Ikariam version 0.3.1 : Occupation, Garrison Right and Others

Gameforge have rolled out and updated Ikariam.org to version 0.3.1 almost a week ago. I've listed some major changes like occupation and garrison rights and also some other minor changes.

Warfare will be more interesting with the occupation and garrison right addition. Let's take a look at the new features.

Garrison Right

• If a player has a garrison right with another player's city, he can station his troops there and use the city as a bridgehead.
• You can now deploy troops to your alliance members towns, which is an automatic garrison right.
• Sender need to research Diplomacy and 11 diplomacy points. The host needs an embassy with 2 free diplomacy points to accept the 'garrison right'.
• Where does the cargo/loot go when you pillage from the host's town? Easy, cargo will sail back to the host's town and then back to your town of origin where your troops came from ( or you can select which town the cargo will go from a drop down menu ).
  

Occupation

• Players can occupy other cities now and thus use it as a bridgehead for other missions. The units however, will cost double the upkeep, like in other missions too. If you pillage from a bridge head, the occupied city will receive 10% of the looted goods. A player can only occupy as many cities as his palace has levels. However, occupied cities can also be used as a bridgehead for allies.

What the occupying player can do?

• Can launch attacks from the occupied town.
• Can station troops for unlimited time with double upkeep.
• 10% loot will go to the owner of the occupied town and 90% goes to occupier.
• If the occupied town owner rebels and overthrow your occupation, and your army are out pillaging, what happens? Simple, your pillaged loot remain in the occupied town and army sent back to occupier's town of origin ( army will be scattered and takes about 4 hours to clear )
• Can offer garrison rights to other people from the occupied town
• Can still occupy if the occupied town has no barracks.

What the owner of the occupied town can do?

• Sell and trade goods on the market
• Will still get income ( gold ) normally
• Continue building structures ( buildings )
• Destroy or downgrade buildings
• Can free town if army is strong enough
• Building units and ships in the town will cost double
• Demolishing the barracks won't stop the occupier's army ( occupation process )

Other minor changes

• Timer in Tab - indicator: A countdown timer indicates how much time is left until the next building is finished in your current city
• New island graphics: There are five different island shapes for the island view now, that also correspond with the world map
• Island view revised: The harbour blockages, battles and occupying of cities is now also shown. This feature is visible for all players who have a city on the island or respectively have an an ally who owns a city on the island or have spies on the island.
• Basic-storage capacity has been adjusted. It is 1500 (units) for all types of resources now.
• A status notice informing that cultural has arrived when accepting cultural treaty.
• Transporting cargo no longer takes you to the destination island view. You'll be taken back to the port of origin view.
• Cultural treaty takes 3 days to cancel

Premium or Ambrosia related

• Composition of approaching fleets: For 1 Ambrosia, a player can find out more information about the army/fleet line ups of attacking troops
• Building list: Players with premium accounts can only put up to four building jobs on the list. These will then be built one after the other. Jobs in the building list can be cancelled at any time. The building costs will only be taken from your account when the building has begun.
• The complete overview pages of the premium accounts have been revised. They contain more information, e.g. how long the wine supply in the city will last.

Update ( 13 May 2009 ): There will be a silent update/hotfix on the server anytime soon. One of the most important fixes is troops can no longer go through a sea battle. So, if your army is turned back, do not be alarmed.

For those who think you might put off attackers after that bug fix, you're in for a big surprise. Why? Even though you have a big fleet, people can occupy one of your island mates town to bypass your mighty fleet and stomp your mediocre troops. Occupation also favors the attacker treating it as another escape option. For example, you can blockade the attacker's mobile colony all day long but he/she can occupy another town on the same island to flee.