Posts by darkhelmet110985

The Barbarian Village was added some time ago and was created with the intent that it be a Tutorial ground for new players learning the Combat System. As a reward for doing so, you can gain quite a bit of resources to jumpstart your Ikariam campaign. One can argue that its been a massive success for what it was intended to be since it has a built-in mechanism to prevent players from farming them to oblivion. Yet if you go to newer worlds, you'll come to find that your only opponents happen to be Barbarians. Why is this the case? Two factors: 1) Player Count and 2) Cultural Treaties

Player count is a massive factor here. On the world of Hera for example(83 days old), there are a whopping 244 accounts, of which 51 are inactive. Should they all ghost, that puts the world under 200 accounts and means even fewer pillage targets. Yet this leads me to my 2nd point: Cultural Treaties. Cultural Treaties are effectively a personal Peace Treaty between players and are the only way to fully utilize the Museum and maximize the benefit from being in a Democracy(might need to reform Governments too no?). With fewer and fewer players on a given world, signing CT's with those that are left largely prevents you from attacking one another(else your population riots for a few hours should you break it by attacking). So that leads to the inevitable conclusion: What pillage targets are left but Barbarians?

So my suggestion is to reform Barbarians such that they become a reliable source of income for players of all sizes on any given world. Such reforms are as follows:

1) Remove diminishing returns mechanism. Given that Barbarians are typically the only source of action/pillage income for active players on some worlds, it seems fitting that this has to go so that they're not penalized for being on sparsely populated worlds.

2) Reduce Building Material/Luxury Good stock levels of any given level by at least 50% to 75%. Level 49 Barbarians yield roughly 450k resources(not counting the Gold). Although you have to beat down quite a few Barbarian troops(and take some losses in the process), that resource haul is quite a bit. So much so that you have to send multiple sorties of Cargo Ships to loot it all. With Diminishing returns removed, the spoils would have to be reduced to compensate.

3) Increase rebuild time of a given level by a factor of 2 to 4. This is to slow down the process of leveling up a Barbarian Village.

4) Increase likelihood of reprisal. Yes, even Levels 1-9 should potentially have the threat of it, although I'd have the odds of reprisal start at level 5.

5) Make Barbarian Fleets more lucrative. Even though Barbarians are profitable on Land(in large part to not having any air units), they are simply not worth the time at Sea. That should be changed imo and its not like we can farm them as easily as Barbarians on Land since it requires a complete Sea Chart to pinpoint their location and an expensive Navy on hand to go after them.

Feel free to discuss.

Solid guide but I would argue that a player can fight Barbarians as soon as they start playing the game and don't have to wait until they're 25k points. They may not get very far initially due to limited resources and technology but once they unlock Professional Army, they can pretty much roll right up to level 10 or so with nothing but Hoplites and then reset to repeat as they grow larger. As they unlock Rams, they can go a bit higher, although the Wall starts to become problematic for Rams by Level 14(takes 5 Rams to knock out a Wall piece) and is not recommended beyond Level 15(when Wall upgrades to level 6 at level 16 and takes 8 Rams to take down a Wall segment, 7 if you have Silver upgrades). Not to mention the fact that you'll always take losses to enemy Rams until you unlock Balloons but small players won't have that luxury until they unlock them or grow large enough to support them after buying them via Black Market.

Unlocking Catapults permits a player to roll right up to Level 19 without much hassle as the Level 8 Wall only takes 5 Catapults to take down a segment. Level 20 and beyond though will be out of reach until the player unlocks Steam Giants and Mortars. Forge obviously makes fights with anyone, including Barbarians, much easier and especially since you'll have the advantage in terms of upgrades. Forge only makes the battles that much more lopsided.

Solid arguments have been made. I’m well aware of Freighter cargo capacity. 100x capacity but 20x slower. Therefore they come out ahead once your Freighter capacity reaches five times your Cargo Ship capacity(190k x 5 = 950k or 19 Freighters, more if you bought Phoenician ships). My point though is that there will come a time, particularly if your Empire is spread out, where you will wish the base speed of Freighters were just a tad higher and this is independent of whether you have Poseidon or not. I don’t count Triton Engines as that’s a premium feature. Judging this purely from what an average non-premium player can do. Even if the base speed was bumped to 5, ideally 10, it would make a world of difference as I see it. 30 may have been too high but I find the current value of 3 to be too slow.

What you are describing is getting fed Capture Points. That doesn’t run afoul of Pushing because Capture Points can’t be used for anything other than for evaluation every 3 weeks(whereupon competition begins anew). Normally, feeders are smaller accounts who feed a bigger account points in exchange for a cut of the spoils. Haven’t really heard of a circumstance of a bigger account doing this but if they wanted a cut of the spoils, then you’d either have to get it approved by a GO(which is unlikely given it violates the Pushing rule in my book) or they’d have to trade for it(best bet is via Trade Post by buying your spoils).

