The news team
Main editor: Hopla Spell checkers: Mirarik IronMan7 Reporters: TwisterFairytale Gabriella IM_Mike Joffer Mirarik Corsini IronMan7 Graphic designer: Hopla
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Content The news team...............................................................2 Vacancies.......................................................................2 News..............................................................................3 Interview with Dutch01..................................................4 The Gamma Gazzete......................................................7 Interview with Mogwai..................................................8 Version 0.5.7 - An ingame combat report-converter......10 Ikariascope....................................................................11 Monthtly Interview.......................................................12 The final word...............................................................13
News
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e welcome you to read the next edition of the Ikariam Scrolls. Since the last edition, quite a lot has been going on in here. So lets get caught up on what has been going on in here. The first, and maybe the most important thing on the agenda is the new Board Admin. On June 11th, Mogwai速 was promoted to Board Admin after a long time in team. We congratualate him on his new position and wish him the best of luck! You can read a interview with him on page 8. Secondly, version 0.5.7 was launched in the servers, brining maybe one of the most wanted update ever - an ingame CR converter. Also several, much requested, bugfixes. You
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can read an article about the CR converter on page 10. Thirdly, there have been few other promotions within the team. -Hera- and Hopla have been promoted to Super Moderators, rmpa to Global Moderator and Mr Hacker to full Moderator. Also, Valisk, Rafikov and sert205 have been promoted to full game operators. We wish them luck in their new positions! Lastly, earlier this month, holyschmidt announced the upcoming closure of his beloved CR converter. We thank him for his contributions to make converting CRs easier. Your converter shall be sorely missed!
Interview with Dutch01
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his time we had the pleasure to interview a long time Ikariam player and former smod Dutch01. In the next edition of Ikariam Scrolls you’ll find an extra piece, where Dutch01 explains his donation-growth strategy.
- So, first of all thanks for doing this interview with us. Dutch01: You are welcome. I am glad i can be of any assistance. - For start, can you please tell us something about yourself? Dutch01: Sure. I am a Dutch guy, and am playing online games for as long as they are there. Its not a lot of games i play and mostly its just one game at a time, but i stick to the ones i start. I am an architect and have my own business which grant me time to play whenever i like or whenever i have the time for it. Between my projects, i need time to relax and ikariam gives me that time. I am a dedicated person, and with patience i have learned that you can come a long way, not only in my profession but also in these games. I was married and have 3 kids. Now i am just a father of 3. I have been stuggling to stay afloat in these times of crisis and its good to set my mind off of things so now and then, by playing this game. - Besides Ikariam, have you played any other GF games? Dutch01: Before i started playing Ikariam, i played Ogame. I was the allianceleader in the servers i played there, and had built myself some reputation by creating the bigger or even biggest battles. I was an aggressor and a builder, but my thrive was to attack and pillage, but most of all to keep safe from other attacks. - When did you first start playing Ikariam? Dutch01: During my OGame-period, i had build several forums for the alliances i was in. We called ourselves OGame-United, and this forum grew into a well visited one with hundreds of members logging in each day. And to keep everybody interested i knew i had to find other games to play, so i found Ikariam and introduced the others into it. This was in the beginning of 2008, and we started the Alliance "Revenge" in the server Theta, with me as their leader. This is where i build up my reputation of being a fighter in Ikariam. I'll tell you more about that below... - Are you only playing Ikariam on .org servers or on any other comms too? Dutch01: After a while, i think after 2 years, i started playing on the Dutch-servers aswell. I always thought that the ones playing on the Dutch servers were those who couldn't speak English that well and that they were mostly kids. That's why i chose the org community first to play in. I started playing the Dutch servers because i was asked to mod their board. I became a Smod on ikariam.nl as i was a Smod here on org aswell. I also started to play on the US server; builded the first godmode-competition there which was a succes cause this was introduced in the other comms aswell. For instance, without me talking about it, this was introduced in the Dutch communities and its going on eversince. Godmode meant that you had to stay in godly protection while gaining as many points as possible. With ~500k points and 4|Page
