Editing Ikariam (section)

==Starting up==
First, go to [http://ikariam.com ikariam.com]. That is .COM, and not .ORG. This is a frequently made mistake, since the .org site is the first one to show up when you google Ikariam. 

Then select server lambda, and sign up an account as normal. You can change your in-game name later if you wish.

===Quick Guide Summary===
If you hate tl;dr and would rather figure things out yourself, just do this checklist:

#Build an academy
#Start harvesting wood
#Assign scientists to finished academy.
#Research Well Digging. When finished, research seafaring techs.
#Upgrade academy to level 4
#Upgrade town hall to level 3
#Build a Trading Port
#Build 4 cargo ships.
#Get 9000 gold.
#Research Expansion.
#Build a palace.
#Get 1800 wood.
#Ask where to build your colony
#Build your colony
#????
#Profit!

Addendum:

If you are attacked:

#Build a shipyard
#Research wealth to get 130 sulphur
#Build a ramship to defend yourself
#If this fails, contact the alliance via IRC and we’ll assist.

===In Depth Tutorial===

All of the fa/tg/uys in ikariam are all gathered together in a single place so that we can assist each other and quickly send our excess resource to those who need them. However, when you start your initial location is assigned randomly, and you will probably begin very far away from us. The first thing you want to do is to get to us so that the fa/tg/uy’s can help you out. This process will take about 3 to 5 days IRL, though you will only need to log on occasionally for a few minutes each day.

====Day 1====
After you log on, click on Show Town at the top of the screen. Then click on an empty space with a red flag in it. Build an academy. While waiting, click on Show Island (next to Show Town). Then click on the sawmill and assign all your workers to harvesting wood, and press confirm (even if you move the slider, they won’t do anything unless you press confirm. A common mistake is to move the slider to maximum, then change screen without confirming, thus doing nothing without realizing). Go back to your town, and wait for your academy to finish. When your academy has finished, the build time will show as ‘-‘ or as the building itself. Click on your academy, and assign as many scientists as possible, and press confirm. In order to build a city and move towards us you need to research Expansion, however you should start by getting Well Digging (a science technology) first because it will significantly speed up the process. After doing this, go back to the island view and select the woodpile again. Decrease the number of men harvesting wood until your net income (in terms of gold) is positive. You can now log off, and come back later in the day or tomorrow. If you want to do more, keep upgrading your academy as soon as you receive enough wood. 

====Day 2-3====
So now you’ve come back to your city the next day. You should have a nice bunch of wood stockpiled, and you should have accumulated enough research points to research well digging, and you will have more people in your town to do your bidding. First, go to your academy and research Carpentry, Dry-dock, or Conservation. Then go to your forest, and assign your new peons to work in the lumber mill, keeping your net income of gold positive. Next, keep upgrading your academy until it is level 4 if you haven’t already. Each time it levels up, click on the academy and assign more scientists, and decrease the number of woodcutters to make up for the extra cost this incurs. Next, upgrade your town hall to level 3. Upgrading your town hall increases your maximum population limit. The last thing you need to build is a trading port. If you run out of wood while going through this process, log off and come back later when your peons have gotten more wood.

====Day 4-5====
*In order to expand, you will need:
*4 cargo ships
*9000 gold
*1750-2000 wood. (you need 1250 to expand, but you want to take extra with you)
*Expansion (a seafaring technology)
*A Palace (you cannot build this until you have Expansion)

To get Expansion, the following researches must be bought: Ship maintenance, Deck Weapons, Carpentry, Dry-dock, Wealth, Pulley, and Conservation.
To get more wood, just assign more peons to the woodpile on the island view.

To get more gold, reduce the number of peons cutting wood. If you remove your scientists from your academy you will make a lot more gold, which I recommend after you have researched Expansion.

To build cargo ships, you can buy them from the Trading Port for a cost in gold. 

Once you have all of these things, you are ready to build your colony. Go to diplomacy and send a message to Skub, asking where you should go. The majority of fa/tg/uys are based around the bunch of islands at the co-ordinates65:68 (go to Show World, and put those numbers into the boxes on the left). Your first town should be on an island with wine as its resource, and the first thing you should build is a governor’s residence. After that, it’s up to whatever you want to do. If you go on IRC, some of the higher level fa/tg/uys may be willing to give you extra resources to help quick start you. 

Once you send out your colony, you should assign all of your peons to making gold (i.e. do nothing) or as scientists for more tech. You will eventually be destroying your starting city, so there is little point in upgrading it further. Technology and gold are both global and will not be lost when you abandon your city, so you want to focus on these. You could harvest more wood, and then send it to your new colony after it is built, however the distance will mean it will take a very long time (up to a day to arrive). Additionally, fa/tg/uys will probably give you a lot more wood very quickly when you arrive (or give you methods of acquiring it) which will make whatever you produce in your starting town redundant.

=====Joining The Alliance In-Game=====

In order to officially join the alliance in-game, click on a town controlled by the player Sasquatch. Select send message and select alliance application in the dropdown menu. Just tell him you're a fa/tg/uy and you're in.

This concludes the basics for getting into the alliance.

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