[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

If less gems is at least a partially acceptable answer, then dont we already have that by setting sites to a very low setting when creating the game?
--magicsites X Magic site frequency 0-75 (default 40)
Setting events rare would help also.

That would lower everyone equally. Of course some nations have a naturally high gem income from national sites, which could be boosted by pretender selection, but that is part of the balance for those nations which they pay for in other areas (that people usually complain about). That all just amounts to a different game-feel for us all to enjoy. And its already been built-in by the developers.

Not to mention that it would make some of the globals less pointless, like... what's that spell that gives you 5 pearls a turn by collecting solar light?

-Max