Your opinion matters to us! That’s why we presented a couple of questions to the community. The result was an interesting interview with one of our players, Tommy.
Q: Hi Tommy! How long have you been playing Travian: Legends?
A: I think my first round was in 2007 or 2008. So it’s been a while.
Q: What do you think of the birthday special idea?
A: I really like the idea; it’s something completely different. It also allows all the players of an alliance to use the artifact, instead of only the 10-15 best players of the alliance.
Q: What do you think of the current birthday special Scattered Empire?
A: I quite liked the first round. The alliance worked well. Gameplay-wise it was a bit boring, because there were no enemies. I think I never lost more than 30% of the main off. army, despite the fact that, mainly in recent weeks, we launched multiple offensive actions every week. So far we haven’t seen any really threatening attacks by the enemy either. I’m not sure if the Alchemist’s Cauldron is generally a new feature for all servers, or whether it will only be used in Scattered Empire. I’m not really a fan of it, but I also don’t think of it as a bad idea. The resources from it are very handy, for instance if I want to upgrade a building and I’m still lacking an hour’s worth of resources, I can just take them from the cauldron without having to use my merchants for it. Moreover, it was good that the cauldron’s effect was weakened and adjusted during the round. For the future it might be an idea to only activate it after the first week, as to not distort the start. I’m strictly against the “Complete training orders instantly” prize, since it doesn’t seem to be capped. There’s one player who a couple of days managed to replenish all of their cavalry after their offensive troops were killed. I’d be really keen to hear about their Gold consumption (laughs). But that’s paying-to-win and in my view has absolutely nothing to do with strategy anymore.
Q: What makes Scattered Empire different or special compared to normal Travian: Legends servers? Is it better than the “normal” version?
Q: It’s not necessarily better, but it offers a nice change after a couple of normal game worlds. I like the idea that everyone within the alliance has the opportunity to use artifacts. This mainly provides an advantage to defensive players. The “move troops” feature is great, it offers many new options when defending. You can station your permanent defense in vulnerable regions and move it accordingly if attacks are incoming. The faster cavalry defense can then quickly be sent to help out from the main villages.
Since it’s all about inhabitants in the regions, there are much more options for offensive action too, since all villages are potential targets and not only offense villages or main and artifact villages. With good fake attacks you can make life quite hard for the enemy. But sometimes you miss the satisfaction from taking an artifact from your enemy, especially when you have an offensive army that your opponent has great difficulties to defend against.
Q: Have you played other annual specials like Ancient Europe as well?
A: I didn’t play Ancient Europe, but I played the birthday server with the doubled resource production.
Q: Do you have a favorite version? If so, which is it and why?
A: I don’t really have a favorite. This one allows for more bashing (beating other players), since no Wonder of the World offense (one that is large enough to attack a Wonder of the World) is required. That’s quite something. But the clear, decisive actions are missing in my view. For example stealing an artifact or taking down a Wonder of the World. I especially miss clever raids like stealing an artifact with catapult waves that look like fakes, only to then collect the artifact will offensive cavalry.
Q: What are you looking forward to in the second round of Scattered Empire?
A: I heard that at the start only the 5 central regions can be populated. I really look forward to that, since it means that players can’t just go about and settle everywhere and the first real attack takes place on server day 150. There will be action right from the start. The increased speed is also good, especially if the Tournament Square is kept at 500%. That way, later you can also target regions farther away and you don’t have to decide on the region you want to spend the rest of the round in, according to where you settle. I hope the cauldron’s effect is reduced a bit and that some good, experienced players from the normal servers also sign up.
Q: What do you expect (or hope for) from the new round?
A: It’s quite different. You get forced out of the defensive role if you want to actually win. That’s a very positive change. No alliance can just entrench themselves anywhere and only build large offensive armies, but they always have to go to new regions and conquer them. In each region you find other players with different styles of gaming, habits and experience. That makes it interesting, since you don’t know what awaits you. Particularly the experience of the players can make a big difference. In the regions I’m active in, I’m still waiting for an opponent to send their chiefs in the same wave as the offense, like I have seen a few times this round in the northern regions :D.
Q: Is the game’s feeling different in Scattered Empire than in Travian: Legends?
A: Mhh, that’s difficult to say as the real highlights have been missing so far. I killed a couple of little offensive armies and attacked a couple of main villages with catapults, but I would say it probably was the first conquered village. If I remember correctly, it was the first enemy takeover on the server, that felt like quite a boost.
Q: What were your best and/or worst moments in the first round of Scattered Empire?
A: There weren’t really any worst moments. I once lost my secondary offense, but that’s pretty much it.
Thanks for the interview, Tommy.
Of course we would like to thank all our players and not just Tommy. Every day we receive your feedback, which helps us make Travian: Legends even better. Thanks very much! In the future you will continue to find new blog entries here and on our Facebook page.
You can look forward to a new blog article next week, which will focus on changes and new features on upcoming Travian: Legends game worlds.
And here’s the link to the game. Enjoy!
I am part of the community. I played Ancient Europe. I played Scattered Empires. I was not asked for feedback. Seems to me ‘Tommy’ is likely just an alias. And this so called ‘interview’ is little more than an fabricated advertisement.
The main problem with Travian servers is that they lack players. All the other issues are secondary t this stage.
When I see a new server only managed to attract 3k players one week after it’s official starting date, I just don’t bother participating: I know it’s going to be a boring – farmer style – game.
Travian is a game made to be played by lots of people simultaneously. If the are no players then it’s no fun. Simple as that.