an idea ive been thinking about is conjuring weapons like bow or sword that would last for a certain amount of time based on what casting you would be using and when you would cast the spell it/ the spell book turns into the weapon and they have special abilities now this is the part im not sure on either there's a spell that relative to every essence like theres an ice bow spell, ice sword spell, a fire bow spell, etc or theres a conjure bow and conjure sword spell that makes a weapon that is based off of your affinity. Also when the spell would be casted on augmented it would also spawn one that you would drop so someone else could pick it up and use it but it would still have the time limit on it
also i was thinking about a spell called Blizzard it would create a storm of snow and ice around you that would cause damage to enemies that would be in it and depending on the casting would change how long it lasts the area and the damage it would cause
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Happiness is like peeing in your pants, everyone sees it but only you feel its warmth.
an idea ive been thinking about is conjuring weapons like bow or sword that would last for a certain amount of time based on what casting you would be using and when you would cast the spell it/ the spell book turns into the weapon and they have special abilities now this is the part im not sure on either there's a spell that relative to every essence like theres an ice bow spell, ice sword spell, a fire bow spell, etc or theres a conjure bow and conjure sword spell that makes a weapon that is based off of your affinity. Also when the spell would be casted on augmented it would also spawn one that you would drop so someone else could pick it up and use it but it would still have the time limit on it
also i was thinking about a spell called Blizzard it would create a storm of snow and ice around you that would cause damage to enemies that would be in it and depending on the casting would change how long it lasts the area and the damage it would cause
well, a spell that turns into weapon when you cast it is useless (in my opinion) why not just use a normal weapon? it won't save space cause the spell is an item, and making it stronger than diamond would be OP. why not just a magic sword, or a short range burst spell?
well, a spell that turns into weapon when you cast it is useless (in my opinion) why not just use a normal weapon? it won't save space cause the spell is an item, and making it stronger than diamond would be OP. why not just a magic sword, or a short range burst spell?
Blizzard would be epic though!
thats what i meant the weapons would be magic weapons like for example the ice bow would shoot arrows that have a chance of freezing enemies and when it would hit water it would freeze it and the fire sword would be able to make a short tail of fire follow it so it would cause burn
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Happiness is like peeing in your pants, everyone sees it but only you feel its warmth.
thats what i meant the weapons would be magic weapons like for example the ice bow would shoot arrows that have a chance of freezing enemies and when it would hit water it would freeze it and the fire sword would be able to make a short tail of fire follow it so it would cause burn
And after a period of time(I can't imagine battles would last longer than a minute) the bow, or sword, or knife, or gun, or chicken on a stick, or whatever you summoned up as a weapon, disappears out of inventory(it should disappear anyway if you drop it!).
I have another spell suggestion, meteor kick is pretty bad-ass, perhaps another kind of spell could be, rising palm, or panther fang, or some melee attack, let me explain.
Cast Cobra Fang-Lunge forward 3 blocks at the speed of augmented haste with green particles around you-causes 5 blocks of knockback and 5 hearts of damage. Also has a good bit of horizontal range, not just a pin head, more like a baseball bat.
How about some kind of spell that let's you climb on clouds? Make a cloud block and make a spell that allows you to create these for climbing through the sky.
Instead of weapon summoning spells, you could have a weapon/tool enchanting spell. It would only last for a second to a minuet depending on casting mode and would only effect the specific tool type. (I believe minecraft forge has a hook for this.)
Example: Splintering Sword; your sword splinters upon attacking a mob and launches several weak projectiles in a small area, however your sword takes 20x more damage.
And after a period of time(I can't imagine battles would last longer than a minute) the bow, or sword, or knife, or gun, or chicken on a stick, or whatever you summoned up as a weapon, disappears out of inventory(it should disappear anyway if you drop it!).
I have another spell suggestion, meteor kick is pretty bad-ass, perhaps another kind of spell could be, rising palm, or panther fang, or some melee attack, let me explain.
Cast Cobra Fang-Lunge forward 3 blocks at the speed of augmented haste with green particles around you-causes 5 blocks of knockback and 5 hearts of damage. Also has a good bit of horizontal range, not just a pin head, more like a baseball bat.
