Abandoned city pricing

Following the article on terraforms, I noticed a player selling 'dead' towns for 45 mil piece, I honestly thought to myself 'this can't be a good price'. So I decided to ask several alliance leaders or representatives of alliance leadership what they charge for their 'dead' towns.

Surprisingly I found a split in the market that was far larger than the terraform price split- a general split of 15 milion, right down the middle. The split does not appear to be the result of research or city size differences. I shall list the prices told to me, as stated by the people I interviewed, but their names will of course be blanked out

[15:22] A town with all research done would be 100 mil

[1525] Oh...depends on the pop i'd say 40-60 mil

[15:42] Ah. Well if its one of ours and nobody in the confed is claiming it then we usually just let the first one who asks for it have it

[22:27] If you be my friend usually no charge

[22:27] 20mil to 5 mil

[12:36] we do not charge unless it's necessary

[12:44] not selling any but if its one we don't need willing to talk or give

[13:00] we usually just boot inactive players

[13:53] to be honest we've never chg'd for towns, unless it's for a terra and that is up to the individual who is dealing with the terra

As you can see, there is a large variation in the pricing of dead towns.

Terraform Pricing

EDIT: This article was refreshed in December 2021. To see more recent data, go here: https://illyriadtelegraph.blogspot.com/2021/12/terraform-pricing.html

After seeing someone attempting to sell a 'prospect' terraform for 30 million, stating 35 million was average, I decided to look about to see if it was anywhere close to the truth. I spent the morning searching for terraformers, and I believe I have come up with a decent representation of them. Now please note I do not assume to know all terraformers and their prices, and if anyone has something different than here, I would be more than happy to hear it.

I decided to cut this up into three distinct category's, 'custom' 'prospect' and 'alliance'. Custom terraforms are those that take the request of the buyer into consideration before selling. Prospect terraforms are the ones that dont consider a buyer, simply making an account, and tenaril the original town a week later. Finally we have alliance terraforms, these are purely 'in-house' matters, and wont be accessable to outsiders. otherwise they follow the rules of custom terras.

Please note that this is the information I got off sellers for their base prices, if you try asking for something 'rushed' it will likely go higher...

Unsurprisingly, the price for a custom terraform averaged at 30.9 million, with 35 million being both the highest and most frequent (60%), with 20 mil being the lowest.

The 'prospect' terraforms fared much better, at 18.5 million average, 20 million being the highest and most frequent (80%), with 10 being the lowest.

Finally the 'alliance' terraforms, at a 4.4 million average it is by far the cheapest, the most frequent number here was 0 (66%), with 20 million as the high.

If anyone would like me to place the numbers down at the bottom here, I would be happy to do so.

RE/HRE conflict

In light of the recent activity in GC and apparent hostility between the two, I interviewed both Roman Empire's leader Patience King, and Holy Roman Empire's leader Princess Botchface. the following is their interview

[17:35]<Dakota> may i ask why you declared war on both slr and re?
[17:37]<Princess Botchface> I started an alliance to amuse myself called Dark Carnival [ICP], I declared on Slayer because its a band name.
[17:39]<Princess Botchface> I changed it Holy Roman Empire [HRE] a few hours later to troll PK, I was planning on leaving the following morning and accepting an invitation from Loki
[17:41]<Princess Botchface> When I got up and checked on the incoming I saw two new ones moving quite slowly with one arrow on the map and 6 days travel time. I decided then to update the alliance page and start recruiting
[17:41]<Dakota> so there are no true hostilitys between hre and slayers?
[17:42]<Princess Botchface> No
[17:42]<Princess Botchface> I forgot about that until now
[17:44]<Dakota> what are your current intentiond towards RE?
[17:45]<Princess Botchface> I intend to continue fighting RE, even if only in defense of myself, until either they pull out or I'm n00b ringed.
[17:47]<Dakota> you previously stated this was the latest in a series of trolls between you and pk, may i hear some of the previous trolls?
[17:48]<Princess Botchface> I don't really recall specifics, little things like calling me by my alts name, Lord Moonpie, hitting on me, etc.
[17:50]<Dakota> is this truely a alliance vs alliance matter? or simply a few specific players?
[17:51]<Princess Botchface> At this time, it's Alliance vs. Me
[17:52]<Dakota> do you have anything to add at the end?
[17:53]<Princess Botchface> RE's leaders whining about being trolled as a justification for ganging up on one player is a bigger joke than I could come up with.


