Bug or feature (?)

    Hi,


    I haven't played for some time & i see there's been some changes in ikariam, but there are things i noticed which makes me question - if that's a bug or intended feature of the game...


    First on the list is world/island view. I noticed, that i can't see anything happening outside my own islands. Meaning - any harbor blockades by other players, town occupations or even ongoing battles does not show even if the action is happening on the neighbouring island, unless i'm not directly affected by those actions. it used to be that i could look on whichever island i decided, and i would see which harbor is blocked, which town occupied, or is there any ongoing battles happening. Now i have to go in blind, therefore unless i occupy a harbor/town on the island, i won't be able to see what's happening there. I might even accidentally get caught up into full scale alliance vs alliance battles without knowing. So is this a bug or a feature? And what's the great thaught behind this, when implemented in game? As i see this as an absolute game-changing bug that should not exist in a first place.


    Other thing on the list - white flag. I used to play on the times, where pressing white flag meant that you are retreating from a battle, and therefore make your army voulnerable to being catched out in the town you attacked from. Now it's possible to press white flag, even if the troops are returning from the attack, and gets involved in a fight. Okay - i would slightly close my eyes on this, as this does not sound completely unreasonable, but still catched my attention.


    But there's one other thing regarding white flag that, in my opinion, gives way too many benefits and does not make any sense in the terms of game. It's that the defender can press the white flag while being attacked, and his troops ain't gonna disperse for 4h when doing so (as it was before when reatreated from a defense battle). Instead, they are in full amount back in the city, ready to defend any other attacks/waves that are coming to his town. I don't even want to start mentioning all the ways, players are allready abusing this system and many more they probably haven't yet thought about.

    Quote from Terra Bellator

    First on the list is world/island view. I noticed, that i can't see anything happening outside my own islands. Meaning - any harbor blockades by other players, town occupations or even ongoing battles does not show even if the action is happening on the neighbouring island, unless i'm not directly affected by those actions.

    You should be able to see an action on another island if:

    • you have a town
    • your alliance member has a town
    • you have a spy sent in
    • you have a garrison treaty
    • you have occupied a town/port
    Quote from Terra Bellator

    But there's one other thing regarding white flag that, in my opinion, gives way too many benefits and does not make any sense in the terms of game. It's that the defender can press the white flag while being attacked, and his troops ain't gonna disperse for 4h when doing so (as it was before when reatreated from a defense battle). Instead, they are in full amount back in the city, ready to defend any other attacks/waves that are coming to his town. I don't even want to start mentioning all the ways, players are allready abusing this system and many more they probably haven't yet thought about.

    Why do so many people think that using one of the available game mechanics is some kind of abuse? I'd call it a tactic.

    Quote from Draxo

    Why do so many people think that using one of the available game mechanics is some kind of abuse? I'd call it a tactic.

    Because current game mechanics has taken away all the possible benefits attacker may have and in exchange gave everything to defender. It starts with complete blindness for attacks outside your own islands; then you get all the white flag benefits that includes loads of ways how to screw attacker, and not to mention Kolossus wonder system, that allows reach cooldowns as low as 10 minutes for activation, which literally let's you win each and every land battle as long as you're sitting in defence. Tell me i'm wrong.