Illyriad is a free to play massively multiplayer online browser-based strategy game developed by the UK software company Illyriad Games Ltd. The game is played on an infinite-round basis—there are no resets planned.
This game is set in a persistent fantasy world – when a player logs out, the game continues. Player start with a single town in which they construct and upgrade buildings and conduct research to unlock new technologies. Player civilizations can be expanded by conquering cities, sending settlers to colonize new lands or claiming sovereignty to expand player influence. It has a gameworld of over 4 million squares – the majority of which can be settled with a city.
Illyriad’s technology tree has 290 research options. They are categorized into 7 research areas: City, Diplomacy, Quest, Magic, Military, Trade and Sovereignty. There are also discoveries which are found via quests.
Terrain
The outcome of battles is not limited to the size of armies, but is also influenced by the type of terrain and unit types. Each unit type has an adjustment to attack or defense based on the terrain they are fighting on e.g. “Mountains favour ranged units and nimble spearmen, and penalise cavalry heavily. Attacking swordsmen are also hampered by the passes, gulleys and canyons that make frontal assaults more difficult.”
Political Intrigue
Alliance and players are also continuously drawing and changing territorial lines and having secret meetings that decide the fate of entire sections of the world. However with a very large world and realistic travel times for trade, diplomats and military it becomes hard for even large alliances to exert direct force at large distances from their core power blocks.
“Search the map for alliances and you witness how many lines are indeed being drawn. Despite the very friendly community, I never once stop thinking about the battles and wars going on at that very moment.”