I was perusing the Ship list and something caught my eye that I honestly thought was a typo...

Freighter Speed: 3

Can someone explain to me how that was a good idea, much less got through testing without any blowback whatsoever? We only have so many ships to move resources at a time and therefore time is a precious resource. Not every account has Poseidon at their disposal or a Sea Archive in every town(build slots are still a premium you know) to reduce trip duration. Before Freighters came along, the slowest ship in the game was the Balloon Carrier at a meager 20. That's slow and anyone thinking of having a Navy has at minimum Poseidon, if not a Sea Archive as well for that very reason. Most combat Ships have a speed of 40 while Mortars, Rockets and Tenders have a speed of 30. I think it would be more than fair to set Freighters at that speed or at bare minimum 20, matching Carriers. It's not like we can have tons of them right away as it requires building Dockyards in every single town and upgrading them substantially to get any meaningful amount of them and considering late game upgrades require Millions, if not BILLIONS of resources, it would be preferable that we not wait an eternity for a shipment to arrive. Otherwise, your pushing rule is going to need a massive update considering how long Freighters take to do a shipment of any meaningful distance(god help people who spread out their Empire, much less Trade with Freighters...). I understand Rome wasn't built in a day, but Freighter Speed is simply dumbfounding.

Also considering the sheer volume of goods being moved around by Freighters, I'd also argue for a 4th Naval Slot to get Dual/Triple Ports and/or buffing Hermes Wonder(mirroring it after Athena or 160%/240%/400% at levels 3 to 5 respectively). Yet that's for another topic.

Battlefield has always been tied to Town Hall level, not on how long battles take. Hence expanding the Battlefield size once Town Halls reach a certain milestone is certainly in the cards. Players have been playing for ~15+ years now and have Town Halls that were at the old "softcap" of 37/38 and slightly higher if you were a Premium player(w/ double storage). With new Town Halls levels available, new Battlefield layouts are logical to follow. The battlefield changes at TH 5, TH 10, TH 17 and TH 25. I would add an expansion/change at TH36(which would immediately impact all established servers), again at TH50 and one final one should anyone happen to hit TH 64. As to what those "expansions" would entail I haven't quite ironed out but it'd allow for quite a bit of troops and Garrison Limits would have to be updated too.

I'd also entertain shortening Battle Rounds to 10 minutes in conjunction with updating/reforming Ares Wonder. What I had in mind for Ares is following:

Level 1: +20% Land Movement Speed/+5% Damage for Combat Units

Level 2: +40% Land Movement Speed/+5% Damage for Combat Units
Level 3: +60% Land Movement Speed/+10% Damage for Combat Units

Level 4: +80% Land Movement Speed/+15% Damage for Combat Units

Level 5: +100% Land Movement Speed/+20% Damage for Combat Units

Description for Ares Wonder: Ares, the detested God of savage warfare, blood-lust and of massacre, fills the hearts of all warriors in the vicinity of your cities with pure hate. These warriors will then charge into bloody combat without a second thought to their own healths, until no man is left standing.

Seems fitting for the Wonder no? Imagine that with Hephaestus...

I'd also update Hermes, mirroring its benefits after Athena by buffing Level 3 - 5 to 160%/240%/400% respectively. This would greatly help players moving resources around and I'd update Hermes to affect Pillage missions(hence 75 goods/minute per ship as opposed to 15).

Figure this could use an update seeing as we're now up to 19 Build slots compared to the 15 when this was written. Those 4 new Build slots will be utilized by a 5th Warehouse, a Museum, a Winegrower and a Wine Press. The 5th Warehouse is to maximize Safe Storage and coincidentally, 5 Warehouses is all you'll need to reach end-game building levels provided you upgrade them and hardcap reducers. The cost to reach level 85 on the Warehouse is astronomical(hence the Dump still has a purpose), but if you want to squeeze every ounce out of Piracy rewards, much less Athena Wonder, then this is the path to forge. Normally you'd forego having a Museum on Wine-Only because you simply won't need it but to fill a level 66 Town Hall will require it. Winegrowers now become standard, hence every town will be producing gobs of Wine on top of the Wine Press cutting Wine costs on Palace/GR, God's Shrine and Tavern upkeep.

I also advocate Wine-Only players to utilize Barbarians as much as they possibly can utilizing a floater. The floater can be left to generate Gold since its sole purpose is to spawn Barbarians for you to raid. Any retaliation from them will be meaningless and you can simply abandon the floater and recolonize it to reset the Barbarian encampment. Barbarians are a great source of Gold(which you can't get from other players(exception on war servers)) and the other 3 luxuries you won't natively produce. Even the Wine pillaged from them can permit you to forego working the Vineyard early on or can be sold off for a tidy profit.

