Ikariam Strategy Guide

[President Lewis]

Introduction:

I thought it could be usefull to sum up all the best info around, in one post.
This article shall be constantly updated, based on the comments from each user. So post your ideas and help to improve it

This is not only for beginners to learn, but also for experienced players to look for new ideas. The article might also redirect to links for extended info.

The current version, is a commented one from Hrethgir's post which can be found here
It covers the basics, but the idea is to improve it getting it more and more complete If you find the article confusing or not usefull, please let us know so that we can improve it.


Index:
0. General
1. What land units to use
2. What sea units to use
3. Building level
4. Research
5. Trade ships
6. Gathering resources
7. New colonies

0. General

The game consists in gathering resources (peacefully or by force). So, unless you're a dirty-player-that-seeks-resources-by-hunting-down-weaker-players-because-you're-too-coward-to-fight-the-big-ones you'll mostly try to protect the resources you obtained peacefully.

Everthing in this game is oriented for resource gathering, either through peace or war (in a way, real life is just the same.) In simple terms, you'll need to be efficient gathering resources during peacetime, while also preparing for the eventuality of war.

All research makes you more efficient in one area, but some techs are more important than others (you can read more about it below)

Armies are allways a waste of gold and resources, so keep them to a minimum in peacetime, while being prepared to raise a larger army in case of war. As armies are expensive, you want that your resources are well spent. That's why studing battle tactics it's important, it will save you lot's of resources.

Town level is only important in the way it gives you more population, which can then work, research and pay taxes. Keep increasing your population, as your strenght relies on it.

Founding colonies is only a way to supply your older towns with an additional resource, but as time goes by, and the young colony grows, it will also need more and more resources. You'll need of course, a large trading fleet, to get the resources where they're most needed.

Last but nt least, donations. They're important for two reasons:
1st Being a nice neighbor and contribute/pay for something you're using
2nd Being a nice neighbor prevents the attacks from people who consider you a leecher

1. What land units to use:

There is no perfect unit of course. But some units are really useless. What units to train depends on your play style and research level. This is what I suggest:

Early land units:
Defensive: Phalanx
Offensive: Swordsman
All round: Archer

End game land units:
Steam Giant. Period. Replace all your early game units with these ones.

The Steam Giant is by far the best all round unit in the game (if you compare fully upgraded units). It's the best defensive unit around, and it beats all offensive units but the Swordsman.
Always use some cooks and doctors in your main force. Although doctors aren't really that effective for machines.
Add in a few Mortar's/Catapults if you want to siege cities with high level walls.

Please don't forget to fully upgrade your units at the workshop. It makes a huge difference. But safe your crystal glass for upgrading the useful units (Steam Giant)

2. What sea units to use:

Again there is no perfect unit. This is what I suggest:

Early sea units:
Defensive: Ballista Ship
Offensive: Flamethrower

End game sea units:
Defensive: Diving Boat, Mortar Ship or simply Ballista (this depends on strategies as they all have pros and cons, so there's no consensus on this)
Offensive: Paddle-Wheel-Ram (only real option. Mortars are to slow as well)


I like to keep 1 Ballista in all of my cities. They stand no chance to any armada, but they do force the attacker to send a fleet first, which buys you some time to react. My main force are only Paddle-Wheel-Ram's because they are the only end game ships with a normal speed.


3. Building level

To what level should a player upgrade his buildings? There is no right or wrong answer to that. Although some building types have a preferred level.

All the buildings currently available with some suggested levels:

* Town hall : up to lvl 23 based on a lvl 16 Tavern and lvl 8 Museum
* Academy : scientists are expensive, but research is vital. Keep the maximum you can afford without getting a negative balance.
* Barracks : at least lvl 20 (in all cities, and with a sulfur supply in all of them, to pump a huge army faster if needed)
* Trading port : New or players under attack, lvl 1 or 2 max. During peacetime, I find lvl 10 port to work just fine, but it also depends on how spread are your colonies
* Shipyard : at least 13 (same strategy as barracks)
* Warehouse : lvl 17 required for a palace lvl 5 (upgrade as you need them for palaces and governors)
* Town wall : at least the same level as your Town Hall!
* Tavern : I prefer 16, depending on your access to wine. (keep in mind you'll also need the wine for palace and governor upgrades)
* Museum : the max you can get as it gives hapiness without spending resources. (If you want a rule: divide your town lvl for 2.5 and that's the lvl your museum should be.)
* Palace: the level depends on how many islands do you want and more is not allways better, read below.
* Governor`s Residence : at least the same level as your Palace, corruption is killing. (founding a new town might actually decrease your growth due to corruption, so kep it under control)
* Embassy : A high level Embassy is hardly needed. (or not needed at all)
* Trading post : I suggest lvl 9 at least for a search range of 5 Islands.
* Workshop : the level only makes research faster. You need to fully upgrade the unit types you use, but a lvl9 workshops works just fine.
* Hideout : try to keep it the same lvl as the town hall, provides you with one of the best defenses: an unknown one.

