Suggestion: Unit Upgrades stay with the Unit

    With the recent v13 changes allowing unlimited upgrades, I think it would be interesting, and I think it would make sense, that the Weapon/Shield upgrades that apply when the Unit is produced should stay with the Unit. e.g. If I produce Units with level 10 upgrades and put them up for sale, and a low level player buys them, they get the benefit until those specific troops/ships are destroyed.


    It would obviously complicate things a bit in the back-end DB, a Table would be needed to track individual Units and their Upgrade-Levels, Hit-Points s etc., but I really think it would add a lot to the game-play!


    The upgrade levels would also need to be listed out when putting troops up for sale in the Black Market. Obviously Units with higher upgrades would demand a higher price in the market.


    Spying troop levels would become slightly less valuable. With the unlimited upgrades you need to spy out Inventions already, but if the upgrades are tied to the units then you wouldn't know if the player has purchased higher-level units from another player, which I think improves the game with the additional imperfect information.


    The unlimited upgrades already heavily skew the game in favor of higher level players, even more so than before.

    Allowing lower level players to purchase high level troops would balance out that equation a little bit, and it will increase Trade activity in the Black Market, which is good for the game.

    Quote from DreadPirateRob

    The unlimited upgrades already heavily skew the game in favor of higher level players, even more so than before.

    Allowing lower level players to purchase high level troops would balance out that equation a little bit, and it will increase

    It would help more higher accounts to have and strong multiples.

    I 100% disagree

    Quote from JamesBond79
    Quote from DreadPirateRob

    The unlimited upgrades already heavily skew the game in favor of higher level players, even more so than before.

    Allowing lower level players to purchase high level troops would balance out that equation a little bit, and it will increase

    It would help more higher accounts to have and strong multiples.

    I 100% disagree

    Your critique is really just a critique against multi-account players, which is valid, but a separate issue.

    Quote from DreadPirateRob
    Quote from JamesBond79
    Quote from DreadPirateRob

    The unlimited upgrades already heavily skew the game in favor of higher level players, even more so than before.

    Allowing lower level players to purchase high level troops would balance out that equation a little bit, and it will increase

    It would help more higher accounts to have and strong multiples.

    I 100% disagree

    Your critique is really just a critique against multi-account players, which is valid, but a separate issue.

    I'm not criticizing, I'm just stating my opinion.

    As the game is now, for the units of someone with multiple accounts to have the upgrades, too much gold and too many materials are needed for each of their accounts.

    According to your suggestion, for the units of someone with multiple accounts to have the upgrades, the basic thing that is needed is only one account to have spent gold and materials on the upgrades and to have an upgraded barracks and shipyard and to continuously produce an army/fleet.

    I see that your suggestion makes it easier for someone with multiple accounts.


    The original suggestion makes the game more interesting. The market would have more variations and players can choose the strength of the troops to buy depending on how much they could spend.


    Sadly, it's the multi-account rules that are broken and it blocks the game from having better mechanics. If the devs could focus their time and effort on preventing multis abuse the game, all aspects of the game would improve and this is a much better use of the dev team's resources compared to creating a new game mechanic.

  • This would just create endless chaos.


    If I have 5 differently upgraded Units of each type, how does the game tell me which Units I'm sending right now?

    There would be a need for countless overviews, for looking at Units in my city and sending Units to fight.


    Why would it be a benefit to the game if spying Troop-Levels becomes meaningless?

    Gathering Informations trough spying is a crucial task and should be rewarded.


    Gameplay-wise I don't see any benefits at all, the ones realistically benefitting from it are the ones with the big accounts / big upgrades because they're the ones selling the units to whoever they want, which won't be the classic normal small player but they're alliance-mates, multis and general-banks.

    DIAS, JuneBarcarolle, bll and 2 others like this.

    It should have an overview. The problem would be if you intentionally bought units in many different upgrade levels, then, why? Just because you can?


    Someone can still spy Troop Levels. You'll still be rewarded and you'll see all the troop levels of your opponents. It would be messy if your opponent intentionally made it messy. For example, you can create islands on all corners of the world. But you won't do that because why would you when it will be messy and very hard to deal with. Spying is a crucial task but would you send your spies to all the corners of the world if your opponent intentionally ruined it like that?