How about some kind of spell that let's you climb on clouds? Make a cloud block and make a spell that allows you to create these for climbing through the sky.
of course they would be temporary like i said the spell (or the spell book) would turn into the weapon then once the time ran out on it it would change back to the spell or spell book)
Instead of weapon summoning spells, you could have a weapon/tool enchanting spell. It would only last for a second to a minuet depending on casting mode and would only effect the specific tool type. (I believe minecraft forge has a hook for this.)
Example: Splintering Sword; your sword splinters upon attacking a mob and launches several weak projectiles in a small area, however your sword takes 20x more damage.
Theres already an enchantment system in the game so i dont think that Mithion would do that but adding possible enchantments to the table wouldnt be a bad idea
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Happiness is like peeing in your pants, everyone sees it but only you feel its warmth.
You do not understand, it would be more like a buff than an enchantment. If you used the lightning sword spell, when you attack the wraith that is trying to kill you, it would strike lightning and damage your wooden sword. Then if you switched to your diamond sword and attacked a pig it would strike lightning and damage your diamond sword. 28 seconds later you attack your sister, and she doesn't hate you because the buff wore out 8 seconds ago.
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I like Emanresu 11's idea, a temp enchantment buff that has a unique effect would be epic! it's like a spell that triggers when you hit an enemy. (or mine a block)
I'm not so sure I like the idea of magic weapons / tools in that context of "magic buff".
For one, it's too unbalanced. With a small cost, it could be kept up indefinitely or at least for as long as you might need it. If it costs a lot, then it would cost too much to be anything more than a novelty for the effect. If it's treated as a buff then without some specialized coding you could throw a lot together and be able to obliterate almost any normal enemy. And tougher enemies have better options for dealing with them . . . or otherwise aren't necessarily meant to go down easy.
Secondly, linking it to mana and weapon/tool durability is double-edged. You are using up mana (which regenerates) and tool uses (which does not); using two resources for an effect which is either too useful *not* to use or too weak to be worth the effort. Even if we assume you can just run and replace the weapon (note, a Magic Fabricator can make *any* weapon and with a good farm you can get enough Essence to support a nigh-endless supply) it's a punishing thing if your weapon is taking 20x the normal use in one swing for the effect. And as I said . . . if the effect is made powerful enough then nobody will do anything but that if they are given the option.
Edit: To Clarify!
Right now, Essence as-is can produce any weapon a nigh-infinite amount of times through the Fabricator. Even Diamond Swords. So as soon as you can get a Nexus, a Fabricator, and 2 Diamonds you can get started creating enough swords to choke a creeper. Even if you are required to use mana to activate the spell buff, the effect is either too weak to be useful or too powerful not to use. Because, you see, resources aren't an issue for the prepared person.
And those who aren't aware of how to prepare are going to find themselves on a whole different experience with the spells than someone who does know how to prepare.
(It's an unfortunate note - if you have enough time and knowledge to prepare . . . Minecraft survival becomes rather a case of dying only when completely off guard. Otherwise, you will rarely be at risk of it. Spells such as these will pretty much mean combat would be less of a danger.)
5 points in response:
1. Any coding must only be as specialized as setting a Boolean to true when you cast the spell and false when it deactivates, then before you can cast another buff an if statement tests whether you have a magic buff active, if not the event would be canceled. (Translation simple code to prevent exploits)
2. Magic buffs are more like an Alternitive to normal spells. Instead of shooting a fireball to incinerate your opponent (50 mana, 2 physical damage, 7 fire damage (damage is in half hearts)), you might just cast a magic buff and smash his/her face with your sword (25 mana plus an additional 2.5 mana/second lasting up to 10 seconds, same damage)
3. By the time you have an essence system setup, I REALY don't think mobs are a problem with or without any spells whatsoever.
4. Balancing magic buffs is very open, it could cost extra durability, initial mana, last for a limited time, mana over time, mana per tool use, limited uses of tools before buff runs out, etc... The possibilities are endless (unless you want to add a use for dragon eggs) and finding creative of balancing awesome magic spells/buffs is a fun challenge.
5. You need not suffer poor balancing, that's what beta-testers are for. (hehehe...)
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if you cast arcane bolt on augmented, it deals double the damage of an unenchanted diamond sword with a mana cost of 230. if you cast arcane sword boost (or whatever) on augmented, it costs 2300, doubles weapon damage, and lasts 15 or 20 secs (maybe 10 hits? is this possible?). with a diamond sword, you could deal the same (maybe a bit more, but it doesn't have long range) amount of damage as using 2300 mana of augmented arcane bolt, and arcane bolt shoots faster. I'd say pretty balanced.