[18:04]<Dakota> may i ask what your responce was when you were declared on by hre?
[18:05]<Patience King> I was a little surprised when HRE declared since it is turning it into a full fledged war from a skirmish
[18:05]<Patience King> but i`m ready for anything.
[18:06]<Dakota> have you spoken to princess botchface about it since?
[18:07]<Dakota> (in a diplomatic setting, not in GC)
[18:07]<Patience King> no
[18:08]<Dakota> princess botchface has previously stated this is the latest in a series of trolls between you two, can you confirm or deny this?
[18:09]<Patience King> deny
[18:10]<Patience King> I have never trolled her
[18:10]<Dakota> is this truely a alliance vs alliance matter, or simply a few specific players?
[18:11]<Patience King> since he declared war , rome will use all its resources to bring a quick and decisive end to the war.
[18:12]<Dakota> do you have anything else you would like to state?
[18:13]<Patience King> That we are simply responding to a troll who clearly instigated the whole thing and is now being punished for it.

It has since been confirmed that attacks were sent at Princess Botchface prior to her war declaration. Patience King has stated he is awaiting Princess Botchface's surrender

Author: Dakota

Alf shea, Mass Murderer!?

In a stunning turn of events a mass murderer in illy has been uncovered, alf shea 'the sad farmer'. He journeys from tavern to tavern claiming he lost his wife after 2 years of marriage, however he reappears in the town roughtly 2 weeks later after you send him off with a harem of females.

Well known player Rill has stated the following on the matter:

[11:33]<Rill> I've stopped getting new wives for him

[11:33]<Rill> they keep dying under mysterious circumstances

[11:34]<Rill> Alf Shea ... just what is he doing with all those wives?

[11:36]<Rill> I refuse to find him anymore

[11:37]<Rill> not until he comes up with a plausible explanation about what happened to the last 152 of them

I personally agree with this, and sincerely hope we find out what happened to all the young ladies, especially with the numbers he leaves with....

Yarr! declares on Absa after Biff siege break

In a surprising move, Yarr! has declared on Absa. This happened due to Absa member ‘Latvalaishappy’ breaking the siege on a town owned by ‘Biff’. An alliance less player who has shown no activity in a month, he is well known for stating inappropriate things to ‘Willd’.

When asked about the siege break Latvalaishappy stated the following:

[20:01]<Latvalaishappy> Mainly for 2 reasons.Firstly, because as an ex-Absa player, we feel Biff's towns as our claim, since we were the ones that helped built them up

[20:02]<Latvalaishappy> Biff's towns are to be given to Absa members, but even outsiders could have claimed upon an agreement

When it was pointed out that as an alliance less player, the alliance claim isn’t accepted as valid by a large population of the server, he stated the following:

“[20:16]<Latvalaishappy> Let me put it simply, mademoiselle Dakota.I am not protecting Biff, nor his ill behaviour -let alone the fact that i did not learn of what happened until today, due to my large period of inactivity-, but, as one of the persons that actively spent effort and time to build these cities, I claim the cities”

Another absaroke member did chime in on the siege break matter:

“[19:53]<GregoRokin> it was bit hasty reaction by one of our members

[19:54]<GregoRokin> stiull, it was only few engines lost and one unit

[19:54]<GregoRokin> and we broke the siege on one of our strategic cities

[19:54]<GregoRokin> everyone would act the same”

Solanar stated the following in a mail:

“As many people are already aware, Biff made personally vulgar remarks towards Willd in GC. He further insisted she liked it, refused to apologize, and in a remarkable turnaround, demanded she apologize to him (for what is unclear - perhaps for being offended by his remarks?)

In response to these events, the GMs in their wisdom muted Biff for an unknown amount of time. Feeling that the muting was insufficient punishment, I contacted Qaal, as head of Absa. I informed him of what Biff had said, and stated that I was sure that if Absa leadership had been aware, they would have already kicked him, rather than being tarnished by his presense. Qaal did not reply to me, but the next time I logged on, he had read the mail and Biff was no longer in Absa - it is my conceit that he agreed and kicked Biff, though without he or Biff making comment I cannot know for sure.

We launched several attacks on Biff in an effort to soften him up, both troops and diplos. We had tens of thousands of troops in movement when the tourney started - and Biff appeared to go inactive on about 09/02, at least, he stopped dodging our attacks against him. With the popular focus shifting towards the tourney, and Biff no longer responding, I sent a series of undefended sieges against him - if he broke the sieges, we would plan more serious ops afterwards. If he did not, well, I certainly was not going to use catapults in the tourney.

Each siege had 30 or less cats. Only a single siege on each town. But the closest 4 towns were already to 0 population and messengers launched to recall them before the first contact from Absa. I replied in just under 2 hours. I mention this to give an idea of the time dilation, that there was no immediate contact, no real notice given that anyone Absa felt they had any claim to the cities, prior to them attacking me directly.

Then my siege was broken, before the messengers arrived - in spite of the town already having been at 0 pop for nearly a full day. I replied in the same way I intended to if Biff had remained in Absa, or had been defended by them while he was still active. Given the attacker is one of those holding the 2nd highest rank in Absa, I assumed that their actions were indicative of official Absa policy. They were, in fact, the aggressors - I just made it official by declaring war. The person who attacked my army did not even contact me until well after the war dec.

