Travian
 | This online game related article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2008) |
| Travian | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Travian Games GmbH |
| Engine | PHP |
| Platform(s) | Interpreted script; platform independent |
| Release | 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Real-Time Strategy |
Travian is a German browser-based game developed by Travian Games GmbH[1] that is similar to a game known as Tribal Wars. In 2006, the game was ranked first in the "best browser-based game with over 10,000 players" category of the German website Travian Games.[2][verification needed] The game's developers drew roughly from [Classical antiquity] and particularly from the Roman Empire to create a predominantly militaristic real-time strategy. Along with two English versions, and the original German version, the game has been translated into 30 other languages[3][4], and today has just over 3 million players and over 150 servers worldwide.[5] It is programmed in PHP and runs in the browser. It was the first game of its type to be playable through a mobile phone, using a java platform.[6]
The Game
The player starts as a leader of a small village with two people. The village has one building, which is the main building, and around the village lie 18 fields each providing one of the resources: iron, crop (or wheat), clay and lumber (or wood). Troops can be produced once a player has built a barracks and a rally point. More types of troops are available after the player has built an academy and researched the troop type. These troops can either be used to attack villages, often in order to steal or raid resources, or to defend against an attacker. Once the player has fulfilled certain criteria, they can find other villages or conquer those of an enemy with a tribal leader.
The aim of the game is to increase population and to control as many villages as possible. After a certain amount of time, further buildings and concepts are introduced, namely the introduction of the wonders of the world. The game ends when a player has finished constructing the Wonder of the World to level 100.
Each player earns points for raiding (thieving), attacking, and defending. These points make up an appropriate ranking system. The alliance points are made up by calculating the total number of population in the alliance.
Factions
There are three tribes available to be played, the Romans, the Gauls, and the Teutons. Each has their own characteristics. The Romans have a balanced set of attributes, the Gauls being weighted for defensive, and the Teutons geared towards an aggressive style of play. However, the actual style always comes down to the player. Romans also have a production bonus, which allows them to build or upgrade one building and one resource field at a time. The fourth tribe, the Natars, are computer controlled, the Natars enjoy many benefits normal tribes don't but only come into the game as part of the end game sequence, more specifically 300 days after account activation (except if player is on Server 3x, in which case they appear after 100 days).
Villages
To create a second village, you need a level 10 palace or a level 10 residence,as well as 2000 culture points (500 for 3x speed servers). To obtain a subsequent village, a progressively increasing number of culture points are needed. They are gained by almost all buildings other than the World Wonder. The higher a building level is, the higher the culture points it produces each day. Culture points can be seen in the palace or residence. After a palace or residense reaches level 10, three Settlers or a tribal leader (Senator/Chief/Chieftain) can be trained from it.
The 3,000 Settlers will travel to an empty spot on the map and settle a new village for the realm. Settlers need minimum resources of 750,000 of each type to found a new village.
A tribal leader has the ability to conquer another player's village as long as it is not a capital. By speaking to the village's people, the Administrator can lower the loyalty of another player's villagers. After attacking enough times with a tribal leader which lowers the loyalty of the village to zero, the village will fall to the attacker's realm.
Alliances
The game is heavily geared towards cooperative play. In fact the only likely way to win the game is through cooperation with an alliance. It's nearly impossible for single players to win, but an alliance can win together. Resources can be traded between players, and towns can be reinforced with another player's troops. An in-game alliance feature is also available, providing the main catalyst for strategic play within Travian; players join and fight together for mutual benefit. Within an alliance, players can view attack and defense information for all alliance members, and also benefit from improved communication tools such as mass alliance-wide in-game messages. Because the maximum number of members in an alliance is 60, 'wings' tend to form as an alliance develops. Being a wing entails having multiple sub-alliances, often with similar names, acting as one alliance. Wings may not fight and destroy each other due to the friendly fire rules. Towards the end of a round, different alliances often join together, resulting in larger coalitions (meta alliances) - other diplomatic agreements include Non Aggression Pacts (NAP).
End Game
Each Travian server ends with the "end game" sequence. For normal servers it ends after about 300 days, and for speed (3x) servers[7] it ends after about 100 days. After this time has elapsed the Natars, a tribe controlled by the computer, are released. As the players on the server begin to build the Wonder of the World that they had captured the plans for from the Natars, they meet resistance. The Natars will, every 5 levels of the Wonder being built, attack the villages with wonders until level 95 when they will then attack every new level. The first alliance that builds their World Wonder to level 100 wins the server, which stops and restarts. Then a new game begins.
Criticism
Travian has been critised for the in game purchase of ‘Gold’. The selling of Gold pays for the some of the staff (most Travian staff are volunteers) server and bandwidth costs for the game but gives the purchaser an advantage over players who have not purchased gold, this advantage some feel is unfair.[8]
However, many of the functional abilities (attack, defence and crop bonuses are not functional abilities) of the Plus options give can be easily replicated with the use of browser-based scripts (especially in the Firefox browser, with the Greasemonkey plugin.) These scripts are easily found online. However, use of any scripts to play the game, whether browserbased or otherwise, is against Travian's terms of use, and can result in being banned from the server you're playing on and possibly a full multi-server ban.
References
- ^ Das Spiel Travian Template:De icon
- ^ "\travian\faq". Travian faq. Travian Games GmbH. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
- ^ http://www.travian.com/ (bar at top of page)
- ^ http://www.traviangames.com/content/view/14/18/ Template:De icon
- ^ http://travian.macaputo.de/ constantly updating stats. As of Feb 2008, >3 million players
- ^ http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/72430 Travian goes mobile Template:De icon
- ^ http://speed.travian.us/anmelden.php "Speed Server"
- ^ Soman, Ebey. "WebSite Review: Travian.com". Helium.com. Retrieved 2008-08-22.