just one town, i finally got bored of it and deleted my account there. Offcourse i was the nr. 1 in this competition - What brought you to Ikariam? Dutch01: Like i said, i had to find different games to play, not only to keep my own board interested for others, but also because we needed something different from OGame. - Have you taken any breaks? Dutch01: No. Perhaps one or two weeks occasionally, but that is when i was on vacation. - In what servers do you play? Dutch01: I started playing in Theta. I was a fighter there. I waged many wars but the game became too time-consuming so i started to think of a way to be less active but with a bigger account. I wanted to do as little as possible and to be as big as possible...and i found the way for that in Ny...i'll tell you all about it... Just recently i started in server Chi. I am still in godly protection and want to see how far i can come with that using piracy as a way to grow aswell. - Is it hard to divide yourself between many servers? Dutch01: No. Like i told you, i found the way to be less active while growing faster than most. - How much time a day do you spend playing Ikariam? Dutch01: In the beginning, when i was a fighter, i was playing the game like 5 hours a day or even more. I had time back then. Now, its just the occasional log-in a day. I keep the game running on my computer qll day though since i am working at my computer, just to stay alert on incoming attacks. - So, you've been here a long time. Are you a builder or agressive? Dutch01: When i started playing Ikariam in 2008, the first 2 years, i was a fighter. Not to pat myself on the back, but at one point i was one of the best fighters in org and had built myself this reputation. I played in theta and amused myself with attacking whole alliances on my own. Some might remember the war i was in with alliance AROF, who had sent their best players after me. I took AROF down one-by-one, but i was online alot back then and i knew every bit of strategy there was. I knew all about fighting and waving and pillaging, and i realized i could easily step into some-ones mind to anticipate every move. I could not be harmed so it seemed, and that frustrated many. Boardwars were the result of that, but not afraid of a discussion, i took them down on board aswell . But time to be online took his toll. I needed to step down; to be less active to throw myself more on reallife affairs. So i started my first builders account in Ny, an account where i didnt have to be online each day and where i would not be attacked. I became low profile there for that is the key to grow. On your question if i am a builder or an agressor, i'd say i am both. But what is most important, the key to be a good builder was knowing how to fight. That is the only way to be able to protect yourself. Staying one step ahaid of the agressor helped me to build my builders account up to the first spot in Ny. I became the nr. 1 of Ny and am keeping that spot for a year or so already
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- What is you take of the new additions to Ikariam (piracy and Helios tower). Have you tried them yourself too? Dutch1: Piracy has changed the game. Having 12 cities living on the edge of the map i have no chance of getting into the top 15 with piracy. Those with a mobile often come by to raid me and i can do nothing about it. I tried it tho. But my strategy to chose this location to build which was the way to the top has now become my doom. However, my mines still provide me with many resources a day, and i struggle to stay the same amount of score ahaid from the nr. 2 and 3. They dont come closer, but i am not widening this gap either anymore. In my opinion, but offcourse this is because i feel "betrayed", the benefits of piracing is too big. All i can do is hoping to get into the top 50 with piracing cause that grants me at minimum still 77.000 of each res in each of my towns. That is 4.6 mill res in total... Imagine what i would get being the nr. 1 of piracy The Helios tower...i dont think many use that. Perhaps one day but for now i dont use it. - What do you think is the best update Ikariam has ever gotten? Dutch01: There are no best updates. I can only tell you about the version i liked best. It was version 0.2.8. back in the old days. This was a version where you didnt have to relie on your alliancemates only. You could win battles playing alone back then. Now, you are too much dependant on others. There are no Hero's anymore, and everybody wants to be a hero. This is all due to the battle engine as we have now. I dont like it. However, i have invested in the skills of fighting still, cause you always need to know how to protect yourself. - Have you worked it out yourself or did anyone suggest it to you? Dutch01: Every strategy i have used i worked out myself. Whole communities have come to take this over with my strategy as base knowledge. And everywhere they do, they become the nr. 1. However, i have not found an account yet whith this strategy where they did it all on their own, without any help or feeder accounts. People have no patience anymore and want to be there quick. For all its worth, I have never had any help as such. I have patience - Where are you on the top score of your world(s)? Dutch01: I am the nr. 1 in Ny with ~20 mill points. - A while ago you were a part of the team too. How did you find your way in there and how did you find your way out? Dutch01: Being in the team was wonderfull. I figured being online that often and visiting the board alot, with my knowledge i could help other players aswell. So i asked to become a Mod. After that, i became a Smod. This opened up a new world for me though. Becoming a mod introduced myself into the digital world with alot of fun. The IRC-chat channels became my new life, and i got to know alot of wonderful people. It was a way to escape my normal day's life, but i realized that i started to neglect my reallife because of it. That is why i stepped back at one point leaving behing some wonderful an great memories. Also, modding became too time-consuming where i felt i had to move on - Would you recomend for others to join the team? Dutch01: Yes! Very much, if only for the experience and for the chance to meet great people.
