Ideas to Solve Issues Related to Miracles

[hot hearth]

Hello everyone,

First, a brief introduction: I play on several servers, some new, some older, including one where I'm in the top 25. I returned to the game four months ago after a 10-year hiatus. I manage multiple accounts and use IP sharing.

My playstyle heavily revolves around looting, and I'm always building more cities to support larger armies. I enjoy playing Ikariam and would like to see the game become even more engaging! To that end, I'll be posting a series of suggestions aimed at addressing (initially) some of the game's frustrating issues because, as I like to say, “If you criticize, propose.”

My first post will address what I believe to be the most urgent issue: Miracles.

Overview of the Situation
The gameplay can broadly be divided into two profiles:

Raiders
Producers
(We could add a third group, Traders, but there’s currently not enough in the game to truly establish this profile.)

The distribution is approximately 30% Raiders and 70% Producers, likely because regular raiding requires more frequent connectivity.

Miracles Usage Overview:
Colossus: Used by both profiles, defensive, usefulness: 6/10 (requires being online to activate on time).
Forge: Used by Raiders, offensive, usefulness: 9/10.
Poseidon: Used by both profiles, defensive/offensive, usefulness: 10/10.
Ares’ Fortress: Used by Raiders, offensive (rarely used due to technical complexity and niche situations), usefulness: 1/10.
Hades’ Sacred Cave: Used by Raiders, offensive (complex timing makes it impractical), usefulness: 1/10.
Demeter’s Garden: Used by Raiders (after building an army or cultural treaty attack), offensive, usefulness: 3/10 (less used since banks help recover resources).
Athena’s Temple: Used by both profiles, defensive (difficult to use in time), usefulness: 5/10.
Hermes’ Temple: Used by Raiders (for raiding cities and cargo) and, to a lesser extent, by Producers, usefulness: 5/10.
Main Issues Identified:
Overused Miracles: Certain miracles, particularly Forge, Poseidon, and Colossus, are far more sought after. On servers, they are quickly claimed and unavailable to others.
Lack of Strategic Miracle Placement: Typical setups often consist of 5 Poseidons, 5 Forges, and 1 Colossus, limiting diversity.
Favoritism Toward Raiders: Miracles primarily benefit Raiders (30% of players), leaving the Producer majority (70%) at a disadvantage.

Proposed Solutions
Issue 1: Miracle Availability
(This is the simplest to address and potentially the most profitable for Gameforge.)

On both older and newer servers, everyone rushes to claim Forge and Poseidon locations, leading to frustration, disrupted alliances, and overly long travel times.

Two simple solutions:

Miracle Switching:
Allow miracles to be changed through donations on the island.
Similar to Helios Towers, the required donation amount could depend on the server’s age.
Once the required resources or gold are donated, a vote is triggered. If the majority agrees, the miracle changes. Otherwise, the resources are lost, and new donations are needed to trigger another vote.
Optional: Allow donations of ambrosia to make it profitable for Gameforge.
Automatic Activation of Miracles:
Add an option to auto-activate miracles.
Once triggered, a miracle would activate when ready, wait for its cooldown, and re-activate automatically.
This would make Athena, Demeter (for wine consumption reduction), and Hades more appealing.
It would also solve the issue of Poseidons remaining inactive for hours during loading phases.

Issues 2 & 3: Strategy and Producer Utility
Proposed Solution: Dual Miracle Effects

If there are two gameplay profiles, miracles should benefit both equally. I suggest allowing players to choose the miracle’s effect based on their profile. This would increase the strategic use of all miracles and encourage filling every island without scattering across the map.

The effect could be switched with a one-week cooldown (or faster with an offering/donation system).
Examples of Dual Effects:

Colossus:
Raider: Dispersion during combat.
Producer: +100% land movement speed.
Forge:
Raider: Increased martial prowess.
Producer: +100% wall level.
Poseidon:
Raider: Faster naval movement.
Producer: +20% cargo capacity for ships.
Ares’ Fortress:
Raider: Improved troop morale.
Producer: -20% wine consumption across cities.
Hades’ Sacred Cave:
Raider: Recover marble after battles.
Producer: +20% marble production.
Demeter’s Garden:
Raider: Increased population growth.
Producer: +20% wine production.
Athena’s Temple:
Raider: Faster loading for raiding transports.
Producer: Enhanced secure storage capacity.
Hermes’ Temple:
Raider: Faster commercial transport loading.
Producer: -20% army movement costs.

Additionally, shorter activation cooldowns could allow for 3-4 miracles per setup rather than 5, avoiding long downtimes.

I believe these ideas would open up numerous new strategies for experienced players! Gameforge should also benefit significantly from a change like this, as it would likely increase teleportation and ambrosia sales.

What do you think of these proposals?

[grizzled needle]

Those are a lot of different Suggestions.

• Voting for new Miracle on the Island
  This one was brought up some times, personally I think it would be super frustrating for Players when they are in the minority and the Miracle changes to smth they dont want/need.
  Especially for F2P-Players, who dont have the option to just switch islands.

• Automatic Reactivation of Miracles
  That Suggestion was just brought up few days ago here on Discord so wont comment a lot on this one, currently majority against it.

• Dual Effects of Miracles
  Generally speaking I dont mind this idea, but I think they should first focus on making the existing Bonuses viable and f.e fix the abuse of Hades.

• Shorter activation CD's
  You want shorter activation times, cooldowns, or both?
  I dont think the amount of miracles you need for perma-miracle should be lowered if thats what you mean.

[small zephyr]

This is beyond delusional. I bet even the GF devs don't have that much power. Just start your own game at this point.

[hot hearth]

Saying something is impossible is not an argument: the real impossible is playing on maps that are more and more scattered just to get a miracle. On the other hand, applying a resource recovery proportional to the real cost of the account for Hares is simple and concrete.

[hot hearth]

This idea has already been brought up several times. In my opinion, it would mainly be frustrating for players in the minority to see their miracle change into something they don’t want or need. For F2P players, who don’t have the option to simply switch islands, this is even more true.

In fact, when some players end up in the minority on an island, it’s usually because others had to move there to benefit from the existing miracle. With a system that would allow, for example, multiple forges side by side, that constraint would disappear. To make the transition smoother, a few free city teleports could be offered for the exceptional cases.

Automatic reactivation of miracles This suggestion was already made here on Discord a few days ago. The majority is against it, but it can be nuanced: a full automatic reactivation, no. However, an automatic activation that is not self-renewing, or a nerf of overly strong effects (like level 40 warehouses ×5 with Athena permanently active), could be a balanced solution.

Dual effects of miracles
The idea itself is interesting, but first they should focus on making the existing bonuses truly viable, and especially on fixing abuses. For Hades, for example, efficiency would already be much better if the recovery was limited to the actual cost of the units of the account concerned.

Shorter cooldowns Do you mean shorter activation times, shorter cooldowns, or both?
If miracles or their bonuses were multiplied, it would make sense to reduce cooldowns, since you would no longer need 5 forges or 5 Poseidons to maintain a permanent effect.