IntroductionTo those of you who don't have experience playing browser-based city-building game, I've had my fair share of them and I could say this is the best one I've found so far.
To those of you familiar with Tribal Wars, this game has everything that Tribal Wars has and many more features such as:
- Military units can be organised into different armies and divisions (with each division being led by a commander who will gain experience through battles) and ordered to attack, blockade, or siege enemy settlements;
- Many items to research, from brewing (yes!) to being able to build another settlement;
- Magic, with three different schools: geomancy (self-buffs), blight (curses), and runes;
- Seasonal cycle, with each season providing different bonus to resources production;
- Lunar cycle, with each phase providing different bonus to research and magic; and
- Complete quests in tavern to obtain their rewards.
Nothing could explain this game better than the official guides from the developers:
http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/help_forum9.htmlThis game is new. The first (and currently only) server has only been online since March 2010. New players are placed in the outer edge of the world, providing them opportunities to grow.
The developersThe developers are constantly updating the game, with update reports provided to players every now and then. They also actively participate in the forum, answering questions and taking suggestions to improve the game.
Current dev list:
http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/current-dev-list_topic98.htmlPremium account benefitsLike you, I avoid spending money on browser-based games, in which, premium account users may gain unfair advantages over non-premium account users. In this game, premium account benefits are also offered (called Prestige); however, the developers stated clearly that these have been designed carefully to not 'break the game'. IMO, compared to Tribal Wars, the gap between premium and non-premium accounts is relatively small. So, don't worry about not being able to enjoy the game if you don't plan on getting a premium account.
UPDATE: I've been playing with a normal account for some time for testing purpose and I haven't noticed any significant drawback.
RegistrationIf you don't mind, please register under my link (my username is Aelfric):
http://uk1.illyriad.co.uk/view_player_registration.asp?RPID=13947Otherwise, go here:
http://uk1.illyriad.co.ukIn term of starting location, you have two choices:
- South West. Many players started in SW and our Alliance capital (Akura's capital) is located there. We expect we will have strong presence in SW.
- South East. A few of us started in SE, including myself. It would be nice if we could evenly distribute our presence by having new players starting in SE to avoid overpopulation in SW. However, the choice is yours.
We have no players located in other regions, to the best of my knowledge.
Active players from Bay12 (and their Illyriad user names if applicable)- BuriBuriZaemon (Aelfric)
- Evilgrim
- Akura
- n9103 (EvilEdDead)
- SeaBee (Urist)
Deon (Deon Boatmurdered)Pnx (anduin)alexwazer- Halfman
Trappin (Tonopah)Bluerobin427 (Bluerobin)quinnrDiablous- kilakan
- Sparta 117 (Morul Cattenmat)
- Eek-A-Mouse (Peripheral)
- Zangi
- Chutney (chutpek)
Apple MasterNonsapient- Orb (Orb370)
Rashilul- Dervin
- Rakonas
- Neyvn (Nanoth)
- DaveT (Gilanor)
- LordBucket
- GlyphGryph (Noryasha Grunk)
Dwarf (Lodbrok)- Duuvian
- mattyb3
- Rhodan
LtGreeneyesHeavenfall (Stormlord)Singularity125 (Singularity)CheddariusductapeSpectr- Juraz (Remmer)
Imofexiosjellyman (unknown username)- Trinsic
- Misteriousbluepuppet
- subject name here (Lord Humongous)
- Shome (Adell)
Exiledhero99 (Nokin)- Demonic Spoon
- Sensei
Note:
- Please PM me your Illyriad user name if you play but are not included on this list.
- Please PM Akura in-game or post here if you play the game but have not been invited to the alliance.
- To those whose names have a strikethrough on the list, you have gone inactive, but if you'd like to be active again and receive an invite to the alliance, PM Akura in-game or post here.
Starting tips (only applicable during the protection period)- Set your tax rate to 5-10% (until it says +3 or +5 to revenue) right off the bat on day 1 and then lower it again to 1% (+1 revenue) on day 2. This will boost your resources production at the cost of reduced hourly gold revenue, but you don't need a lot of gold that early in the game. You only need gold to build caravans (10 gold each) and train spearmen (10 gold each), but you only get to build one caravan per one Marketplace level and you won't be training spearmen until day 3. Took me 36 hours to get to that level and I was actively gathering resources on the world map. By that time, I had built 5 caravans and had an excess of 150 gold. To change tax rate: Go to Town Map, Click on Castle, and then Taxation tab.
- There are resource caches appearing randomly on World Map. The more the number of settlements in the area, the more the number of resource caches. Use your caravans to gather resources off them. If there is a caravan, either someone else's or yours, already gathering the resource when your caravan arrives, the caravan that arrived earlier will be sent home with incomplete load. Be mindful that this may happen to you too.
- Don't be afraid to have food deficit early on. Raw materials (woods, clay, etc.) are required to construct and upgrade buildings. Food is only required to maintain them (consumed on hourly basis). Therefore, it's more essential to upgrade raw materials production buildings (clay pits, mines, etc.) to get your infrastructure up. You can get away with -5 to -10 food deficit by gathering food off resource caches on World Map using your caravans. Just remember how many hours you have left until the food runs out and send caravans out before that happens.
- When it comes to upgrading resources production early on, wood is first priority, iron second, stone third, and clay comes last. There are two essential buildings at this stage: Library, to do research, and Marketplace, to build and sent out caravans. Library construction and upgrades need a larger amount of wood relative to other raw materials. Similarly, Marketplace requires more iron. Furthermore, the first military units available to you (basic spearmen) require wood and iron more than other raw materials.
By Akura:
- Upgrade your resource buildings early on. This, along with what's harvested from the caravans, should give you a good boost to your early economy. Also that upgrading the Marketplace means you can build more caravans, which helps with collecting and trade.
- For those planning on dabbling in magic, go with Runes first, and kill runes at that. Fear runes can be overwhelmed (making them entirely useless), but kill runes can reduce an attacking force. Not that you'd have to worry about that so soon.
Note:
- Should you have any other tips, post them and I'll put them here and give you credit. And feel free to criticise the tips I put on the list.
- We are learning by doing. What works in the first three days when you're still under newbie protection may not work afterward. Once we learn more about the game, we'll provide general tips as well.
Alliance[9 June 2010]
Slaves to Armok alliance has been formed, thanks to Akura!
[14 Sep 2010]
Slaves to Armok continues its campaign against
Skulls and Bones, led by the tyrant
Zork2010. Two enemy members have been neutralised (one is a key member currently held as Prisoner of War by us). The alliance has gained more recognition and established diplomatic relationships with a couple of other large alliances. Talk about making the alliance going public (accepting non-Bay12ers) is underway.
We can chat in-game. Go to Options > Chat and enable Alliance Chat.