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- What is your general take on GF's(the actual office’s and team's) attitude towards players. Why do you feel like this? Dutch01: GameForge is a business. The attitude towards players is dependant on the GF representative who is responsable for each community. We had better and worse representatives. The team behind it (the mods and GO's) are those who have to defend GF's decissions whether we agreed to it or not, so mostly we as a team got the hit. But with all businesses, we have to relie on the decissions taken at higher hand. Do we as a player get heared? I honestly dont know. But then again, i dont care that much cause i like the game - Do you have a favorite player? No - What is the funniest thing that has happened to you in ikariam? Dutch01: The funniest thing... i think was that i was able to take down an alliance on my own; funny to me, less funny to others. Funny too was all the responses and replies you got as a mod. I laughed alot. But most funny is that it has been a community i value alot still. I never knew it would grow on me that much. - How has the Ikariam.org community treated you so far? Dutch01: The community consists of many types. You have GF, the Team, and the players. I have had my differences with all which is normal but the importance is that the overal feeling is that of a great community and i love everyone of them... even Grey I have been well treated! - To wrap it up - do you have any advice for new players joining Ikariam? Dutch01: Yes. Have fun and dont take things too personall Be constructive in your complaints if you have any. Be bold aswell and dont be afraid to start a discussion. We all like that
The Gamma Gazzete
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hilst it looks like the dust has settled in Gamma, the amount of dust that is settling is a rather large amount, with R u Nervous (RUN) declaring war on not one, not two, not even three alliances, but TEN! And not just the smallest ones they could find, but the top 10 alliances that weren’t already at war! This pitched RUN, and alliance placed in 7th with 34 members and 81 million Total score against a combined score of 816,606,352 (10 times their own size!) and a combined number of 262 players (and just over 7 times their number of members!). The result of these wars which were heavily pitched against them was, RUN winning every war, and a massive collection of HoF CRs which number up to 36 HoFs from those wars alone. These RUN wars, came very shortly after their RUN “pantie” challenge in which many alliances and individuals partook of, and involved RUN 7|Page
trying to hold an island against hordes of attackers. The Challenge was mainly fought by Grey Matter (L-KLK), who built up a whopping 1million generals for the challenge! This is the CR thread: RUN Challenge CRs, the last CR of which is crazy big! The Challenge involved attacking and holding all the RUN towns on a specific island, both port and town. It will be interesting to see how the conflicts in Gamma pan out. -Written by Corsini
Interview with Mogwai
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his time we had the pleasure to interview out brand new Board Administrator - Mogwai. We thank him for finding time to give us the interview.
- For start, can you please tell us something about yourself? Mogwai: There's not much to say, I'm a little furball that can't enjoy a nice day at the beach Mogwai: So I spend my time hiding online and out of the sun - Cute - When did you first start playing Ikariam? Mogwai: I started February 19th 2008, the day the Delta server first started Mogwai: just a couple days after the community opened - Why did you choose Delta? Mogwai: at the time, it was the newest server Mogwai: granted, the next couple of days had a new server each - Did you start playing alone or with friends? Mogwai: I played alone Mogwai: at the time, I just gratuated from college and moved to a new town Mogwai: didn't have time to get any friends by then - How did you find Ikariam in the first place? Mogwai: I got an email advertisement. Thought it sounded fun - Did you start using board at the same time when you joined the game? Mogwai: I did. First it was to visit H&Q section to get answers Mogwai: then I realize that nobody knew anything there and the in-game help was better Mogwai: so after reading the help, I went back to H&Q and started answering the questions and being helpful - That's nice 8|Page
- In what servers do you play now/if you play Mogwai: I haven't started a new server nor left Delta Mogwai: at the time, I needed at least 14 hours online a day to keep current with everything that happened there - wow! That's alot Mogwai: I needed it, I was both leader of the largest fighter alliance on the server Mogwai: and functioning in capacity on the team - Teams! let's talk about your team work. Why did you decided to join the team? Mogwai: Because there were openings.. and I wanted to do more to help make this game better - Why did you choose the board team, not game team? Mogwai: I applied the first day the staff opening was posted Mogwai: actually, I chose game team Mogwai: I started off as a GO - Why/how did you end up in the board team in the end? Mogwai: Well, I started as a GO, about 2 months later was promoted to