With 19 Build slots, Barbarians, Piracy and Trading, Wine-Only is far easier to pull off.

Quote from Quartz

Quote from darkhelmet110985

Expanding the Battlefield makes some sense but I'd also argue that shortening Battle Rounds to 10 minutes, perhaps even 5 minutes(yes I mean that) would go a long way in preventing Battles from lasting Days, if not Weeks depending on how many players happen to participate.

Battles lasting a very long time are actually quite fun. Keeping the 15 minute round also allows players time to return to the keyboard and to muster troops and allies.

A long while ago I suggested that one of the miracles - Ares IIRC - have the facility to shorten the battle round time. This was shot down.

You could shorten battle rounds in conjunction with reforming Ares Wonder. One idea I had with that one was to mirror it after Poseidon but specifically for Land units. You could then add a Combat bonus on top of it so that with Ares + Hephaestus active, you could deal some significant damage to the enemy.

Expanding the Battlefield makes some sense but I'd also argue that shortening Battle Rounds to 10 minutes, perhaps even 5 minutes(yes I mean that) would go a long way in preventing Battles from lasting Days, if not Weeks depending on how many players happen to participate. I'd also argue for certain Military units to get updated, namely Slingers and Archers given how weak they happen to be in comparison to Sulfur Carabineer's(aka Musketmen for me). An example of what I had in mind would be as follows:

Slingers: Ammunition set to unlimited, Increase Range Damage from 3 to 4

Unit Description states that ammunition is readily available. I don't see a reason to have an ammunition count on arguably the weakest unit in the game(even Spears feel stronger). As for the damage buff, its purely optional but honestly they could use it. It's not like it'll change things much compared to my proposal for Archers.

Archers: Increase Munition count to 5, Increase Range Damage to 12, Increase Unit Size to 2.

Archers are honestly the most useless unit in the game. They currently have the same ammo limit as SC's, cost more in upkeep but have a massive disparity in terms of damage output. Most front-line units have significant armor so that 5 base damage really isn't much(4 damage to Hops, 2 Damage to SG's and Forge doesn't help them). I propose their ammunition be increased to 5(mirroring Catapults on Artillery line) and their Range Damage be increased to 12(15 fully upgraded). To compensate for the increased Damage, their unit size will be increased to 2, hence fielding 15 per Range Slot.

With the changes, assuming 3/3 ups for Attacker/Defender, each Range Unit would do the following:

Slingers(30):
Both Unforged: 3 Damage to Hops/1 Damage to SG's. Compared to current 2 damage/nothing

Enemy Forged: 1 Damage to Hops/nothing to SG's. Compared to current nothing/nothing
Both Forged: 2.4 Damage to Hops/0.4 Damage to SG's. Compared to current 1.2 Damage to hops/nothing to SG's

Archers(15):

Both Unforged: 11 Damage to Hops/9 Damage to SG's. Compared to 4 Damage/2 Damage

Enemy Forged: 9 Damage to Hops/7 Damage to SG's. Compared to 2 Damage/nothing

Both Forged: 12 Damage to Hops/10 Damage to SG's. Compared to 3.6 Damage/1.6 Damage

SC's(7):

Both Unforged: 28 Damage to Hops/26 Damage to SG's

Enemy Forged: 26 Damage to Hops/24 Damage to SG's

Both Forged: 32.4 Damage to Hops/30.4 Damage to SG's

If we compare Damage output between Archer's and SC's, the ratio is 15/7 or 2.14 multiplier. Applying that to Both Forged on Archer output yields 25.68 against Hops and 21.4 against SG's. SC's still come out on top damage wise but Archers, for the **cost** would be well worth making, even if they cost more in upkeep given that their ammunition lasts longer. Considering that Archers were lethal in ancient times, a much higher damage output seems warranted.

This has probably been mentioned awhile back but for someone who's been away for a while and have come back only recently, the current organization state of this Forum is, to put it tactfully, a giant dumpster fire. Like seriously who designed this Forum, much less organized it in the following manner? I get having sections based on Language, but you couldn't further categorize or separate things further than this? I mean ffs, other GF Forums for other games are nowhere close to being this poorly designed/organized so what the Spaceballs gives? Whatever happened to Help&Questions board, Suggestions Board, every World having their own SubForum so that they aren't all convoluted together like it is now and a few other public subforums for like Forum Games/etc. Yet what this Forum currently happens to be... this is simply an embarrassment. Maybe instead of updating the game with more Building levels you do everyone a favor and update this monstrosity of a Forum because for someone who remembers Forums from back in the day, this is a giant disgrace the likes of which that can't be described with words safe for public consumption.

For reference and to illustrate how it should be done... OGame EN (gameforge.com) <- That's a Forum worth visiting. Why can't Ikariam have a Forum just like that one?