A suggestion if you decide on the flying mount is somewhat a copy of what someone said earlier but a cloud you can "ride" would be pretty cool maybe have it eat your mana bar per second while its active. Also to those who suggested more compatibility with thaumcraft don't do it. There is already enough compatibility between the two mods as it is because thaumcraft focuses more on staying at home designing awsome machines and such with a few reasons to explore and ars magica is a lot of reasons to explore with a few things to build at home. There is some overlap but not much and that is what makes it worth using both of the mods at the same time. Thaumcraft is what I do to build my awsome wizard tower ars magica is what I do to the rest of the world when it is unfortunate enough to get in my way. However if someone did get ahold of an API for both of these I would suggest giving thaumium armor magic resistence like the armor in this mod. Cause some people prefer an eldritch knight look over strait up wizard look.
Anywho just want to say I havn't gotten to play this mod yet but I have seen most of the videos on youtube and I can't wait to get a 1.4.5 version. So keep up the good work.
Also as a side note you may want to up the costs on items out of your duplicator yes in EE I could convert random farmable mobs to diamonds and it was easy in Thaumcraft 2 you had to get almost 5 times the materials to duplicate an item and it didn't slow the game down much but it did give you incentive to build more to get to the point of making diamonds. Not saying the duplicator is a bad thing but if your going to convert trash to treasure make them work for it.
5 points in response:
1. Any coding must only be as specialized as setting a Boolean to true when you cast the spell and false when it deactivates, then before you can cast another buff an if statement tests whether you have a magic buff active, if not the event would be canceled. (Translation simple code to prevent exploits)
2. Magic buffs are more like an Alternitive to normal spells. Instead of shooting a fireball to incinerate your opponent (50 mana, 2 physical damage, 7 fire damage (damage is in half hearts)), you might just cast a magic buff and smash his/her face with your sword (25 mana plus an additional 2.5 mana/second lasting up to 10 seconds, same damage)
3. By the time you have an essence system setup, I REALY don't think mobs are a problem with or without any spells whatsoever.
4. Balancing magic buffs is very open, it could cost extra durability, initial mana, last for a limited time, mana over time, mana per tool use, limited uses of tools before buff runs out, etc... The possibilities are endless (unless you want to add a use for dragon eggs) and finding creative of balancing awesome magic spells/buffs is a fun challenge.
5. You need not suffer poor balancing, that's what beta-testers are for. (hehehe...)
1. I am not even an amateur coder, and have not done any mod work with Minecraft. The trouble of it is not something I can value as "little" or "a lot". All I know is how it would probably have to function . . . and extrapolate exactly what would need to be coded for it to work. And the more complex manipulations are required, the more invasive a mod can become and break things.
2. There is a marked difference between the two. Given the state of the game's mobs . . . the ranged attack is something I'd judge more useful. You do not want to melee a few monsters, and some of them are really hard to melee without soaking a good amount of damage first. (Note: Dark magi are on the list of "really annoying".)
3. Dark Magi will still mess you up pretty badly if you run across more than one. Or if one runs into you when you're unprepared.
4. Balancing or choosing from those factors will determine if that spell gets used, or if it doesn't. It's really not a simple matter
5. True . . . and I'm just voicing my opinions here. I really think that these sort of things would go against the spirit of Ars Magica thus far. Admittedly, I don't know what's in the plan for the next version, and while I *DO* know the tabletop version . . . I don't know how much that's guiding things. (Note, in the tabletop? *YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO COMBAT* . . . it is almost always the least favorable method of solving problems.)
Personally, while I don't really think summonable weapons will work well, weapon enchantment spells could be very cool. I don't see these as at all breaking the image of Ars Magica as a magic mod (I'm not familiar with the table-top), because the spell type has long been a part of fantasy. Personally, it reminds me of Dark Souls's weapon enchantment spells or FFIX's Sword Magic abilities. These would work best as personal buffs that improve damage of melee attacks (not linked to a weapon) and perhaps have an additional spell effects unique to each spell. These additional effects would be assisted by elemental damage increase as opposed to a basic non-elemental damage buff. Obviously, these spells would have to be different from what could be acomplished by vanilla enchantments or they would be totally pointless. Lastly, I don't think they should consume anything other than mana on the initial cast (like other buffs); as long as the effect isn't over powered it should be plenty balanced. If these aren't created, I would like to see more melee range spells for variety's sake; I like the theme of a Mystic Knight and would like to see more options made available to that type of character.
