesting to players more experienced than me. Also, the patch seems to introduce a couple of bugs of its own. I couldn't use dispel magic true for example. I guess, I'll switch back to the original version after I finished my current game and wait for the next patch.

New version is available, 1.40k.

It fixes a very annoying issue from latest Insecticide patch: the AI dispel should not make the enchantments permanent for the overland game. The dispel should now work correctly, with the AI trying to dispel all sorts of enchantments from your units, including the overland_made (this feature was not present in vanilla)).

The usual place:
http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4211

It's the only set of fixes and patches on the net that enhances the game experience and still still should be called Master of Magic.
I was very cynical at first , but it improves the game without remaking it into some other game.

I don't like mods too, as they tend to change the game to fit the mod makers view, not to help the game get better.

This is a great patch though. I just bought Master of Magic off the site, the patch runs great with it.

Thanks for the effort.

Thanks for nice reception, guys. The Insecticide patch is indeed not meant to interfere with the original game in any way. The unsure changes were made based on statements in the large Official standard guide. A few border cases were decided by the MoM community.

There are a few exceptions for this rule: the most important being the ships capacity: All ships have now max capacity. This was necessary to correct the AI ineptitude to load its unit in a boat.

I also did a few changes to world setup. Some magic creatures never showed up in lairs which seemed to be unintentional, so I changed that with as few touches as possible. I felt it served very well for the bigger game variety.

I'm extremely impressed. Thanks a lot. Quick question, though. I haven't played MoM since it came out in 1842, and I loved it, but I'm totally clueless again. Does the AI improvement make the lower difficulty settings a lot more difficult? Thanks again.

Oh, surely. In 1842, MoM was definitely too easy.

Insecticide patch now features almost 200 bug fixes and AI improvements. The game is a lot tougher than it used to be. I reccomend to lower the difficulty setting to any player. - Other important hints to get back into game: use 2.0 tax from the beginning, scout with Magic spirits, uncheck the Extra difficulty options in Game settings menu (!!), use one of the favourite starting wizard combos (like LIFE + Halflings). There is another thread here with good information!

Remember, AI has absolutely insane bonuses against the human player (400% on Impossible). There is no shame in losing and it is almost "impossible" to win. Even I don't longer play on the highest level. Next release of Insecticide patch (coming soon!) will have a new "Extreme" difficulty level which is half way between Hard and Impossible.

http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4211

1.40l - New version is out!
A lot of changes, big update. New options, some bug fixes, AI advancement.

Version 1.40l
------------------------
- [bug] Armaggedon does not destroy all pacifying effects, it just increases rebels by 2
- [bug] ditched all (?) the stupid dispel bugs I've put in the game (please report any further problems with dispels!)
- [bug] AI is now able to create all magical items from the whole power range
- [bug] new items, written by player with use of itemmake.exe, will now have correct book prerequisites


- [game option] new world size, "Huge", is 33% bigger than Large. It creates a huge continent to fight for.
- [game option] new difficulty level "Extreme", same as Impossible, but with 25% lower AI bonuses
- [game option] new choice for magic strength, ranging from 0.5 - 2.5 x normal (strength of lair monsters, the rewards and the mana from nodes)

- AI now tries to protect his fortress with better defense
- AI mercenary hiring decision has notably improved
- AI will occasionnally buy a magical item from the merchant

-it is now impossible to get better hero by reloading before a summon
-it is now impossibe to get better reward from lair by reloading before the battle


- [intfce] all hidden To hit and To defend bonuses are now displayed in the detailed unit infobox.

Enjoy!

A quick new version, 1.40ll. Corrected crash at game start - apologies!

Link: http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4211
Direct download: http://realmsbeyond.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2285&stc=1&d=1319139965

Sweet! :) Downloading now.