    Then again, the disadvantage didn't come from the new mechanic but from the multis and general-banks mechanics. It's breaking every game mechanics in Ikariam.

    Quote from -Blank-

    The problem would be if you intentionally bought units in many different upgrade levels, then, why? Just because you can?

    Why does it have to be intentional?

    If People produce Units for me because they themself don't want to / can't fight, or if I share my Units with a friend when they need them, each and every time Units with different Upgrades would be mixed.

    Happens all the time.


    Quote from -Blank-

    For example, you can create islands on all corners of the world. But you won't do that because why would you when it will be messy and very hard to deal with.

    I do that with one account and I know several Players who do the exact same thing, there are good reasons for it.


    These are not just theoretical settings but stuff that actually happens 1:1 in the game already.

  • Quote from Tendo

    If I have 5 differently upgraded Units of each type, how does the game tell me which Units I'm sending right now?

    You're right, that would be an issue. One way that could potentially be handled is a drop-down option that would all you to either "Send Strongest Troops First" or "Send Weakest Troops First". Or default to one of those and have a checkbox to reverse it.


    Even if it was randomized it would make it more interesting. Being able to determine the exact outcome of a battle before it even begins via spreadsheet is kinda boring IMHO.


    Quote from Tendo

    Why would it be a benefit to the game if spying Troop-Levels becomes meaningless?

    Gathering Informations trough spying is a crucial task and should be rewarded.

    The game already allows for purchasing "Dummy packages" of troops, so it's not like the reward for spying troop levels is currently guaranteed.

    Imperfect Information is a hallmark of many great games.

    -Blank- likes this.

    That's a no for me, plus I can't imagine them doing all this coding ^^

    "On the contrary, woman is the best equipped machine ever went to battle"

    -Richard Le Gallienne

    "Asking polite with a gun in your hand is better than asking polite with nothing"

    Leader of SHAG



    i see many incomplete slots of trops.

    And with imcomplete slots you loose more than you kill.


    Ex:

    a) 145 hoplite lvl 4/8

    b) 150 Hoplite lvl 3/3

    c) 134 hoplite lvl 2/11

    Which one go to the front line?


    34/50 slot of type c) or 45/50 of type a) or a full slot of type b)


    More attack?? More defence? Most complet?


    It's a good idea, but a very complex one to implement and work.


    Now, in a fight between alliances (2 or more player from each side), how does the game choose which units to put on the battlefield?

    In the front line, the order is by the weakest units - lowest HP. But between 2 3/9 hoplites and a 6/2, which one does the game place?



    Maybe we could buy swords and shields of higher level on the market from another player to temporary improve our troops.


    Ex:

    I buy 10.000 lvl 9 hoplite attack.

    From that moment the next 10.000 hoplites that died in battle fight with lvl 9 attack.

    We could have a counter next to the unit in the barracks or workshop like we have on the feats detals of each player.


    When the 10.000th hoplite get killed the rest fight with the level with have on workshop.

  • This suggestion would be pure chaos for the game to display. Essentially you could have infinite types of troops, each with a different set of upgrades, depending on who made them. Then there's the matter of buying and selling them. The game would have to display each type of troop with various levels of upgrades. If someone was selling 10 different versions of hoplites, could they charge a different price for each one?


    No thank you.

    viZb6W5.png


    Turmoil's in the air

    Hold your breath be deadly calm

    Make a final prayer

    Don't forget what you have done

    Agamemnon, bll and Tendo like this.
    Quote from DreadPirateRob

    Even if it was randomized it would make it more interesting.

    If randomizing Battles is "interesting" for you, then we just have clearly different opinions.


    Quote from DreadPirateRob

    The game already allows for purchasing "Dummy packages" of troops

    That's hardly used and it's a premium-item, meaning atleast Ikariam gains some money by people using it (that's the only part of it which makes it good for the game).

    You have to purposefully use it to give someone fake-informations, that's very different from just making a spy-information almost meaningless in general, without having to invest real money over and over again.

    This proposal requires a lot of work for minimal gain so it's a no from me.


    Also, all of Ikariam favors higher players over lower players simply by the nature of the game itself.