Which school of magic do you prefer and why?

Judging by your previous post, you're playing with random map settings. That's not very interesting; there's always an easy way to win. Try playing with a standard map, and the situation will become much more difficult, not to mention player-created maps.

That's right. I find it interesting because each map is different and unknown.
What are these "standard" maps? :confused: I haven't come across any good, player-made multiplayer maps (if you know of any, please let me know; I'd be happy to try them) because they all seem to require some kind of "balance." Also, there's no freedom of choice – you immediately have to rush, for example, to the north for ore, then to the south for something else. Everything is standardized by the map creator, it's all predictable and well-known. You can play a few times and find the optimal development strategy for that map. But randomness is randomness.

But Griffin Conservatories do appear, albeit rarely. And how do you determine the number of griffins inside? Save-loading? Come on, that's not fair.

Well, you can't really use save-loading in multiplayer. The method has already been described above; it's as fair as it gets. :D