Well? How do I learn spells at the start of the game so I can actually battle creatures? Heck even Skyrim gave me a spell to cast at level 1.

What? You're kidding right? The more I should use a spell of my choice from the start, the better it should be. Sorry, but I really do think Skyrim got the right idea for progression in spell mechanics. I'm already turned off completely by not having some knowledge of combat spells at the start. I picked mage, jumped into combat and found that as a mage I couldn't cast any form of combat spell at all. There needs to be something for a mage to -do-, and building and developing a my magic the more I cast it should be the way to go.

There needs to be something other than than waiting around to get spells, because frankly I already have to wait for buildings, research, and units.. why should I have to wait for magic spells too? Magic should be a combat and tactical tool that keeps me engaged in the game tactically so I am having fun and not worries about waiting seasons or rapidly seeking out things at random to learn spells that should feel like they progress naturally.

You learn to cast more powerful spells as you level up. A mage always chooses Fire when leveling. Once you are adept enough to cast Fireball, start looking for a trait called Evoker. This will increase the damage of offensive spells by 50% and there are 3 levels! Magic scales well with the rest of the game. On turn one, if you have Fire Disciple as a trait for your Sovereign, you can cast burning hands and own low level creatures. 

That said, the techs are not well balanced yet so you do need a few early Civic techs as soon as the game starts. Then go into the Magic Tree and learn some spells. You will be off and casting one hit kill Fireballs in no time.