Master of Mana slow compared to FFH2?

Is it just me or does the game seem much much slower (about 10 times) than for example FFH2?

Having to research a summoning spell (tiger) Takes 500 turns. I know it would increase in speed later on, as i get more sages and such, but can anyone please tell me if i am somehow doing something wrong?

It gets much faster later on. Spells are kind of like extra techs, so you can drop the science slider down and increase the spell slider if you want. Specialize a city Sages District -> Schola Arcana if you want more research.

It's slightly slower to research than FFH2 because there's more than double the amount of researchable techs (including all the new spells). Magic is really awesome in MoMana

But aside from research too, specializing a city (merchants district and such), takes forever, along with lots of other things. Perhaps its jsut the problem early in the game?

Also, just a quick mechanic question: The "global" culture, is it used to expand the maximum number of free improvements for a specific city?

Edit: Checked in game, last research costs 50k beakers
In FFH2, RifE or even normal BtS i dont think it goes past 12k
And thats just animal mastery, the final research in ONE of the 3 sections.

yep, the global culture unlocks new improvement slots

Yah if you do not start with a magic smart civ it can take some time. I always try to get mana storing first.