1. Game version is listed on the main menu in the corner.

2. I don't do map packs.

3. Mages are armor-killers - cold and fire damage ignore armor. Mages are important strategic units that can defeat armies that are nearly unstoppable with normal weapons. On a sovereign, Mage is perhaps the most powerful specialization.

4. You can't. There's no good way to get high level administrators. You'll need to have your administrators *not* being in cities but moving around fighting on the map if you want to level them. Forget about administration, the system is broken as is.

5. Children of Storm is perhaps the most professional quality mod I've seen for any game. Lots more content than StarDock releases in their DLC packs and it's all for free. Extremely recommended!

For mods, nearly all of them (including Children of Storm) are linked in this stickied post at the top of the LH Mods sub-forum:

https://forums.elementalgame.com/446461/page/1/

I would second that recommendation, though I might suggest you try the base game without it a little first so you can appreciate the changes (and the base game is quite enjoyable too - CoS basically just adds lots more content.)

Along those lines (adding new Content) I'd also suggest Hellions' Champion Bonanza and Black Market Bazaar.

After that, most of the other really good mods get into modifying game behavior, so you probably want to know whether you *want* that behavior changed first.  

As for administrators - you don't need high-level ones.  Even low-mid level champs with the Governor --> Admin line of perks are quite good at reducing unrest.

Hey folks! I am new to the game also and have a few queries of my own.

Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd just post them here if that's OK.

1) Once I'm in the tactical battle mode, is there a way to see the unit details of the enemy like I could from the world map strategic view?

2) An enemy city cast the antipathy enchantment on one of my cities. I cast a dispel on the city but nothing happened. Is that normal? How do I get rid of the bad enchantment?

3) I see references to docks and piers in the research tree, but never got the option to build them. I assumed I'd need a city near water(which I have). Am I missing something?

4) Sometimes I forget to set equipment to automatically upgrade on my unit designs. When I edit the design, it seems to create a brand new unit even though I name it the same. Is there a way to simply edit unit designs without a duplicate unit appearing?

I'm still learning the game but those are some of the things I wanted to clear up. Hope I'm not missing the obvious.

Thanks in advance for the help. this is a great game!

I recommend you start of with this list: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7k7l5aw0iapr8k/Mods%20Used.jpg. They add to the game without overly changing the game from the designers original intent (imo). If you like what you see, you can download the package and unpack in your mods directory (don't forget to 'use mods' in your options) here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qgg40e7qtvj9h22/Mods%20--%20Dec%2027%202013.7z

If you don't like what you see, by all means, check out the stickied mods collection here: https://forums.elementalgame.com/446461/page/1/#3407832

Enjoy.

There is a mod called Monuments XP (link) that gives increasing amount of XP to heroes and units for having the Monument (1 per city) which upgrades to Guardian Statue (1 per city) which upgrades to Guardian Idol (1 per faction).  This simple change makes a huge difference to levelling administrators, and it means your units and heroes are actually doing something when sitting in a city!

Caravans do appear on the map. You get them by agreeing to a Trade Treaty with one of the AI.