Posted this in a similar topic but figure I'd add it here for further discussion since I feel the following is something I'd like to see in a future patch.

1) Increase Trade Ship capacity from 180 -> 300.

Net result increases base Cargo Capacity from 90k to 150k and this doesn't include Daily Login, Phoenician or Buddy List ships.

2) Update Futures with the following bonuses:

Seafaring: -2% upkeep on Ships, +4% base speed on Ships

Scientific: +2% Research points, +4% Research points from Experiments

Economic: +20 Housing Cap, +10 Happiness, +4% Cargo Capacity on Trade Ships*

Military: -2% upkeep on Land Units, -2% Training time

Since, AFAIK, Futures are capped at level 25, the effects are as follows. Seafaring keeps the same upkeep on Ships but Ship speed is massively increased. If you manage to fully upgrade Seafaring, the base Speed on all Ships is doubled(and doubled again with Poseidon), allowing players to quickly move resources around and significantly reduces the need for the Seachart Archive(although every ounce of time savings can matter, particularly over long distances). For Scientific, it plays into two playstyles. Firstly, for players who use lots of Scientists, the 2% bonus is retained but for those who like to tear down their Academies for the build space but keep one for say Experiments, Scientific Future ought to benefit them as well. By focusing on Scientific Future all the way to level 25, the amount of Research points generated from Experiments is effectively doubled(and this is on top of the Optician cap being raised). For Economic, the traditional Town Hall buffs remain but the added buff towards Trade Ships really makes this one a priority to upgrade for those looking to move goods. By fully maximizing Economic Future, Trade Ship capacity goes from 500 to 1k goods per ship or 150k to 300k with a full Trade Fleet for any given player if my first suggestion goes through. Finally, Military Future should further reduce training times. This can mitigate or amplify World modifiers concerning training speed. In both cases it's multiplicative and not additive so if Land Training times were reduced 50% on a world, MF would bring it to 75% when maxed. Similarly, if Recruitment times were increased by 50%, then MF would ultimately lower it to -25%(since 1.5 x 1/2 = .75)

*Loot speed would have to be adjusted with each increase in Cargo Capacity, otherwise ships won't leave completely full of loot.

3) Hermes Wonder affects Loot Speed.

Currently Hermes affects the Loading Speed of all your Trading Ports while active. This benefits any Trade Ship loading goods, be it your own or other players. I'd like to see this extended to your Military when pillaging other towns such that the loot speed is increased by the same percentage so a level 5 buff is 200% or taking 15 goods/minute and increasing it to 45 goods/minute. This base value would be adjusted accordingly from Economic Future in above suggestion.

4) Temple yields +5 Happiness per level, +1 Happiness per 1% Conversion rate. Base effects of Temple tripled under Theocracy.

Museums are not as reliable as they used to be in keeping the masses happy on older worlds so the need for a 3rd option is glaringly apparent, especially for the warmongers among us(who can't attack those with whom we have a CT with). The base value of +5 is increased to +15 under Theocracy so a level 30 Temple yields 150 base Happiness that is increased to 450 under Theocracy. An additional bonus is applied from converting your Citizenry up to a max of 100 for a grand total of 250(550 under Theocracy).

5) Mills/Mines overhauled. Donation requirements adjusted lower, number of workers per level increased at higher levels

With sparsely populated servers, Mill/Luxury Mine donations become an increasing burden on those who remain. Even with Forester Houses generating extra Building Material, the sheer volume of Building Material and ROI on donating is just not worth it. Adjusting the donation amounts down would encourage players to keep donating and by increasing the number of workers at higher levels, the ROI would obviously improve and encourage players to keep donating well into the 30's, 40's and 50's to grab even more worker volume for higher tier building projects.

6) Reduce Combat Rounds to 5 minutes.

Battles shouldn't take hours, if not days, to conclude. Reinforcing/reloading should be made much more difficult and by shortening Combat rounds will go a long way in changing combat tactics/strategy.

7) Rework Ares to increase Land Movement speed and grant bonus Armor to Land Units.

Poseidon increases Naval speed but there's nothing for Land(largely because it was never needed). If Land Combat is shortened to 5 minutes, the need to get to the battlefield faster becomes ever more apparent. I mean the current setup of Ares has such a niche use that it's frankly a waste of island real estate for a Wonder. Yet if Ares increased Land Movement speed to the point that you can easily reinforce before Front Line/Flanks/Air collapses or Ammunition is exhausted, players would certainly take it no? Furthermore, Ares could be used in conjunction with Hephaestus to turn your Land Army into a real force to be reckoned with.