On the topic of Thaumcraft, I've recently had to pleasure of playing TC3 and I'd have to say that no compatibility measure should really be necessary. The mods are very different from each other despite both being under the broad umbrella of 'magic.' If Ars Magica decides to use a research system (which I encourage), it can and should be seperate from TC3's research system. This is a more ideal solution both mechanically and lore-wise. Mechanically, TC3 already has a massive amount of Theories to research at any given time, therefore adding Ars to the mix would be overkill and absolute chaos. Each material/aspect can only result in one Theory at a time, so it would become confusing and annoying to have check the same aspects (or whatever Ars may use) repeatiately in order to achieve completion. More significantly, Ars Magica and Thaumcraft magic just work differently from each other. It makes sense for the secrets of Thaumaturgy to be revealed as the player experiments by disecting and combining materials for their arcane aspects and recording and organizing the result in a theory. Ars Magica magic, on the other hand, can be conveyed through discovered scrolls, making it clear that one must know and record arcane formulae which is then mystically transcribed and imbued upon a scroll and further activated by trigger of one's personal mana reserves. Therefore, while a Thaumaturge must spend his time extrapolating aspects and their applications from raw materials, a Magus seems much more likely to be researching ancient formulae in lost tomes, theorizing about as of yet unattempted combinatinations of phrases, and organizing eldritch runes in arcane patterns. My point is, they're different and therefore need different research systems and overall don't need a compatability upgrade (as they don't really overlap). The only room I can see for compatibility would be the aforementioned magic defense upgrade to the Thaumium armor, magic attack values to the Thaumcraft weapons and damage effects, and perhaps interconnection with Flux and Aura (perhaps certain Ars Magica actions cause Flux, perhaps Flux is higher in currupted Biomes, perhaps Aura purifies itself of Flux in Pure Biomes, perhaps Aura can recharge itself from the Nexus at the expense of Raw Essence, etc. The possibilities are rather expansive). However, this would simply be nice for fans of both like me and not at all necessary.
I'm also rather fond of the concept of the flux mechanic**. One can do so much with it to balance various player actions.
**Though for Ars Magica not necessarily the exact implementation that Azanor currently follows. Tryin to put the exact mechanic (spilled essences create flux) into Ars Magica will likely not fit.
One change that would nearly be a 'needed' is that instead of flux being centered on some Aura node, it is centered on you! Which, logically, makes sense. TC3 uses magic from the node, hence why it becomes unstable. AM uses magic from within, which is why you become unstable.
Insane mages anyone? (Can you imagine making one of the flux effects render every entity as creepers for the affected player? That would be chaos.)
For example:
Why limit the player in what he can fabricate with magic? Let the player go nuts and make tons of diamonds.
"But that's unbalanced!" The forum trawlers scream!
Sure, which is why you make fabricating things with magic produce flux.
Sure, you got your pile of diamonds. But the eldritch abomination coming to devour your soul (and magic levels) and the approaching meteor storm centered on your fragile magic to matter setup might change your smile upside down rather quickly.
Flux can only discharge every now and again, so as long as you keep the pace of making things slow, you will only have to deal with minor discharges... such as lightning strikes and zombie swarms.
I.e. you can have nice things, just be prepared to deal with downsides of the same order of magnitude as your greed.
And as iforippon said, you could even make really high-end spells generate flux. Or make it so that you can cast Augmented spells without needing essences, but generate nasty flux instead... or whatnot.
Ars Magica does not need to do it exactly like TC3 does, with regards to anything, but there are many things that can really work well together.
Again, no dependency, but just cooperation would be awesome.
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People just can't stay away from me... but that is because I'm so fat I have my own gravitational field.
It's the flying cutlery that stresses me out.
My point was prefaced with and intended towards 'it's not necessary' not 'it's not possible.' Please read more attentively before accusing others of 'not thinking hard enough.' Although I can quite easily imagine using the Thaumcraft research mechanic for core Ars Magica features such as essences, I see no point in dweling on these concepts because they are just that: core. No aspect from a compatability mod should affect core mechanics because it changes the method of pacing and therefore balance. It's simply not something that should be tampered with; compatability should simply add some minor features that make the two seem more interconnected. As you say there are many disadvantages to have two mods be connected to each other.
