Pinned Ikariam goes merge



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    Ikariam team

    • Ikariam goes merge

      Dear community,

      we're currently working on a major change/addition to the game which we'd like to give you some more information about today. A lot of you have discussed this with us and it has been one of the most requested things if not THE most requested thing at all in many communities of Ikariam: the server merge.

      We've already let on in discussions that we ourselves are big fans of merging servers to fight the problem of servers getting more and more empty.We also always told you in each and every one of these discussions that Ikariam, unlike character based games for example, is not exactly easy to merge in terms of all the things that need to be carefully considered before merging one server with another. However, we've been spending a lot of thought and manpower on this topic which resulted in what we think to be quite decent ideas for a merge concept which currently are already being worked on.

      The general idea behind the merge concept will clearly be to give you as much liberty as possible to set up your merged account to your liking. For example we intend to give you a free city move per city so you can change your location to a more suitable one in case you should be unhappy with the locations of your cities after the merge. Also you will be able to choose your target server freely from a given choice of possible target servers.

      There are however still things that might be subject to procedural changes as due to the complexity of Ikariam as such there things we can only properly evaluate as we go instead of really foreseeing all of them. This is an unfortunate side effect as it means we can not really give you very much of the info or the concept as such as it might still change in vital points which we don't want to announce in dozens of different versions. We'd prefer to give you a clear and exact set of information that will ideally not change much from the first announcement until the actual implementation of the feature. We hope that you appreciate this as we'd like to keep potential confusion and misunderstandings to an absolute minimum.

      For exactly the same reason we can not provide you with an ETA as to when to expect the merge to take place. Due to the complexity of Ikariam something massive like merging servers with hundreds of cities and islands and troops and all the other things that have to be factored in, carefully evaluated and taken good care of this is obviously something that will undergo extreme testing, bugfixing, fine tuning, more testing, etc.

      Thank you for your patience and understanding!

      Your Ikariam Team

    • Small update

      Donations in mines and so on: there will be a special donation fund where all your donations end up again. Nothing is lost. From this fund you can only donate again, so the resources from there can not be used for anything else.
    • Ikariam goes merge - part 2

      Dear community,

      we have further information about the merge procedure which hopefully will answer at least some of your questions.
      Please keep in mind that this is all still work in progress which is the reason why we're only able to give you bits and pieces of information one after another.

      We've picked 2 main issues that globally were discussed the most and will give you a short rundown of what will happen concerning these during or after the merge.

      1. What will happen with multi accounting since now it can happen that several of my accounts from different servers might be merged together on one server?
      A good question indeed! After the merge the multi accounting rule will be adapted. Merged accounts may exist on the same server, however, there will be restrictions just like those for reported IP sharing. Additionally the game itself will already prevent unwanted actions in the way it already partially does. There will be a possibility to verify your then "allowed merged multis" directly in the game, probably by providing their nicknames as well as their passwords to a form. However, the so far unwanted interactions between accounts on the same IP are still unwanted and will be prevented, circumvention will still result in punishment.

      2. What will become of my alliance? I fear it will break down...
      This chance of course exists, let's be honest. However, we expect alliance members to talk to each other and discuss questions such as "where to move?". The alliance leader will be the one to decide where to merge to and he will take his alliance with him. The leader can and should then talk it through with his alliance members and hopefully reach a common ground which all members can agree on. Alliances therefore don't have to break down due to the merge and those that actually have a working, active discussion within their ranks most definitely won't!

      Further information about the merge will be given out once available so stay tuned for more!

      Your Ikariam Team

    • Dear players,

      Today we want to show you what questions we have gathered so far about the merge and of course also give you the respective answers right away. This already gives you quite a good idea of the merge and its implications and also about how things are going to be done. More information about the merge will of course follow.

      Q: On which server will you put me?
      A: You may choose your target server out of a list we will provide for you. If you don’t want to choose, we will choose one randomly and inform you via email about your new server.

      Q: My player name already exists on the server I want to go to. May I choose that one anyway?
      A: Each name may exist only once on a server, so you cannot take your current player name with you. Either you will have to rename yourself or choose another server.