The following guide is not for the faint of heart. This way of play can be slow, tedious and is heavily reliant on others as you'll only be producing one of the four Luxury Goods in Wine. Why Wine you ask? Wine is the one Luxury Good that your Empire simply cannot live without. If you run out of Marble, your Building projects are merely delayed until you get more. Crystal Glass runs dry? Well that just means you won't be doing Workshop upgrades, upgrading Temples, recruiting Spies, or conducting Experiments until you acquire more. Ditto Sulfur with respect to Military production. Yet if you run out of Wine, your Town Satisfaction takes a **MAJOR** hit since to keep the populace happy, you have to rely ever more on the Wine Tavern because the Museum, on most worlds, simply isn't enough to keep the masses happy. There is the Temple, which this strategy does permit as an option, but the bulk of your Town Happiness comes from 1 Structure and Luxury Resource(Wine).

Since this is a "Wine-Only" strategy, each town in your Empire will be producing the same Luxury Good. As a result, each and every town in your Empire is self-sufficient. You will **NEVER** have to move Wine around for Tavern upkeep because your Towns can simply produce what they need and then some. If you need more Wine for Palace/GR upgrades, simply bump production up and move in what you need to proceed with the upgrade. The key to this strategy is what to do about the other 3 Luxury Goods. Well, there are really only three options:

1) Trading: This is arguably the most consistent and easiest means of acquiring what you need. If you set up shop in an area with people willing to sell you Marble, Crystal Glass or Sulfur, then this is the best way to acquire it. It will certainly be more expensive than mining it yourself like a typical player would but that is the price you pay for Wine-Only. You can offset this cost by selling surplus Wine on the open Market, often at discount rates to lure in buyers.

2) Piracy: The Pirate Fortress need only be level 1 for this strategy to work. Since you likely won't have a very big Military, if one at all given the lack of Sulfur with this strategy, you would do best to become a Feeder for someone else. Then after every Piracy round, your Pirate, provided they place in the top 50 that is, will cut you some of the loot that you can then use to grow bigger. The more reliable feeder you happen to be, the bigger the cut you'll get. Since you'll almost always be smaller than your Pirate, this is an easy way to gain luxury resources.

3) Pillaging: This is arguably the most profitable but also the hardest given your lack of Sulfur. If you manage to find some inactive to pillage, by all means take advantage of it but typically this option usually resorts to fighting Barbarians or no one at all.

Early-Game Strategy: Now when starting on a world, you're randomly placed on an island. Depending on your start dictates how you will proceed. I find that you take a look at your surroundings and if you find yourself at the edge of the world that it might best to move into the interior or 50:50 area where everyone else happens to be. The Wine-Only strategy permits two ways of playing it: One-Island or Multi-Island. The one-island Strategy means your entire Empire is on one island. All Saw Mill/Vineyard donations are amplified due to every town in your Empire benefiting from it while the Multi-Island strategy means that the impact of donations is lessened but you have access to multiple Wonders(if you so choose to do so).

Best Wonder: Athena. You won't be doing much, if any fighting, so Hades and Hephaestus are all but wasted on you. Furthermore, you're unlikely to find an open Hephaestus spot due to the Wonder's popularity. Poseidon is the next most picked Wonder for Ship speed so you're unlikely to find one sparsely populated if you're going for an Empire on one island. Then there's Hermes, which while beneficial in the late game is all but useless to you until you get your Trade Ports to a high enough level to where that 200% boost to loading speed will have a major impact. Demeter is all but pointless since you're Wine-Only and won't be constantly recruiting Military. There is the Colossus to repel Attackers but that requires that you be online during the fight to stick it to them and even then, there are ways around it given its long cooldown. Ares needs a rework quite frankly so that basically leaves, by default, Athena. Athena can yield 24/7 Safe Storage protection and at level 5 amplifies it by a factor of 400%. If you got 4 Warehouses at level 40(160 total), that takes your 76,900 Safe Storage and amplifies it to 384.5k! Grab the Padlock premium upgrade and you're now at 769k. That's resources that players can't touch, allowing you to stockpile gobs and gobs of resources that you can protect with a Wall, a Ram Ship and a single Spearman to force a prolonged fight for basically nothing.

Ideal Town Layout: The game yields you 14 Build spots(15 with Bureaucracy) and I find the following setup to be the most ideal:

Palace/Governor's Residence

Tavern

Carpenter

Architect

Optician

Firework's Test Area

4x Warehouse

Academy/Dump

Hideout

Temple

Forester House

Flex

Each and every town is going to need at least 4 Reducers. Carpenter and Architect are a given to reach the upper tier Building levels while Optician and Fireworks Test Area drastically reduce the cost on the Dump and Palace/GR upgrades. Since you're Wine-Only, the need to reduce Wine consumption in the Tavern is all but moot since you can simply produce what you need and sell surplus. Hideout is there to deter outsiders since most won't bother attacking if they can't easily find out what you have, although having a **Skeleton Military(or better) is recommended** since 0 MS invites blind-faith raids. The Dump takes the Academy spot only after you're satisfied with your Research or if you need the spot for Storage space on your next Building project. The flex spot is typically one-city wonders: Trade Post, Workshop, Embassy, Barracks. Rest get Winegrowers to produce surplus Wine. With the update granting ever bigger Building levels, the possibility for 1 to 2 Town spots is potentially in the cards. If that happens, a 5th Warehouse is going to take the first build slot with a 2nd Dump taking the 2nd so as to achieve higher building levels. The flex spot will have to be sacrificed for the 3rd Dump if you choose to go for upper tier building levels, hence it's recommended that you do upper tier projects one city at a time.