Further, Ars Magica as it stands doesn't really support the feel of the Thaumcraft research system. My impression of Ars Magica is that the substances (runes) are not innatly magical at all; they combine to make a pattern and combination of symbols that conducts and shapes your personal mana when it's applied to create a specific magical effect (spell). In other words, a system of research that involves extrapolating magical essence to enchant and create magical substances really doesn't fit this theme in any way that would not unbalance the game if removed. It's not really safe to add research for things like Essences which really do fit the theme of Thaumcraft research well enough, because it causes them to become more accessable than originally intended by Mithion. Honestly, I don't see a point either; if Mithion has to add his own research system mod at all (i.e. for spells), then there's no point in making Thaumcraft dependant research for only some parts of Ars Magica. Therefore, to say that the Research API wouldn't work for part of Ars is to say that it shouldn't be used at all by default.
So, after seeing the change log of the upcoming version of the wiki, I can't wait for a release. But I have a suggestion. Since so many new spells are getting added to the game, how about having some "Book of Ancient Knowledge" type of thing where you drag any Ars Magica item into the GUI of the book and it gives detailed information about the spell (Mana cost on each casting mode, essence used, effect of spell, etc.) or item. I think there's something similar in the Aether mod too. This would save the trouble of having to look up every spell or item that you find.
Isn't all the arguing about TC3 integration a bit premature? I'm pretty sure there is no API for it yet, and I doubt the mod maker of this one is going to stop developing until there is.
Really looking forward to the update.. After going back to 1.4.5, I find myself missing this mod a lot!
also i was thinking about a spell called Blizzard it would create a storm of snow and ice around you that would cause damage to enemies that would be in it and depending on the casting would change how long it lasts the area and the damage it would cause
Happiness is like peeing in your pants, everyone sees it but only you feel its warmth.
well, a spell that turns into weapon when you cast it is useless (in my opinion) why not just use a normal weapon? it won't save space cause the spell is an item, and making it stronger than diamond would be OP. why not just a magic sword, or a short range burst spell?
Blizzard would be epic though!
thats what i meant the weapons would be magic weapons like for example the ice bow would shoot arrows that have a chance of freezing enemies and when it would hit water it would freeze it and the fire sword would be able to make a short tail of fire follow it so it would cause burn
Happiness is like peeing in your pants, everyone sees it but only you feel its warmth.
And after a period of time(I can't imagine battles would last longer than a minute) the bow, or sword, or knife, or gun, or chicken on a stick, or whatever you summoned up as a weapon, disappears out of inventory(it should disappear anyway if you drop it!).
I have another spell suggestion, meteor kick is pretty bad-ass, perhaps another kind of spell could be, rising palm, or panther fang, or some melee attack, let me explain.
Cast Cobra Fang-Lunge forward 3 blocks at the speed of augmented haste with green particles around you-causes 5 blocks of knockback and 5 hearts of damage. Also has a good bit of horizontal range, not just a pin head, more like a baseball bat.
How about some kind of spell that let's you climb on clouds? Make a cloud block and make a spell that allows you to create these for climbing through the sky.
Example: Splintering Sword; your sword splinters upon attacking a mob and launches several weak projectiles in a small area, however your sword takes 20x more damage.
Possible enchants; splintering sword, furnace touch pickaxe, chain lightning axe, etc...
of course they would be temporary like i said the spell (or the spell book) would turn into the weapon then once the time ran out on it it would change back to the spell or spell book)
Theres already an enchantment system in the game so i dont think that Mithion would do that but adding possible enchantments to the table wouldnt be a bad idea
Happiness is like peeing in your pants, everyone sees it but only you feel its warmth.
For one, it's too unbalanced. With a small cost, it could be kept up indefinitely or at least for as long as you might need it. If it costs a lot, then it would cost too much to be anything more than a novelty for the effect. If it's treated as a buff then without some specialized coding you could throw a lot together and be able to obliterate almost any normal enemy. And tougher enemies have better options for dealing with them . . . or otherwise aren't necessarily meant to go down easy.
Secondly, linking it to mana and weapon/tool durability is double-edged. You are using up mana (which regenerates) and tool uses (which does not); using two resources for an effect which is either too useful *not* to use or too weak to be worth the effort. Even if we assume you can just run and replace the weapon (note, a Magic Fabricator can make *any* weapon and with a good farm you can get enough Essence to support a nigh-endless supply) it's a punishing thing if your weapon is taking 20x the normal use in one swing for the effect. And as I said . . . if the effect is made powerful enough then nobody will do anything but that if they are given the option.