      Q: I don’t want to move at all. Is that possible?
      A: No that possibility does not exist. All start servers won’t exist after our merge.

      Q: I already do have an account on all target servers. What should I do?
      A: That’s really no problem. After the merge it will be allowed to have more than one account per server but each account will still need an own email address. You do have to connect those accounts via options and are forbidden to have contact between them.

      Q: My account is banned but I do want to play again after merge. What should I do?
      A: If you haven’t already chosen your target server you will be moved to a random server and we’ll sent an email telling you where you can find your account. Merge itself doesn’t change anything about your ban. After ban ended you can login and play again.

      Q: What will happen to my towns?
      A: All your towns will be moved to island spots as near as your current ones. Additionally you will receive one free town move for every town that you may use 18 days after the merge. You may use those moves if you don’t like your new islands.

      Q: I currently own towns on premium spots. What will happen to those?
      A: Unfortunately we cannot move them directly on premium spots in the new world. However you will receive one free move to a premium slot for each town that is on a premium slot before merge. You may use those to move your cities gratis to premium slots of your choice for 18 days after the merge.

      Q: What will happen to my mine levels? What happens with my donations?
      A: Unfortunately you will lose your previous mine levels. There will be other mine levels on your new server. But everything you have donated before the merge will be credited to a special donation fond that cannot get raided. For 18 days after the merge you may use that fond to donate into your new mines.

      Q: I did donate ambrosia to my mines. What will happen to that?
      A: The amount of building material you got then will be credited to your donation fond and you may use that to upgrade your new mines.

      Q: How should I spend all that building material you will credit to me? Mine levels take forever to finish!
      A: For 18 days after the merge upgrades of mines will take 8 hours at the most.

      Q: What will happen to my helios towers?
      A: On your new server you will have the possibility to place those helios towers for free wherever you want them to be.

      Q: There is still lamp oil burning in my helios tower. What will happen to that?
      A: All lamp oil that is not used will be available again for free on the new server. Then you can light up those helios towers you want to.

      Q: What will happen to all my premium bonuses (resources, research and warehouse)?
      A: The remaining time will be available again on new server. Additionally we will prolong those features the time the merge itself takes.

      Q: What happens to all those resources and research points I didn’t spent on my current server?
      A: You will take them with you unchanged and may invest them wherever and whenever you like.

      Q: What will happen to units that don’t station in my own cities?
      A: All missions will be canceled for the merge and all your units withdrawn to own towns. Nonetheless we do advise you to move all your units to your own cities previous to the merge and not to send out transports that will still be on their way when merge itself happens. Whenever canceling things there is a risk of losses. But don’t worry. We will remind you of that shortly before actual merge will happen.

      Q: What will happen to buildings that are still upgrading?
      A: Upgrade of buildings will only be stopped during merge. As soon as you log in again on your target server everything will be as after emerging from vacation mode.

      Q: What happens to my account during merge?
      A: As soon as actual merge takes place all accounts on start server that will get moved will be out to vacation modus. Therefore production, need and costs will be stopped the whole time. You won’t be able to login to your account during transfer but as soon as everything arrived safely on target server you may login and play again. So no panic, there won’t be any attacks on new server while you are not there.

      Q: What will happen to my alliance?
      A: Alliance pages, alliance board and the ranks will be moved together with alliance leader to the server he choose. There members will have to apply and get accepted again.

      Q: All players of my alliance do want to move together to the same server. Is that possible?
      A: There is no automatism for that. We do display the remaining spots for each server. If you talk to each other and choose the same one with enough slots it should be possible.

      Q: What will happen to all those treaties I do have currently?
      A: All treaties will be canceled for merge. All diplomacy points you used for them will be available again immediately on target server.

      Q: What will happen to my friends? Will I keep the bonuses I get from having them?
      A: All friends that move to the same server will be inserted to your friend list again. If you did invite one of those you will keep the trading ships you got.

      Q: If I lose all my cultural treaties all my citizens will run away, won’t they?
      A: We do have to cancel all your cultural treaties and you will have to look for new ones on your new server yourself. But to ease things we will grant you 1000 satisfaction for each of your towns for 18 days after the merge.