Is this strategy for me? As i said above and to answer this question bluntly, it's not for everyone. Yet I hope what I've detailed above is enough to give you courage to try it. It's certainly a great pick for Premium Piracy players as they can convert resources and Pirate like no other(with warping and Piracy rewards really giving you a ton to work with).

Quote from Scythe

Quote from darkhelmet110985

Quote from Scythe

Quote from darkhelmet110985

I feel the following would go a long way in making this update easier to swallow given the amount of resources required.

1) Increase Trade Ship capacity from 180 -> 300. Net result increases base Cargo Capacity from 90k to 150k and this doesn't include Phoenician or Buddy List ships.

2) Update Futures with the following bonuses:
Seafaring: -2% upkeep on Ships, +4% base speed on Ships

Scientific: +2% Research points, +4% Research points from Experiments

Economic: +20 Housing Cap, +10 Happiness, +4% Cargo Capacity on Trade Ships*

Military: -2% upkeep on Land Units, +2% Damage done to enemy land units

Since, AFAIK, Futures are capped at level 25, the effects are as follows. Seafaring keeps the same upkeep on Ships but Ship speed is massively increased. If you manage to fully upgrade Seafaring, the base Speed on all Ships is doubled(and doubled again with Poseidon), allowing players to quickly move resources around and significantly lessen the need for the Seachart Archive(although every ounce of time savings can matter). For Scientific, it plays into two playstyles. Firstly, for players who use lots of Scientists, the 2% bonus is retained but for those who like to tear down their Academies for the build space but keep one for say Experiments, Scientific Future ought to benefit them as well. By focusing on Scientific Future all the way to level 25, the amount of Research points generated from Experiments is effectively doubled(and this is on top of the Optician cap being raised). For Economic, the traditional Town Hall buffs remain but the added buff towards Trade Ships really makes this one a priority to upgrade for those looking to move goods. By fully maximizing Economic Future, Trade Ship capacity goes from 500 to 1k goods per ship or 150k to 300k with a full Trade Fleet for any given player if my first suggestion goes through. Finally, Military Future should yield a bigger kick than just the additional upkeep reduction. While Hephaestus is a sought-after Wonder, almost everyone who fights has it's effects so getting a little extra kick on the Battlefield via Military Future might change things on land if players neglected fully researching this. Yields a nice 50% boost to land damage when fully upgraded, which is 2.5 times of what the Wonder yields.

*Loot speed would have to be adjusted with each increase in Cargo Capacity, otherwise ships won't leave completely full of loot.

3) Temple yields Happiness, with its effects tripled under Theocracy. I was thinking +5 per level of Temple or +15 under Theocracy. Conversion rate yields an additional effect of +1 per %Conversion or +100 for 100%. Meaning a level 30 Temple with 100% Conversion would yield +250 to Town Happiness that is increased to 550 under Theocracy. It's doesn't quite match the effects of the Museum but considering some servers struggle to find CT's, Temples should definitely be updated to do this.

4) Mills/Mines overhauled. Donation requirements adjusted lower, number of workers per level increased. Even with Boosters, the sheer number of resources needed for higher levels is just insane. To encourage players to donate well beyond level 50, the rewards have to be significantly better than what they currently are.

5) Reduce Combat Rounds to 5 minutes. Battles shouldn't take hours, if not days, to conclude. Reinforcing/reloading should be made much more difficult and by shortening Combat rounds will go a long way in changing combat tactics/strategy.

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Conceptually, I love the idea...

But, your numbers might need a little tweaking.

Halve your added bonuses to futures. You can't get too greedy in what you ask for.

The asking for shorter combat rounds would appear to be a non-starter. I've asked for the same thing, it doesn't seem to go anywhere. I wasn't able to get anywhere asking for it to be shortened to 10, you certainly won't get anywhere asking for it to be shortened to 5.