Edit: To Clarify!
Right now, Essence as-is can produce any weapon a nigh-infinite amount of times through the Fabricator. Even Diamond Swords. So as soon as you can get a Nexus, a Fabricator, and 2 Diamonds you can get started creating enough swords to choke a creeper. Even if you are required to use mana to activate the spell buff, the effect is either too weak to be useful or too powerful not to use. Because, you see, resources aren't an issue for the prepared person.
And those who aren't aware of how to prepare are going to find themselves on a whole different experience with the spells than someone who does know how to prepare.
(It's an unfortunate note - if you have enough time and knowledge to prepare . . . Minecraft survival becomes rather a case of dying only when completely off guard. Otherwise, you will rarely be at risk of it. Spells such as these will pretty much mean combat would be less of a danger.)
1. Any coding must only be as specialized as setting a Boolean to true when you cast the spell and false when it deactivates, then before you can cast another buff an if statement tests whether you have a magic buff active, if not the event would be canceled. (Translation simple code to prevent exploits)
2. Magic buffs are more like an Alternitive to normal spells. Instead of shooting a fireball to incinerate your opponent (50 mana, 2 physical damage, 7 fire damage (damage is in half hearts)), you might just cast a magic buff and smash his/her face with your sword (25 mana plus an additional 2.5 mana/second lasting up to 10 seconds, same damage)
3. By the time you have an essence system setup, I REALY don't think mobs are a problem with or without any spells whatsoever.
4. Balancing magic buffs is very open, it could cost extra durability, initial mana, last for a limited time, mana over time, mana per tool use, limited uses of tools before buff runs out, etc... The possibilities are endless (unless you want to add a use for dragon eggs) and finding creative of balancing awesome magic spells/buffs is a fun challenge.
5. You need not suffer poor balancing, that's what beta-testers are for. (hehehe...)
Anywho just want to say I havn't gotten to play this mod yet but I have seen most of the videos on youtube and I can't wait to get a 1.4.5 version. So keep up the good work.
Also as a side note you may want to up the costs on items out of your duplicator yes in EE I could convert random farmable mobs to diamonds and it was easy in Thaumcraft 2 you had to get almost 5 times the materials to duplicate an item and it didn't slow the game down much but it did give you incentive to build more to get to the point of making diamonds. Not saying the duplicator is a bad thing but if your going to convert trash to treasure make them work for it.
1. I am not even an amateur coder, and have not done any mod work with Minecraft. The trouble of it is not something I can value as "little" or "a lot". All I know is how it would probably have to function . . . and extrapolate exactly what would need to be coded for it to work. And the more complex manipulations are required, the more invasive a mod can become and break things.
2. There is a marked difference between the two. Given the state of the game's mobs . . . the ranged attack is something I'd judge more useful. You do not want to melee a few monsters, and some of them are really hard to melee without soaking a good amount of damage first. (Note: Dark magi are on the list of "really annoying".)
3. Dark Magi will still mess you up pretty badly if you run across more than one. Or if one runs into you when you're unprepared.
4. Balancing or choosing from those factors will determine if that spell gets used, or if it doesn't. It's really not a simple matter
5. True . . . and I'm just voicing my opinions here. I really think that these sort of things would go against the spirit of Ars Magica thus far. Admittedly, I don't know what's in the plan for the next version, and while I *DO* know the tabletop version . . . I don't know how much that's guiding things. (Note, in the tabletop? *YOU DO NOT WANT TO DO COMBAT* . . . it is almost always the least favorable method of solving problems.)
