Ikariam (Free Browser Based Online Civillization Game)
Posted: 14 Mar 2008, 17:56
http://ikariam.org
Just wanted to point this out to anyone who hasn't found it yet... everyone at work started playing it and I signed up and have been really enjoying it so far.
Basically you are given a Town Hall and a bunch plots of land and can construct new buildings. Each island has a forest and a luxury resource so their are 5 resources + Gold (Building Material, Sulfur, Marble, Wine and Glass)... Gold is gained by having citizens who aren't otherwise occupied harvesting material or doing research. You use these resources to build new buildings and improve your town or to upgrade the island's 2 resource collecting buildings.
Because each island only has one luxury resource you will need to trade with other islands (or pillage them) in order to get the resources you need to build advanced structures.
You also have a research system and the ability to colonize other islands after a bit of development so you don't have to trade for the resources found at the new colony (though you need to develop that colony enough to ship the product back to the main one still).
All this stuff is "real time" so if I want to ship a load of marble to a buyer on another island it takes a couple of hours, to build a palace takes another couple hours, to upgrade your city walls it takes a few hours, training troops takes about half an hour, sending an attack fleet against another city takes a few hours, gaining the resources to build a new structure could take a couple hours of harvesting or trading and shipping.
The thing is you don't need to sit and play the game so much as check up on it every once in a while, it's kind-of low impact so you can just come back to it.
Some Features that Springers will like:
- Nothing to install or run or waste system resources so you can keep it open in the background when you are playing spring
- Low maintenance but you can always fine something to do (adjust production sliders, look for a good deal or trade, train some new units) so you can play it between Spring games while idling in the lobby
- Good Strategy and Diplomacy aspects
- Can be played from school or work when you are waiting for other people to post in the spring forums without really impacting your ability to abuse n00bs and people with new ideas for mods
- Form alliances with your Spring clan if you convince them to join
- Whine in the forums because the game is still in development to some extent while still being entirely playable... just like spring!
Just wanted to point this out to anyone who hasn't found it yet... everyone at work started playing it and I signed up and have been really enjoying it so far.
Basically you are given a Town Hall and a bunch plots of land and can construct new buildings. Each island has a forest and a luxury resource so their are 5 resources + Gold (Building Material, Sulfur, Marble, Wine and Glass)... Gold is gained by having citizens who aren't otherwise occupied harvesting material or doing research. You use these resources to build new buildings and improve your town or to upgrade the island's 2 resource collecting buildings.
Because each island only has one luxury resource you will need to trade with other islands (or pillage them) in order to get the resources you need to build advanced structures.
You also have a research system and the ability to colonize other islands after a bit of development so you don't have to trade for the resources found at the new colony (though you need to develop that colony enough to ship the product back to the main one still).
All this stuff is "real time" so if I want to ship a load of marble to a buyer on another island it takes a couple of hours, to build a palace takes another couple hours, to upgrade your city walls it takes a few hours, training troops takes about half an hour, sending an attack fleet against another city takes a few hours, gaining the resources to build a new structure could take a couple hours of harvesting or trading and shipping.
The thing is you don't need to sit and play the game so much as check up on it every once in a while, it's kind-of low impact so you can just come back to it.
Some Features that Springers will like:
- Nothing to install or run or waste system resources so you can keep it open in the background when you are playing spring
- Low maintenance but you can always fine something to do (adjust production sliders, look for a good deal or trade, train some new units) so you can play it between Spring games while idling in the lobby
- Good Strategy and Diplomacy aspects
- Can be played from school or work when you are waiting for other people to post in the spring forums without really impacting your ability to abuse n00bs and people with new ideas for mods
- Form alliances with your Spring clan if you convince them to join
- Whine in the forums because the game is still in development to some extent while still being entirely playable... just like spring!
