Ikariam research - recommended research path

In Ikariam research is the main way to advance your civilization. There are four main streams of technology to research: Military, Economy, Science, and Seafaring. You need to assign citizens to the Academy to get research points which you need to invest in researches. Well Digging should be one of your first researches. It gives you a morale bonus and a bonus to your population cap, which is very important when you're just starting your town.
Next, Conservation is also important to research as it will allow you to build a Warehouse. A Warehouse will protect some of your resources from being pillaged if someone is attacking you.
When you get access to grapes and wine, you may build a Tavern. This will boost your town's morale and thus giving you more people in your town to either put to work or to gain gold from.

When you first start playing Ikariam research can be a bit confusing, but there is a clear path that is recommended at the start of the game.

Well Digging → Conservation → Pulley → Wealth → Wine culture
This way you expand your town as quick as possible, with the bonuses from Well Construction and from the Tavern. It will give you access to luxury goods and you will be able to trade with other cities. Next, you could follow this path:
Dry-Dock → Maps → Professional Army → Deck Weapons → Ship Maintenance → Expansion → Paper → Espionage → Foreign Cultures

Professional Army gives you access to, among others, the Hoplite, a basic unit to defend your city, but the Hoplite requires a level 4 Barracks to build. If no one is attacking you, it is possible to postpone this research.

Expansion is crucial to obtain, as it will allow you to found your first colony after building a palace. These are the basic researches you should obtain in the beginning. Other researches you should aim for are Cultural Exchange, to further boost your town happiness by building a museum, and Helping Hands, to increase production.

Remember to constantly upgrade your academy as your population increases. When you are not able to do so, due to a lack of Crystal Glass, wait until you finish researching wealth as this will allow you to trade with other players.

Ikariam Resources

As you play Ikariam you will encounter a number of resources. These resources are needed to advance your civilization.
There are the five resources in Ikariam:

Wood is your default resource; it is used for getting new buildings and upgrading your buildings, creating ships, and training units. The other resources are luxury resources, which can only be gathered after you have researched Wealth in the Economy tree. Luxury resources come into play in more advanced levels of constructing buildings and training superior units.

Wood - Used for everything: Buildings, units, war ships and donations to island resources (not miracles).

Marble - Used for all buildings except for the Academy and Temple.

Crystal Glass - Used for Academy and Temple expansion and in upgrading units and ships. Also used to build the Diving Boat and to train a Doctor and a Spy. After you research Experiments you can also use to buy research research points 2:1. Also used in building the Governor's Residences / Palaces Level 5 and higher.

Wine - Used at the Tavern once you research Wine Culture. Used in building the Governor's Residences / Palaces Level 4 and higher. Wine is also used to train cooks in the Barracks.

Sulphur / Sulfur - Used when building troops and war ships (except for the Slinger, Spearman, Doctor, Cook, Ram and Diving Boat). Also used in building such as the Governor's Residences / Palaces Level 3 and higher.

Ikariam gold and finances - Beginners guide

In Ikariam, each citizen in your city earns you 3 gold every hour. So the more citizens you have in your city, the more gold you make. Basically, you will get more citizens if you increase satisfaction. More on that later.

Each scientist costs you 9 gold per hour. Some researches reduce the cost of scientists, but you will start out with a cost of 9 gold per hour.

Each military unit costs hourly - how much depends on the type of the unit. You can find more information in your barracks.

The upkeep of your units will be divided among all of your cities, proportionally to the population-size of each city. What really matters is the total finance result. You can view this by clicking on the gold icon in the top left of the game.



Make sure you handle your gold wisely at the when you are starting with Ikariam.

How do I change my town name in Ikariam

A lot of towns are still called 'Polis' for quite a while, so apparently it's not that obvious how to change your town name in Ikariam But changing the town name is in fact quite simple: - In Ikariam, go to your city and go to your town hall. - Click the button 'rename' next to the town name to change it. The rename button is in the top right part of your town hall window, just above the smiley that shows the happiness of your town.