Citizens

What it does

Ikariam does not put citizens to work by itself: a newly founded town has everyone idle and produces no wood. oBot spreads every town’s citizens across the saw mill, the luxury mine and the academy, without ever pushing gold into the red.

Gold maths

• Each free citizen pays 3 gold per hour in taxes.
• Workers (saw mill and mine) pay no taxes.
• Scientists cost gold every hour.

With several towns the bot first puts the citizens of the colonies to work, then those of the capital; with half the academy it fills saw mill and mine first and pays scientists with the gold that is left. Gold is shared by the whole account.

So more people at work means less gold. The bot starts from the net income the game shows (troop and ship upkeep included) and keeps free the citizens needed so that it never drops below the minimum you set.

Options

What the bot does

1. Every 15 minutes it looks at all towns.
2. It sets the scientists as you chose (or as the goal says), but never more than gold can pay for.
3. It splits the remaining citizens between the saw mill and the luxury mine (a third to the mine, when it is open), leaving free those needed for the minimum gold. Without scientists the mine always keeps its third: crystal, marble, wine or sulphur keep coming in.
4. It changes something only if the difference is at least 2 people (1 when gold per hour is below the minimum), so it does not keep fiddling. The What it is doing box and the log show scientists, workers, free citizens and the expected gold per hour.
5. With a goal active, the gold in the treasury beyond what is needed (colony gold, ship reserve, at least 1,500) does not sit idle: it is spent slowly (over 72 hours, at most 40 per hour) by putting the free citizens to work, in the saw mill and then in the luxury mine. With the New colony goal and the gold almost ready it does the opposite: it takes workers off the saw mill and the mine until the free citizens the colony asks for are there, even while the Palace waits, and spare gold does not send them back to work.

Two more rules about gold and goals:

• With a goal active the saw mill keeps at least half of its places, all of them if wood is what stops the Palace, and the log says so. That minimum gives way only if the treasury could not hold 48 hours at the resulting budget.
• A falling gold income is no longer called «fine» without a reason: it is accepted only if the treasury lasts at least 48 hours at the current rate, and the log says so. Under 48 hours the free citizens go back to balancing the budget.

Island donations (premium)

With Automatic donations to saw mill and mine on (off by default) the bot donates wood to the island saw mill or luxury mine only when it is needed: the mine is full (there are free citizens it cannot take) or the wood is about to fill the warehouse. It donates half of the wood above the town reserve (queued job, army, colony and 12 hours of production), to the mine closest to its next level, never while the queue waits for wood and at most once every 2 hours per town. Every donation goes into the log.

Video