Check: http://ikariam.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_buildings for many building details.


4. Research:

I my opinion there are only a few really important researches. For all the others it doesn't really matter if you research them before or after another research as long as you get them all in the end (has a significant effect on your highscore).

1st priority: Wealth
This research allows you to mine your island's respective luxury resource. You need it...

2nd priority: Professional Army
Slingers suck. Both the Phalanx and Swordsman are quality units. You need to be able to defend yourself, and be able to rob your defenseless neighbors of their resources/money

3th priority: Wine Press / Expansion
Hard choice. Both absolutely necessary to grow.

4th priority: Robotics
Steam Giants completely outclass all other units. (to me)

After that it doesn't really matter as long as you keep researching. See the following link for a complete research tree:
http://redirectingat.com/?id=593X1004&url=http%3A//images4.wikia.nocookie.net/ikariam/images//5/55/Researchchart.png

5. Trade ships:

Last tip about trade ships: you can't have enough of them. Pillaging one target with a lvl 16 port already takes 57 ships. Plus you'll have an increasing amount of resources to trade and transport as the game progresses. The thirst for wine of your big cities, and the increasing building costs of especially the Palaces and Governor's Residences cause you to transport resources all the time.

Buying trade ships is the easiest and quickest way to crank up your high score by the way (Always buy your trade ships at the Trading Port of a town on an island with a Temple of Hermes if you have one. The discount is significant.)


6. Gathering Resources:

One rule, is to explore resources to the max. That means, you need to have the max population employed in gathering resources like marble, wine, crystal and even sulfur. However, be carefull with corruption and with exploring resources in the red zone.

You can allways do the math. Consider:
C= as the number of citizens working
R= as the number of gathered resources
P= as the average price for that resource in the market

the formula is: citizen productivity, times the market price, must be equal or higher to the gold you get from idleness:
R/C*P > 4

However, citizen productivity is different in the red zone, so even if you're having profit and the formula works, adding total workers and total resources, you're comiting a mistake. You need to apply the formula twice, one for the blue and another for the red zone, because sometimes it doesn't compensate to explore in the red zone..

(note: improving your trading post also improves your changes to get an higher market price and turn profitable a stituation which wasn't)

7. New colonies

Founding colonies is a requirement for growth. Not only they give you a new resource, but also more citizens to pay taxes. However, you must consider that a new colony will increase corruption on all the other colonies, and it will take some time until maturity. So, beware that when you found a new town, beneficts are far away but costs are immediate.
But after you decided it's time to expand, you ask yourself, what resource do I need the most?

To have a bit of every resource is always nice of course, although not all 4 of them are worth the same. You can base your choice on the current market value of the resources as well, but they can change pretty quick.

Overview:
*Sulfur: I was born on a sulfur island, and if I knew what I know today, I would have moved my capital asap. Having a sulfur island is usefull only under heavy and unexpected war conditions.
*Crystal: Usefull for research, spies and some advanced units. You can sell it for a good price. It's not a vital resource, but you might want to have one island of it.
*Marble: Buildings cost increasingly large quantities of marble. Not to mention palaces and governor houses which cost a painfull amount of it. You can also build museums with marble, and decrease your dependency on wine. So it's a must have, and more is allways better.
*Wine: Makes population happy, happiness makes population grow, more population means more available workers and more citizens paying taxes. Wine colonies are crucial for your economy, and as a safety measure you should locate them on diferent islands (if one gets blocked you allways have the other).

Usually people have, one crystal colony, one sulfur colony (optional), and then balance marble and wine colonies (2:2, 2:3, 3:3, 3:4, etc...)
The level for the mines and mills should be 17 for special resources and 20 for building materials

HAVE FUN ANY CHANGES YOU SEE THAT NEED TO BE EDITED OR IS NOT TRUE PLEASE POST A REPLY YOU ALL COUNT

[Locke]

I will try to teach u which the best troops and war ships to build. This is a little relative, as it depends on your amount of points and how far u have researched, but i will try to guide u according to your amount of points.
War ships:
When u r just starting, i would recommend ballista ships for defense just to start. Then, when u have researched greek fire and counterweight, and u r capable, i would recommend to have catapult ships as defense units and flame throwers to attack. Then, when u have finished researching all seafering except seafering future. I would strongly recommend to build mortar ships for defense and diving boats and paddle wheel for attacking.
War troops:
Well.. i think this depends more on ones decision, i will try to guide u.
To start, phalanxes are very good units for all the amount of players, it doesnt the depend on the amount of points u have. They are very good to defend, but they also have a lot of stamina to attack.
Best defense units: Phalanxes,battering rams, steam giants and mortars can also act as defensive.
Best attack units: Marksmen, bombardiers, mortars and steam giants. This two are the best ones, then u could have the best attacking units according to your level.
It is always good to have a coupl of cooks and doctors as they help a lot in the battle field.
I surely may be forgetting a few units, please correct me if i have made a mistake or consult if u have any doubt.
Also, it is very important to keep your town walls very high and also your hideouts