Various ideas

Here are a few comments and ideas I got after playing Illyriad for about one week. Of course, more experienced players (and the GMs) may have different opinions because of their superior knowledge of the game.

In the Messages page, it would be convenient to be able to "Mark as read" some messages. When I come back after a while, I usually have quite a few unread messages from my caravans. I usually don't need to read them all in detail, but I don't want to delete them either without reading them, and I don't want them to remain unread because they would show in the menu. Additionally, it would be convenient to be able to go from one message to the next without going back to the list (that would also save clicks to browse though all the messages and mark tham as read).

About caravans: I would like to be able to see more easily what my caravans are currently doing. In the trade summary, I can only see the coordinates of the square where they are harvesting, but I have to check the map to see what is being harvested. It would be nice (and probably not too difficult or game-breaking to implement) to see at least the resource type. The number of resources that can be expected would be even better - since we know them from the arrival message anyway. A reminder of the duration of the return travel, the number of resources currently collected, and a button to call your caravan back would be ideal.

About caravans again: why do your caravans replace each other when they are sent to the same place? What about the old one staying there instead (either until it is full, or until both are full)?

Still about caravans: some upgrades to caravan travel speed would be nice. I know there is Caravanserai at level 20, but it is really high-level and I would appreciate earlier (and of course smaller) upgrades, maybe similar to the recently introduced loading speed upgrades. Alternatively, maybe a Quick caravan unit could be introduced around level 8-10 (higher travel speed, but reduced capacity?).

About spells: it would be nice to be able to cast several Geomancy spells on your city (I don't know about other schools of magic yet). Of course, that could be a research and/or the cost should be increased and/or the efficiency decreased. If that remains impossible, I think it should be clearly mentioned that you cannot do it (ideally, you should notice that before you have researched everything, made a book and almost cast the spell).

About defense: what about a way to build up your early city defenses, before Defensive structures, which most players probably won't get before the end of their beginner protection? Wooden palisades, maybe? I cannot judge the in-game effect should be since I haven't been involved into many city fights yet, but it doesn't have to be too efficient. It would at least feel nice to be able to defend yourself.

I shouldn't finish my first post without mentioning that I have been really positively impressed by what I have seen of the game so far. Actually, even more than the game itself, I like how it gets changed and improved almost daily, and certainly hope it will continue that way.