The new buildings in this update are exciting. Structures that allow one’s town to produce more resources and structures that reduce the resource costs sound like a good thing. I can’t wait to demolish my excess workshops, embassies, and trading posts to make room for these new buildings.

The following announcement though, for me is a cause for concern.

Costs for troop formation and ship construction have been reduced, upkeep is way less than what it used to be. The military advisor has also been redesigned.

The most significant change will be in raiding and attacking. There will no longer be gold looting. The amount of looted resources will not depend on the harbor size of the attacked city, but on the amount of trading ships sent with the attack. Each trading ship will load up 15 resources per minute for 20 minutes. An attacker can now loot every resource which is not protected by a warehouse. As a compensation, you can now build more than one warehouse per city.

The number of available action points for each city has been improved as well. You now have 3 points for each city (instead of 2) and now get one more for every 4 building steps (instead of 5).

I am hoping that when they say upkeep is way less than it used to be, I will finally be in the black. I have always had negative upkeep ever since I built up a strong military force. I don’t usually go to war, but I’ve found that having a strong army and navy is essential in keeping would-be pillagers away. In order to support my military score, I pillage 100+ times a day. If there will be “no gold looting”, the possibility of losing your forces because you can’t sustain them with the gold produced by your towns might increase. As pirates, isn’t the incentive for attacking a town the possibility of looting gold?

Also, I am never a fan of making something automatic into something manual – this always gives me the feeling of regression. Assigning trade ships to every pillaging troop sounds like more work than what it’s worth. As an attacker, I already lose resources simply be virtue of my role. Now, I won’t even get gold. Perhaps I’ll concentrate more on efficiency than on pillaging. ^_^

Many players predict that military forces will follow the quantity rule over quality rule since upkeeps are now lower. The quantity rule has always favored me in battles. But with gold still being an issue, only those with large towns and many colonies can probably afford to have really huge armies and navies.

I also don’t understand the need for additional action points when this update will significantly lessen the amount of pillaging a player does in a day. The bashing rule will probably be a thing of the past since players can probably assess how much resources exist in a town on the first attack, and steal everything on the 2nd and / or 3rd attack. No point in attacking after all the resources have been looted since there’s no gold to be gained. If you’re hearing newbies cry foul after being attacked 6 times (but they still have gold and resources left – by eliminating the trading port), imagine what they’d say after an attack which wipes away their resources clean. We’d hear more gripes about “How am I supposed to build a defensive army when I no longer have resources”, or “How am I supposed to level up or build additional warehouses when I no longer have resources”.

Will simultaneous building construction be allowed? Maybe this will be the reason for the need of additional AP. Perhaps there are other uses for AP that remain to be seen.

I remember the time when players voted “NO” to “noob protection” and I am hoping they’d do the same to this “no gold looting” thing. The changes to the raiding and attacking dynamic are too drastic in my opinion. Why would attacking cause a reduction in my resources if I already paid for my armies with the resources used to build my troops and the upkeep I spend for them to exist per hour. And what kind or army disregards gold in raiding. These are the illogical ideas in this update.

So in summary, I am both excited and fearful of what this new version will bring. I do hope that in the end, it will only improve the Ikariam gaming experience. May new players discover the greatness of this game, and old players revive the interest that gradually wanes with familiarity and repetition.