      Q: Will there be changes to world map/combat system/buildings included in version?
      A: In the version for server merge we won’t include big changes. Later versions will definitely contain new features.

      Q: If I don’t like my new server may I just move again?
      A: That won’t be possible with first wave of server merges. But it’s not excluded that this option will be available in a later version.

      Q: What will happen to those cities and ports I occupy? What will happen to my cities that are currently occupied?
      A: All occupations will be canceled no matter if all those involved will move to the same server or not.

      Q: What will happen to messages, reports and messages in town advisor?
      A: All saved messages and espionage reports will be moved with you to your target server. Messages from players that don’t move to the same server won’t contain any links anymore. Messages and reports you didn’t save and the messages in city advisor will be deleted.

      Your Ikariam Team
    • Re: Donations and 18 days to donate

      [turkeh] A few of you have asked if 18 days is really enough time to use up resources donated. Our lovely head of QA has done the calculations to figure out if it IS possible to spend donations in that time frame. This is her reply:[/turkeh]

      If you are unlucky enough and end up on a target server with lvl 1 saw mill and lvl 1 luxury mine and choose NOT to move to an island with higher mines you will be able to donate 402 million resources to the saw mill and 885 million to the luxury mine ending up with a lvl 48 saw mill and a lvl 44 luxury mine within those 18 days. That is to say you are able to donate a total of 1.287 million resources to those mines. (If we do assume a full 16 days of “upgrade time” because you won’t always hit the exact time when you can upgrade again. It’s only about 209 million to the saw mill and 430 million to the luxury mine - so a total of 639 million resources).

      With higher already existing levels of mills and mines the possibilities to spend do only get “worse”. Let’s take for example an island with lvl 10 mines – not really that high. In 18 days you can spend 620 million in the saw mill and end up with a lvl 50 mill and additionally 1.429 million to the luxury mine to reach lvl 46. That’s a total of 2.049 million of resources! (Numbers for 16 full days of “Upgrade time”: 322 million to saw mill and 697 million to luxury mine so a total of 1019 million of resources).

      Just to top things off let’s take reasonable mine levels of 25 for both mines. Then you would be able to donate 5.297 million resources to the saw mill (and end up with a lvl 60 saw mill) and 41.061 million resources to the luxury mine (again new mine lvl 60). BOTH times you won’t need to be online nonstop, though it will help with upgrades. Both actions will “only” need 17 days and 12 hours to complete. If we again assume 16 hours of upgrade time you can end up with 2.785 million donated to the saw mill (and lvl 57) and 19.997 millions to the luxury mine (again lvl 57) so you could spend 22.782 million of your resources.

      All numbers above are for sole donation to a saw mill and a luxury mine on one island only. If you do have multiple towns you may spread the donation to multiple islands. If you prefer to have all your cities on the same island you may suffer some losses in donation score, so please choose the strategy that best benefits you.

      Do not meddle with dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
      :turkeydance: I'm just a small turkeh, how much trouble could I get into? :turkeydance:
    • [turkeh]From our product coma regarding old/new servers[/turkeh]

      Old servers (servers with the old wonder distribution) so far were not considered potential target servers. However: it may happen that old servers will be merged with old servers. There is however no mix between old and new distribution.

    • New Rules - Post Merge

      Dear players,

      Here are the new game rules for your reference. They will only be valid after our community goes through the merge process, so they are not yet valid. For now, we still have to follow the current rules.

      The following rules are valid for all worlds.


      Please note that due to data protection directives we can only discuss requests and complaints concerning a specific account with its owner after proper verification.

      1. Multi accounts

      2. Account sharing

      3. Pushing

      4. Bugusing

      5. Scripting

      6. Real Life threats

      7. Content
      Insults and inappropriate behavior towards other players are not allowed.
      Advertisements, political or religious opinions are unwanted and should not be published.

      8. Language
      The language of the game is English, however, in other communities English is generally tolerated.

      Updated this, as the time was adjusted to 8 hours rather than 12.

      One account to rule them all.