Culdcept BEGINS total magic is the G you are holding plus the value of every territory you own, upgrades included. That is why hoarding loses: a player sitting on a large pile of G can be beaten by a visibly poorer opponent who poured the same money into territory.
Culdcept BEGINS Total Magic: What the Number Counts
- Total Magic = the G you are holding plus the value of every territory you own, upgrades included.
- Territory counts toward the goal and prints money every time somebody else lands on it, so the same amount of G is worth more as land than as cash.
- The goal for the match is a fixed Total Magic figure. Campaign stages commonly set 8000 G; in multiplayer the target can be selected when the map is chosen, and a random map can have its goal set for you.
- You reach the goal and then have to return to the castle. Reaching the number is only half of the win condition.
- On maps with a Cathedral, the symbols on the board add another layer to the same economy, since they add to both your available G and your territory value.
- The board HUD shows Total Magic and Current Magic separately, so you can always see how much of your position is real cash versus land.
Culdcept BEGINS Land Chain Value: Why Four Beats Four
Claiming several lands of the same element in the same area increases their value through a chain, and the chain multiplies the value and the tolls they charge.
- Two same-element lands are worth more than two scattered lands of different elements, and four chained lands are worth considerably more again. The tolls scale with the value, so a four-land chain is a toll booth that enemies fall into.
- The lands in a chain do not have to sit next to one another. Two separated Fire territories can belong to the same chain, and maps with several separate areas have their own area boundaries, so check where the areas start and end.
- Levelling a land raises both its value and its toll, so every upgrade does double duty: it adds to your Total Magic and it increases what you collect from opponents who land there.
- A valuable land inside a chain moves your total much further than another small, isolated investment, but it also gives your rivals a reason to target it. Before raising a level, inspect the defending creature, the protection available to it, and the attacks your opponents can bring.
- The land's element decides which chain it belongs to; the creature's element decides whether it receives the land effect. Those are two separate checks, and a Neutral creature does not get the land effect unless its card grants it.
- Chain-breaking is the strongest economic move in the game. Capturing a single land inside an opponent's four-strong chain collapses the multiplier across the whole chain, which is often worth more than three fresh territories of your own would be.
- Spells break chains without a fight: Meteor lowers the level of the target territory by two (an unchained territory drops to level 1), Locust and Subsidence lower a level by one, and the element Shift spells convert a land so that it leaves its old chain.
- The board UI shows the current state of a territory directly: Value, Toll, Level and the Chain it belongs to.
Spending the Money You Have
Before spending G on an upgrade, look ahead at the spaces you are likely to land on and the cards you may need. A higher total is useful, but an empty purse makes the next expensive toll or defensive Item a problem. The practical rule is to reserve G for tolls and defensive cards, and invest the rest in territory you can actually keep.
Land You Do Not Hold Counts Against You
Total Magic only rises when you own land, so the fastest way up the number is to take land rather than save for it. How to capture territory covers the three ways to take it and how to judge an invasion first.
Getting More G Than Your Rivals
Cash on its own is a weak position, so the fastest route to more of it is farming rather than playing. Gold farming covers the setup that turns a session into repeatable income.