On the topic of Thaumcraft, I've recently had to pleasure of playing TC3 and I'd have to say that no compatibility measure should really be necessary. The mods are very different from each other despite both being under the broad umbrella of 'magic.' If Ars Magica decides to use a research system (which I encourage), it can and should be seperate from TC3's research system. This is a more ideal solution both mechanically and lore-wise. Mechanically, TC3 already has a massive amount of Theories to research at any given time, therefore adding Ars to the mix would be overkill and absolute chaos. Each material/aspect can only result in one Theory at a time, so it would become confusing and annoying to have check the same aspects (or whatever Ars may use) repeatiately in order to achieve completion. More significantly, Ars Magica and Thaumcraft magic just work differently from each other. It makes sense for the secrets of Thaumaturgy to be revealed as the player experiments by disecting and combining materials for their arcane aspects and recording and organizing the result in a theory. Ars Magica magic, on the other hand, can be conveyed through discovered scrolls, making it clear that one must know and record arcane formulae which is then mystically transcribed and imbued upon a scroll and further activated by trigger of one's personal mana reserves. Therefore, while a Thaumaturge must spend his time extrapolating aspects and their applications from raw materials, a Magus seems much more likely to be researching ancient formulae in lost tomes, theorizing about as of yet unattempted combinatinations of phrases, and organizing eldritch runes in arcane patterns. My point is, they're different and therefore need different research systems and overall don't need a compatability upgrade (as they don't really overlap). The only room I can see for compatibility would be the aforementioned magic defense upgrade to the Thaumium armor, magic attack values to the Thaumcraft weapons and damage effects, and perhaps interconnection with Flux and Aura (perhaps certain Ars Magica actions cause Flux, perhaps Flux is higher in currupted Biomes, perhaps Aura purifies itself of Flux in Pure Biomes, perhaps Aura can recharge itself from the Nexus at the expense of Raw Essence, etc. The possibilities are rather expansive). However, this would simply be nice for fans of both like me and not at all necessary.
**Though for Ars Magica not necessarily the exact implementation that Azanor currently follows. Tryin to put the exact mechanic (spilled essences create flux) into Ars Magica will likely not fit.
One change that would nearly be a 'needed' is that instead of flux being centered on some Aura node, it is centered on you! Which, logically, makes sense. TC3 uses magic from the node, hence why it becomes unstable. AM uses magic from within, which is why you become unstable.
Insane mages anyone? (Can you imagine making one of the flux effects render every entity as creepers for the affected player? That would be chaos.)
For example:
Why limit the player in what he can fabricate with magic? Let the player go nuts and make tons of diamonds.
"But that's unbalanced!" The forum trawlers scream!
Sure, which is why you make fabricating things with magic produce flux.
Sure, you got your pile of diamonds. But the eldritch abomination coming to devour your soul (and magic levels) and the approaching meteor storm centered on your fragile magic to matter setup might change your smile upside down rather quickly.
Flux can only discharge every now and again, so as long as you keep the pace of making things slow, you will only have to deal with minor discharges... such as lightning strikes and zombie swarms.
I.e. you can have nice things, just be prepared to deal with downsides of the same order of magnitude as your greed.
And as iforippon said, you could even make really high-end spells generate flux. Or make it so that you can cast Augmented spells without needing essences, but generate nasty flux instead... or whatnot.
Ars Magica does not need to do it exactly like TC3 does, with regards to anything, but there are many things that can really work well together.
Again, no dependency, but just cooperation would be awesome.
It's the flying cutlery that stresses me out.
My point was prefaced with and intended towards 'it's not necessary' not 'it's not possible.' Please read more attentively before accusing others of 'not thinking hard enough.' Although I can quite easily imagine using the Thaumcraft research mechanic for core Ars Magica features such as essences, I see no point in dweling on these concepts because they are just that: core. No aspect from a compatability mod should affect core mechanics because it changes the method of pacing and therefore balance. It's simply not something that should be tampered with; compatability should simply add some minor features that make the two seem more interconnected. As you say there are many disadvantages to have two mods be connected to each other.
Further, Ars Magica as it stands doesn't really support the feel of the Thaumcraft research system. My impression of Ars Magica is that the substances (runes) are not innatly magical at all; they combine to make a pattern and combination of symbols that conducts and shapes your personal mana when it's applied to create a specific magical effect (spell). In other words, a system of research that involves extrapolating magical essence to enchant and create magical substances really doesn't fit this theme in any way that would not unbalance the game if removed. It's not really safe to add research for things like Essences which really do fit the theme of Thaumcraft research well enough, because it causes them to become more accessable than originally intended by Mithion. Honestly, I don't see a point either; if Mithion has to add his own research system mod at all (i.e. for spells), then there's no point in making Thaumcraft dependant research for only some parts of Ars Magica. Therefore, to say that the Research API wouldn't work for part of Ars is to say that it shouldn't be used at all by default.
Really looking forward to the update.. After going back to 1.4.5, I find myself missing this mod a lot!