I have no intention of ceasing attacks on Biff until his account is destroyed. If Absa wants the cities, they are welcome to them, but they need to move fast. Continuing to defend his cities will mean not only the loss of whatever value they hold, but active members losing valuable cities as well. This is nothing less than justice.”

The bounty on Biff's towns in the telegraph is decently known, The entire sum of the bounty (54 million) has been sent to Yarr! to aid with them sieging Biff and any consequences that may come from sieging Biff.

Author: Dakota

AianNick abandons

Well known TUF member AianNick abandoned yesterday following the ban’ of ThorOdin who was AianNick’s alt. According to various sources, AianNick had accused SIN of causing his alt to be banned prior to his abandonment, Duran Shadowfist (who was in global chat at the time) denied that, during the conversation viperone, the coleader of TUF declared he might be departing from illyraid soon as well:

 ‘[06:50]<viperone> i will be shortly leaving this game to the cheaters’

Not to long after the Illyriad Times published an article about this matter, in the comments listed a ‘letter’ from GM Rikoo, supposedly sent to AianNick, stating the following:

‘From: GM Rikoo [DEVS]

 Subject: FW: Investigation of multis

 Received: 15 Sep 2016 19:29

 Original Message:

I am investigating several complaints, and have been updating with the weekly reports we get.

Before I get too much into it, I will give you a chance to tell me all of the accounts you control so I can mark off some of them. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but I will just ban the extras and possibly all of them.

By control I mean sitting as well. Thanks.’

GM rikoo had this to say when it was posted in global chat:

‘[20:13]<GM Rikoo> Just a warning: sharing faked IGMs that mention me is not a good idea. But thanks for the wall of red. Lol’

GM Stormcrow said the following when inquired to about the mail:

[01:45]<GM Stormcrow> I don't know whether he sent this email, what it means if he did or did not send it, or anything about it whatsoever. And I don't care tbh.
[01:45]<GM Stormcrow> The simple fact is that a) We want as many people playing Illy as possible
[01:45]<GM Stormcrow> and b) We will ban cheats
[01:46]<GM Stormcrow> We have no interest in banning people from the game if they're abiding by the rules...
[01:46]<GM Stormcrow> And that's about the end of it

As no evidence of its confirmation or denial has been released as of yet, and due to the dev policy of not announcing player bans or their reasons, we cannot truly know if it was faked or not.

Angrim of the Ecrow alliance later stated that the system for banning a multi-accounter is done via a trusted algorithm and not player testimony.

This is the most recent in a string of bans on players involved in wars. The last bans caused the TUF/YARR! war to end in a draw after Ranalos and Rigor.mortis were banned. 

Author: Dakota

Is STFU set to become next military power?

On the 3rd July at 07:42, Bob Diamond took the name 'The Unfettered' hostage by forming STFU. A ransom note was reportedly sent to Agalloch of TUF saying 'I am holding the name 'The Unfettered' hostage'. As yet, it is not known if any demands will be made for the release of the name but sources close to the telegraph indicate that a ransom payment of 1 Trillion gold is being considered.

Not content to simply hold onto the name quietly, Bob then proceeded to declare war on SIN, TUF, MEH and YARR! in the space of 10 minutes. Since the war declaration, MEH's members have fled leaving the alliance empty.

STFU's next target was WILD and when asked why he chose WILD, Bob Diamond replied 'He took my axe and used it as a toothpick! What else was I supposed to do?'.

STFU was then relatively quiet for around 24 hours until, at 00:17 on the 5th of July, Bob began declaring war on alliances again. In just 31 minutes, Bob declared on nCrow, SHAD, mCrow, ITG, Dlord, DKS and RE, mostly for saying cow puns in GC thought the RE declaration is though to be due to their involvement in the wars TUF is currently in.
During this spate of declarations, STFU's membership doubled which shows that many feel allied with Bob's cause.
A peace was negotiated between STFU and nCrow by Rill after she threatened to totally destroy Bob in GC. This appears to be a white peace though neither alliance has yet confirmed or denied this.

However, shortly after the peace was negotiated, TFs declared war on STFU. This was the first war declaration on STFU declared by another alliance.

Bob then declared war on GATE, M-X, X_C and ACHE. Soon after the war declaration on M-X, Bob appeared in GC and announced that the declaration on M-X was a mistake and he offered peace to M-X.

India joined TFs in declaring on STFU at 20:30. Dakota, one of this newspaper's editors, is leader of India.

In total, STFU has been at war with 19 alliances.

So far, there have been no sieges though Bob has sent a large army to attack Lone Wolf of mCrow. Artefore did send an army to Bob's town of Ponzi Scheme but recalled it almost immediately after sending. Bob has also been thieved twice.

Judging by STFU's aggression, high growth and ambition, it seems like they could be on their way to becoming Illyriad's top military alliance, a spot currently held by SIN after the Second Newlands War. It will be interesting to see how STFU expands and whether they move in the Broken Lands.

Author: Eowan The Short