General Questions - Illyriad Gameplay FAQ

Q: How can I get more population?

A: Each building you construct or upgrade adds a certain amount of population. A few buildings do not add any population at some levels, such as the level 1 flour mill. The amount of population added by a building is equal to food consumption. Each unit of population consumes one food per hour. The amount of population a building creates is listed under "Consumption" on the building sheet, and the total production at the next level is found in the "Upgrade Further" box on that page.

Q: How are my city's taxes calculated?
A: Your citizens provide 4 Gold per population per hour at the default taxation rate of 25%. Changing the tax rate can provide up to 75% extra gold, at the expense of productivity, and lowering the tax rate can provide up to 25% extra productivity at the expense of taxation.

RESOURCES

Q. What are those pulsing piles of resources on the map, and how do I gather them?
A. They are abandoned resources that are available to claim. To gather them, click on the resource and choose "harvest resources" to send your caravans. For more info about harvesting http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/major-release-15mar_topic138.html" rel="nofollow - read here or http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/step-by-step-guide-to-harvesting-resources_topic2290.html" rel="nofollow - check out this guide .

Q: How can I get more resources?

A: Upgrade resource fields to increase resource production. You can also claim free resources for your daily bonus by mousing over the world map (tree) button and clicking on the H button in the top left corner, then clicking "Claim daily bonus." You can increase production of specific resources by 20% by spending prestige (mouse over the crown button). Production of a particular resource can be increased by casting a Geomancy spell.

Q: What happens if I produce or receive more resources than I can store?

A: Any resources that are produced by the city or brought back to the city by caravans or returning armies in excess of total available storage disappear.

Q: What does it mean when I get a mail saying my caravan was interrupted? Or when my caravans interrupted another caravan?

A: When two players send caravans to harvest at the same resource, the second caravan to arrive will interrupt or "bump" the caravan of the first player. The first player's caravan will return to his/her town with the amount of resources that had been harvested up to the point of being interrupted. The second player's caravans will then begin gathering the resource and will stay until it is full, until the available resource is exhausted, or until it is bumped by another caravan.

Q: Is there any limit to gold, research points or mana?

A: Gold, research points and mana are not subject to storage limitations. You can accumulate unlimited amounts of these resources.

QUESTS

Q: How do I get quests?

A: After you have completed your Tavern and researched Trade Contacts, mouse over the world map (tree) button and click on the Quests (list) button at the bottom. You will need barrels of beer to accept a quest.

MAGIC

Q: How many spells can I cast at a time?

A: Only one spell from each spell school can be cast on a particular city at a time. For example, one could cast a Mark of Fear OR a Mark of Slaying OR a Mark of Seeking, since all of these spells are from the Runes spell school. However, you can cast multiple spells of the same school from one city at a time. For example, you can cast geomancy spells on the cities of several of your friends, as long as those cities do not already have a geomancy spell active.

PRESTIGE

Q: Can I use prestige to speed up incoming caravans from other players?

A: Yes.

TRADE

Q: How can I get more than 5 caravans?

A: Upgrade your marketplace to level 5 and study Bartering in the Trade portion of the research tree. Continue to upgrade your market and study additional subjects in that research line to achieve a maximum of 70 caravans per city. Research in the Improved Loading line of the research tree to increase caravan carrying capacity.

RACES

Q: What are the differences between the races?

A: Races differ in resource plot distribution and in the statistics of their diplomatic and military units. Each race begins with a total of 25 plots. Humans begin with 5 of each resource plot. Elves begin with 5 of each plot except 7 wood and 3 clay. Dwarves begin with 5 of each plot except 7 stone and 3 iron. Orcs begin with 5 of each plot except 7 clay and 3 wood. Each race has the same basic types of diplomatic and military unit, but each unit has a different name and characteristics depending on race. Each race has a "specialized" military unit that is substantially stronger than other races' unit of the same type. The specialized units are human cavalry, elven bows, dwarven infantry (swords) and orc spears. Elves have a 5% bonus to magic.

DIPLOMACY

Q: What can thieves steal?

A: Basic (t1) thieves can steal anything beginning with a "b": basic resources (including food), beer and books. Advanced thieves can steal anything but siege blocks, cattle or horses; they cannot steal anything gathered by a cotter, herbalist, miner or skinner, nor anything crafted from these harvested items.

This FAQ is a work in progress. Huge thanks to Rill, Fluffy and Manannan for their contributions to this list.