SGO. Did that job for a few months. I then took a week off for RL stuff and the current GA as the time forgot Mogwai: He thought I went MIA and removed me from the team - wow, that sucks Mogwai: when I came back, I talked to him, and got my position back, but they forgot some of the access I needed Mogwai: as such, I wasn't able to perform my job effectively, so I was then "fired" Mogwai: I talked to the Board Admin at the time and asked if I could join that side Mogwai: I never quit answering the H&Q board and was always helpful with my posts, that she allowed me to join the board side - Who was the BA at the time? Mogwai: Eclectic Mogwai: and SOLID Mogwai: and Jumanji - Well, the joining turned out good. You're the boss yourself now - Did you picture yourself as a BA at first when you joined the board team? Mogwai: not at all, I honestly felt that some people were not keen on allowing me back on the team after the events that transpired on the game side - Well it's good they did. You do an awesome job. - What aspect of your job do you like the most? Mogwai: well, that remains to be seen, I've only been at it less then a week - Even though you have been a ba for a less than a week, I hope you can answer this. What are you plans for the board? Mogwai: Ah, but I can't answer that, not until that information is ready to be released - Awh, bummer! Mogwai: but in due time, everyone will find out 9|Page
- How long a day do you spend arround the board and game? Mogwai: I average about 4 hours a day between the two Mogwai: if the board activity requires more, my playing account suffers a little - Hopefully that doesn't happen too often Mogwai: well, not I hope not also Mogwai: otherwise it would be because of some mistake I made - Do you have a favorite teamler? Mogwai: Now the obvious answer is no, all the staff do great. but my answer is... Mogwai: no I don't. They all are great :P - What about users. Do you have a favorite user? Mogwai: that I do, it is Alleycat. I loved having discussions about him about the mechanics of the game Mogwai: it's a shame he doesn't visit the board anymore - Maybe oneday he/she will again - What is the funniest thing that has happened to you in Ikariam? Mogwai: that's a tough question, being here over 5 years, I'm sure there is a lot, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head - To wrap it up, do you have any advice for new players? Mogwai: don't try for the highscore Mogwai: play how you want and it will come to you - Thanks for doing the interview with us:) Mogwai: Not a problem
Version 0.5.7 - An ingame combat report-converter
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n 12th of June, BetaWarrior tools-founder Holyschmidt announced that he will be discontinuing the BetaWarrior services in the future. He stated that life events have pushed him and Ikariam further and further apart. He also indicated that the tools are being lesser and lesser used, so they would be unable to maintain themselves financially through advertisements alone. Sadly, that means for us the loss of the infamous CR-converter, which had been the leading converter for the last three years. On 18th of June, almost a week later, Gameforge announced the upcoming 0.5.7-version, which would implement an ingame CR-converter. How does it work? The update offers an additional button in the overview of each battle report. This button, called "Combat report converter", allows the player to choice what he or she wants to convert. When clicked on the button, the converter also offers a bunch of options where the player can pick his taste from: plain text (for internal alliance boards) or BB-code (for external boards). Both choices come with the option to enable or disable the events of the battle or round. The option for BB-code also provide the possibility to enable or disable 10 | P a g e
fixed colours, to add or delete the resource icons for pillages and to add or disable a spoiler-option, mostly used on boards. The layout is similar to the classic converter. However, there are slight differences: the layout is wider to contain even the longest names used around the globes. This has been done via a shrink in font size to eight pixels (height) instead of the standard ten. The popular bar with damage percentages is not included in the new converter. Unfortunately, the tools also have a few minor imperfections. The first is the lack of usage of spaces to mark thousands and millions for lost generals and offensive/defensive points, which slightly decrease the readability of the combat report. Secondly, each combat report of a finished fight shows all the players of the winning AND losing side. As most of you might know, Ikariam considers every player who withdrew at least one wave as a loser, regardless of the side he/she fought on. Luckily there were also changes for the better with a few handy features: offensive/defensive points and lost generals are now shown precise and not being rounded off any more. The converter also includes incoming waves in the per round converter result, if events are enabled. The ingame converter was implemented at the 26th of June with the release of version 0.5.7. Read the full changelog in this thread. -Written by IM_Mike
Ikariascope
The month of June will be dominated by two signs of the Zodiac: Cancer and Leo.