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I might be a tad greedy but when doing negotiations, it's best to be a bit outrageous before negotiating down to a number you wanted all along. Granted I feel 4% on Cargo capacity to be more than warranted given the volume of goods we must move. I do cede your point regarding MF though since it would inject a bit of competitive unfairness for those who lack the Research. The only thing that might come to mind that would be somewhat fair is reducing Training times by 2%, hence 50% reduction when fully upgraded. As for the Combat rounds, combat on Ogame is instantaneous... hence in a blink, a player's fleet and/or resources are in the hands of an Attacker/Defender while on Ikariam that outcome could last for hours, if not days. Speeding things along can not only help pillaging but combat during war. I figure 5 minutes is more than adequate because it'd mean that unless you roll in reinforcements before round 3 hits(which is at 10 minute mark), you won't be able to refresh the range-line(and land movement takes 10-15 minutes to begin with). Meaning if you're going to sustain a battle, you'll need quite a few action points and a change in battle tactics.

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Negotiating changes in this game is different from negotiating a business deal... Perhaps I have a tad more experience in interacting with the Game Forge staff than you do. You have to start from a realistic point, even if you slightly err on the high side... Otherwise, they won't take you seriously. At all.

I'm not sure how long you have been playing this game, but I have been here since 2008. The combat used to be pretty instantaneous. The way some of us want to play the game, is not how they envision it. When we color too far outside the lines, they tighten the leash. That's why we have 15 minute combat rounds and they took away gold pillaging. I stepped away from the game for a few years, and didn't come back, until I was willing to completely revise the way I play the game.

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I remember gold pillaging and the subsequent changes to Trading Post limits so as to prevent Gold pushing and allowing players to sustain an Army/Navy they otherwise couldn't afford and I remember instantaneous combat against walls with Swordsman(unupgraded). The game's combat has undergone quite a bit over the years but it's gotten to the point where players have militaries so large that any consequential battle takes **DAYS** to finish. Even farming an inactive takes at minimum 1 hour if you happen to be on the same island as the player(15 minutes to the target, 33 minutes to load, 15 minutes back. Even longer if you occupied, surrendering 10% of your take and then shipping the rest back home. That can take some time too based on the distance...). I understand the notion of "Rome wasn't built in a day" but the handbrake they put on Combat has slowed things down a bit too much for my liking. I'd be in favor of 10 minute rounds but 15 is just too much as I see it. I also think looting speed needs to be bumped a bit as well. Perhaps a wonder like Hermes could amplify looting speed seeing as it affects Trade Ports? It'd certainly add more value to it.

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Quote from darkhelmet110985

I feel the following would go a long way in making this update easier to swallow given the amount of resources required.

1) Increase Trade Ship capacity from 180 -> 300. Net result increases base Cargo Capacity from 90k to 150k and this doesn't include Phoenician or Buddy List ships.

2) Update Futures with the following bonuses:
Seafaring: -2% upkeep on Ships, +4% base speed on Ships

Scientific: +2% Research points, +4% Research points from Experiments

Economic: +20 Housing Cap, +10 Happiness, +4% Cargo Capacity on Trade Ships*

Military: -2% upkeep on Land Units, +2% Damage done to enemy land units

Since, AFAIK, Futures are capped at level 25, the effects are as follows. Seafaring keeps the same upkeep on Ships but Ship speed is massively increased. If you manage to fully upgrade Seafaring, the base Speed on all Ships is doubled(and doubled again with Poseidon), allowing players to quickly move resources around and significantly lessen the need for the Seachart Archive(although every ounce of time savings can matter). For Scientific, it plays into two playstyles. Firstly, for players who use lots of Scientists, the 2% bonus is retained but for those who like to tear down their Academies for the build space but keep one for say Experiments, Scientific Future ought to benefit them as well. By focusing on Scientific Future all the way to level 25, the amount of Research points generated from Experiments is effectively doubled(and this is on top of the Optician cap being raised). For Economic, the traditional Town Hall buffs remain but the added buff towards Trade Ships really makes this one a priority to upgrade for those looking to move goods. By fully maximizing Economic Future, Trade Ship capacity goes from 500 to 1k goods per ship or 150k to 300k with a full Trade Fleet for any given player if my first suggestion goes through. Finally, Military Future should yield a bigger kick than just the additional upkeep reduction. While Hephaestus is a sought-after Wonder, almost everyone who fights has it's effects so getting a little extra kick on the Battlefield via Military Future might change things on land if players neglected fully researching this. Yields a nice 50% boost to land damage when fully upgraded, which is 2.5 times of what the Wonder yields.

*Loot speed would have to be adjusted with each increase in Cargo Capacity, otherwise ships won't leave completely full of loot.

3) Temple yields Happiness, with its effects tripled under Theocracy. I was thinking +5 per level of Temple or +15 under Theocracy. Conversion rate yields an additional effect of +1 per %Conversion or +100 for 100%. Meaning a level 30 Temple with 100% Conversion would yield +250 to Town Happiness that is increased to 550 under Theocracy. It's doesn't quite match the effects of the Museum but considering some servers struggle to find CT's, Temples should definitely be updated to do this.

