Another life lesson learned from Ikariam…
clamrampant June 14th, 2008
Don’t scrimp on your defense budget!
Even if you are a peaceful trading community/nation who wouldn’t dream of making war or pillaging resources, you just never know who out there will want what you have.
I, for one, did not make that mistake. The first thing I did was build a nice big barracks to fill with eager, young men willing to achieve high standards of physical athleticism and dedicated to my personal defense.
Oh, wait. That’s probably not right, is it? Nuts! When’s confession again?
Well, I didn’t TOTALLY ignore defense, but let’s just say my fleet was…inadequate. :-p
Tips for Jaibee:
1) make sure you have plenty of warships
2) make sure you have plenty of soldiers (archers, phalanxes, swordsmen)
3) make sure your town wall is at least the same level as your town hall
4) If you see that someone’s coming to attack you by sea, demolish your trade port. Not your shipyard, not your trading post, but the port itself. Then they can’t loot and pillage, even if they win… :-p
TBS thinks this is another step down the slippery slope toward my becoming a Republican. I don’t think so.
Well, I’ve been pillaged several times now. They haven’t really caused any catastrophic damage in what they took, although the loss of life is deplorable (I’ll have to re-train my army to just let them have whatever and save their own necks).
I figure this is my contribution to society. If they need it, take it, but the moral and ethical lack will be noted by God. I am practicing “forgiving others their trespasses.”
So you think God is giving you points for your Ikariam conduct, eh?
Yeah…I got hit at two different cities concurrently. Which suggests to me that the two attackers were in cahoots…but what do I know…
Well, even if God does not give me points for how I play in the game (which, I don’t know, since there *are* other people playing those other characters — not like I am trying to be nice to a bot…), I am practicing and training myself, which hopefully will carry over into “the real world”.
Actually, I look at it pretty similarly. For me, it’s a question of integrity. I know it’s a game, and that pillaging is part of the game; but I wouldn’t do it in real life, so why would I do it on the game? I’d feel like I had a split personality if I was bopping around Ikariam pillaging and causing mayhem. It’s just not me.
But hey – maybe God *will* give me points for this! Ya never know!
My hardest thing is remembering to log on and address matters. And it seems I have run into a wall, as I need more granite or marble or whatever it is, and no one’s selling any. And I’d have to have the marble to be able to make a colony on a marble-producing island. *sigh*
Oh well, I may never me a thriving empire, but that’s okay to. The Lord will provide my little people with their daily bread. 
Or you could try to initiate trade with those around you…either put up an offer to buy at your trading post or post on the board (but don’t post your coords!).
What level is your trading post? The higher it is, the further away you can look for resources.
The down side is that marble, at least in my part of Beta, seems to be ridiculously expensive. Everyone knows there’s demand, and so they jack the prices way up. I think that’s shortsighted, because it encourages people to colonize on marble islands instead of buying what they need…but what do I know…
You’re on what, a wine island? I could trade some marble with you, provided you’re in Beta. Probably not much more than 300/day right now, but it’s better than nothing…
I have a Beta. Remember me asking to ally with you and you were skeptical that I might be a war-mongering nation?
Heheheheheh… glad to see you’re having fun.
I have two colonies on marble-producing islands and I STILL don’t have enough marble. You’ve got to buy the stuff in.
From what I can work out, wine and marble are ESSENTIAL, and you can buy all the crystal and sulphur you need…