The sign Cancer is characterised as emotional, loving, cautious, protective, sympathetic, changeable, moody, touchy, clinging and reluctant to let go. The ruler of Cancer is the Moon, a planet that moves very fast through the Zodiac. She travels through a whole sign in 2 days and throughout the complete Zodiac in one month. That makes Cancer highly changeable. The sign Leo is characterised as generous, ambitious, stable, optimistic, confident. Leo can be a great leader. Leo is proud, which makes it hard for Leo to confess his mistakes. Also, Leo can be quite irritable by giving advice when it’s not 11 | P a g e
appreciated. The ruler of Leo is the Sun which makes the characteristics of the sign easily noticeable. From July 23rd, the time will be right to evaluate what you have been doing in Ikariam and to make plans for what you want to do in the next period. Trade The planet Mercurius, that is connected to trade, learning and communication is retrograde until 21 July. So until this date, trade, learning and communication will not flourish. Ideally, these aspects of the game should be left for the last week of the cycle.
Building The planet that is important for the builders in Ikariam takes position in Leo. But the distance to the Sun is too big to let her have much importance. When the Sun moves to Leo, Venus moves to the next sign Virgo, so the distance will be kept. Fights Mars, the planet that rules wars, takes position in Gemini until July 14, this will bring many targets for fights but no long big wars. After July 14, Mars will transfer to the sign Cancer. This means that players shouldn't take any risks by going to
targets directly. But once involved in a fight, Cancer will not give up or let go. Expansion The planet Jupiter is close to the Sun in first week of July. That will bring expansion and prosperity. When the Moon comes between Jupiter and Sun on July 8 and 9, it might be a great time to expand your palace, city hall or start a new colony. Overall July is a quiet peaceful month for Ikariam players and that will be convenient for all players who will enjoy summer holidays outdoors that time of the year, rather than to sit inside behind their computers. -Written by Joffer
Monthly Interview
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ear community of Ikariam, in our consecutive edition we want to show you our new rubric related to introdution of players, who are playing in ikariam.org worlds. We are going to show you a small interview with every player we are talking with. It will be monthly - in every following edition. So if someone want to talk with us about our favourite game - Ikariam and about questions related to Ikariam, feel free to poke Gabriella. So, here is our first interview with VVVJeroen. Gabriella: Nick in the game? VVVJeroen: VVVJeroen Gabriella: World you are playing in? VVVJeroen: Testserver Gabriella: If you had choice for your new colony, on what island would you do it - sulfur or crystal? And why? VVVJeroen: It'd be crystal, I don't have that one over there yet Gabriella: What do you think about piracy? Is it helpful? VVVJeroen: In general it can give you a nice resource boost, you can dump loads and loads of your time in piracy. Get a lot of pirates, get a good reputation and protect your stuff. 12 | P a g e
Gabriella: What would happen in the future with the bashing rule, which has been removed? What is your opinion? VVVJeroen: I do not think it has been removed, it is still there if you look at the rules ingame But I must admit on the forums it is clearer that it has been removed so it is more of a technicality. If you look at the rule itself, I don't think it really protected anyone. The only thing it protected was upgrades to say a palace 11, with 6 pillages you can get ~600k resources which is quite a lot, so it prevented from clearing out a player in 1 day, but I don't think anyone can ship out more then 7M/day. Gabriella: Does the player depend on the alliance or alliance depends on the player? VVVJeroen: I would say it can never be unidirectional. An alliance depends on its players, and the players should be able to depend on their alliance. Gabriella: Make a wish of our audience. VVVJeroen: I'd like to invite them to join #ikariam.org and have a nice chat with people, because there ain't enough people over there. -Written by Gabriella
The final word
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e wish to thank everyone who helped along to publishing this edition. We hope you had fun reading it. If you wish to comment on any of the articles you can do it here.
If you have any ideas about what to write, who to interview or you think we should interview you, please leave a PM to Hopla with the info what should we do and why. Any hints about anything interesting are welcomed aswell. If you want to have your own ad in the classifieds section leave a PM to Hopla. Remember to see what we need, to publish your ad, in here.
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