4) Mills/Mines overhauled. Donation requirements adjusted lower, number of workers per level increased. Even with Boosters, the sheer number of resources needed for higher levels is just insane. To encourage players to donate well beyond level 50, the rewards have to be significantly better than what they currently are.

5) Reduce Combat Rounds to 5 minutes. Battles shouldn't take hours, if not days, to conclude. Reinforcing/reloading should be made much more difficult and by shortening Combat rounds will go a long way in changing combat tactics/strategy.

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Conceptually, I love the idea...

But, your numbers might need a little tweaking.

Halve your added bonuses to futures. You can't get too greedy in what you ask for.

The asking for shorter combat rounds would appear to be a non-starter. I've asked for the same thing, it doesn't seem to go anywhere. I wasn't able to get anywhere asking for it to be shortened to 10, you certainly won't get anywhere asking for it to be shortened to 5.

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I might be a tad greedy but when doing negotiations, it's best to be a bit outrageous before negotiating down to a number you wanted all along. Granted I feel 4% on Cargo capacity to be more than warranted given the volume of goods we must move. I do cede your point regarding MF though since it would inject a bit of competitive unfairness for those who lack the Research. The only thing that might come to mind that would be somewhat fair is reducing Training times by 2%, hence 50% reduction when fully upgraded. As for the Combat rounds, combat on Ogame is instantaneous... hence in a blink, a player's fleet and/or resources are in the hands of an Attacker/Defender while on Ikariam that outcome could last for hours, if not days. Speeding things along can not only help pillaging but combat during war. I figure 5 minutes is more than adequate because it'd mean that unless you roll in reinforcements before round 3 hits(which is at 10 minute mark), you won't be able to refresh the range-line(and land movement takes 10-15 minutes to begin with). Meaning if you're going to sustain a battle, you'll need quite a few action points and a change in battle tactics.

I feel the following would go a long way in making this update easier to swallow given the amount of resources required.

1) Increase Trade Ship capacity from 180 -> 300. Net result increases base Cargo Capacity from 90k to 150k and this doesn't include Phoenician or Buddy List ships.

2) Update Futures with the following bonuses:
Seafaring: -2% upkeep on Ships, +4% base speed on Ships

Scientific: +2% Research points, +4% Research points from Experiments

Economic: +20 Housing Cap, +10 Happiness, +4% Cargo Capacity on Trade Ships*

Military: -2% upkeep on Land Units, +2% Damage done to enemy land units

Since, AFAIK, Futures are capped at level 25, the effects are as follows. Seafaring keeps the same upkeep on Ships but Ship speed is massively increased. If you manage to fully upgrade Seafaring, the base Speed on all Ships is doubled(and doubled again with Poseidon), allowing players to quickly move resources around and significantly lessen the need for the Seachart Archive(although every ounce of time savings can matter). For Scientific, it plays into two playstyles. Firstly, for players who use lots of Scientists, the 2% bonus is retained but for those who like to tear down their Academies for the build space but keep one for say Experiments, Scientific Future ought to benefit them as well. By focusing on Scientific Future all the way to level 25, the amount of Research points generated from Experiments is effectively doubled(and this is on top of the Optician cap being raised). For Economic, the traditional Town Hall buffs remain but the added buff towards Trade Ships really makes this one a priority to upgrade for those looking to move goods. By fully maximizing Economic Future, Trade Ship capacity goes from 500 to 1k goods per ship or 150k to 300k with a full Trade Fleet for any given player if my first suggestion goes through. Finally, Military Future should yield a bigger kick than just the additional upkeep reduction. While Hephaestus is a sought-after Wonder, almost everyone who fights has it's effects so getting a little extra kick on the Battlefield via Military Future might change things on land if players neglected fully researching this. Yields a nice 50% boost to land damage when fully upgraded, which is 2.5 times of what the Wonder yields.

*Loot speed would have to be adjusted with each increase in Cargo Capacity, otherwise ships won't leave completely full of loot.

3) Temple yields Happiness, with its effects tripled under Theocracy. I was thinking +5 per level of Temple or +15 under Theocracy. Conversion rate yields an additional effect of +1 per %Conversion or +100 for 100%. Meaning a level 30 Temple with 100% Conversion would yield +250 to Town Happiness that is increased to 550 under Theocracy. It's doesn't quite match the effects of the Museum but considering some servers struggle to find CT's, Temples should definitely be updated to do this.

4) Mills/Mines overhauled. Donation requirements adjusted lower, number of workers per level increased. Even with Boosters, the sheer number of resources needed for higher levels is just insane. To encourage players to donate well beyond level 50, the rewards have to be significantly better than what they currently are.

5) Reduce Combat Rounds to 5 minutes. Battles shouldn't take hours, if not days, to conclude. Reinforcing/reloading should be made much more difficult and by shortening Combat rounds will go a long way in changing combat tactics/strategy.