Illyriad Games is happy to announce a new batch of updates, a massive tournament -- The Ruby Jubilee -- and 95 new research tree graphics for its epic browser-based MMORTS, Illyriad.
What is a tournament? Essentially it is a server-wide competition for specific areas of the map. A single square has been designated in each of the 37 major regions (the map is huge at 4,004,001 squares) and players must send armies to hold the squares. The alliances (a group of players) who hold the most squares for the longest will win an award. The competition lasts for an entire month, pitting millions of troops against each other. Some alliances wait to see what the others will do, some move in to a specific square right away and others will sit back and sell weapons and goods to those who need to fuel their armies.
We're very proud of the tournaments. They are a great way to show off the ways the developers can alter the world and how players can change the landscape for themselves. For example, winning alliances get to place a statue on the in-world map! We've attached a screenshot that shows off some of the tournament information, but you can also go here and see the world status as it updates live!
We've also brought out an important update that adds harvesting improvements, new sovereignty types and bug fixes.
Finally we are adding 95 new artwork pieces to the research tree.
Each one of these is done by GM Cerberus, the resident arteest. We've attached a few samples, but to get an idea of the scope of the project, check out the official forum thread!
The official Tournament announcement:
TOURNAMENT VIII - THE KING'S RUBY JUBILEE AND TOURNAMENT OF THE DRAGONS!
Even though many of his scholars are continuing to work on finding the exact date for the Kingdom to use, it is now known that King Sigurd has been in rule for 25 years! During that time, the land has seen unprecedented growth and prosperity, but there have been dark moments as well. In celebration of the good and in mourning for the dead, he has decided to host a new tournament: The Tournament of the Dragons!
RULES:
37 squares (one for each region that do not move from their location) have been designated as Tournament Squares, as follows:
From Midnight on the 26th of April through to Midnight on the 24th of May, any member of any alliance in occupation of these squares receives credit for holding the square.Credit is based on the length of occupation of each square. Time occupied by an alliance on each square counts towards the Alliance total.
This credit is on an alliance basis - individual players cannot participate in this tournament.Alliance NAPs and Confederations are suspended on these squares from now until the end of the tournament, so the "Peace of the Camp" rule (outside of your own Alliance) has been suspended for combat on these squares.
The ability to either quit an alliance, join a new alliance or be kicked from an alliance has been suspended whilst the player trying to quit/be kicked has troops occupying one of the tournament squares. You must remove your troops from the tournament squares in order to change alliances during the tournament.
PRIZES
REGIONAL PRIZES
- One square per region is designated a tournament square
- The alliance that holds that square for the longest period of time, from 00:01 server time on Saturday 26th April to 23:59 on Saturday 24th of May) is the Regional Winning Alliance.
- All players that belong to the Regional Winning Alliance who were involved in holding - and defending - that square (they must be involved in combat on the square at least once during the month) receive a Regional Prize.
GLOBAL PRIZES
- All activity on these tournament squares in each region will also be aggregated, so the top 3 alliances that overall have the most amount of possession across all squares will be the Global Winning Alliances, ranked First, Second and Third.
- This runs for the same period of time: from 00:01 server time on Saturday 26th April to 23:59 on Saturday 24th of May).
- All players that belong to the Global Winning Alliances who were involved in holding - and defending - that square (they must be involved in combat on the square at least once during the month) receive a Global Prize.
PRIZES
Regional Winners get 30 prestige each and 10 Elite Praetorians delivered to their Capital City
Global Winners get a custom medal - and in addition to whatever they receive for their regional victories:
First place: Alliance Tournament Statue to be added to the map at a location of choice
Unique unit: 1 x Dragon Revenant for each player in the global winning alliance
Second place: Alliance Tournament Statue to be added to the map at a location of choice
- Unique unit: 1 x Bone Dragon for each player in the global winning alliance
Third place: Alliance Tournament Statue to be added to the map at a location of choice
- Unique unit: 1 x Bone Drake for each player in the global winning alliance
To receive a prize you must be an Eligible Player.
Eligible Players are any player who was involved in actual combat on one of the designated tournament squares on behalf of the alliance who is *still* in the same alliance when the tournament ends. The alliance you are in when the tournament ends is the alliance you will be given the prizes (if any) for. Involvement in combat is a pre-requisite for receiving a prize.
We wish you luck!
GM Rikoo, voice of The King
How often are you planning to do the tournaments? Will that be a recurring regular thing?
Yes, this is our 8 tournament. There are normally several months between them; as with 62,825,769 troops killed in our last tournament, the players need some time to rebuild.