Attacking abandoned provinces

[jacko667]

I have a dilemma  - I have been keen to attack the many abandoned provinces to get their gold but when I even ask for a spy report I get informed that I cannot pillage abandoned provinces.  Scouring this forum I find an answer that states that you should do a fortress seige on abandoned provinces.  When I try this I am told that I cannot attack a player who has 5 more or less points than you.   Does this mean I can only attack abandoned provinces where our points don't fall foul of this latter rule?  This is not covered in the e-manual

[isolde]

I have a dilemma  - I have been keen to attack the many abandoned provinces to get their gold but when I even ask for a spy report I get informed that I cannot pillage abandoned provinces.  Scouring this forum I find an answer that states that you should do a fortress seige on abandoned provinces.  When I try this I am told that I cannot attack a player who has 5 more or less points than you.   Does this mean I can only attack abandoned provinces where our points don't fall foul of this latter rule?  This is not covered in the e-manual

Well, I think you are a bit confused First of all, I think you are playing in version 4a since you can attack in 5x. 

Therefore, YOU CAN ATTACK EVERY ABANDONED PROVINCE ! Not just in 5x but if you wish in 500x as well.

This is the problems that you are encountering:
1. You can not spy them - you cant infiltrate spies if the person you want to attack is outside of your 3x range (not sure for version 4 range). That doesnt mean you cant attack them or pillage them, just that you have to do it "blind"

2. An abandoned empire is one where the player has not logged in for 7 days - it shows with a gold coin in front of its name. You can attack any of them not just in 5x without losing any honor, you can fortress siege them or whatever you like ! No goldcoin, no attack out of 5x.

3. The abandoned provinces filter will only show you those in 10x but you remember the name you someone you have attacked 1 month ago and they are a goldmine outside of your 10x, you can still attack them, but you can use your battle history to check their name, for example.

[Starbuck]

Actually, goldmines can not be pop pillaged anymore : this is because, unlike in Classic Realms, unemployed population do not produce anything in v4 and v4a realms.
Therefore if goldmines were pop pillaged, they would rapidly become sterilized (as many already are). And that would defeat the purpose of their existence ...

Have fun,

[jacko667]

Well... I thought I had the answer but Starbuck's entry confused me a little - or is this confirmation that abandoned provinces can only be 'fortress sieged' to get at the gold mine?   I have to say that the connection between abandoned provinces, gold mines and gold coins is a little unclear - I mean we dont have gold mine to work in normal circumstances - is it a gold mine or a stack of gold?  If it is a mine why would I go for the fortress?

[tiger]

Well... I thought I had the answer but Starbuck's entry confused me a little - or is this confirmation that abandoned provinces can only be 'fortress sieged' to get at the gold mine?   I have to say that the connection between abandoned provinces, gold mines and gold coins is a little unclear - I mean we dont have gold mine to work in normal circumstances - is it a gold mine or a stack of gold?  If it is a mine why would I go for the fortress?

goldmine - goldcoin are just term used to describe players who are not active atleast 7 days. to get their resources you must attack and destroy fort by using fortress siege options. and you are not going to mine those resources. they are just taken like from normal players using fortress siege, but without a risk, because those goldmine or goldcoin players are not online, and have mostly no army.

[jacko667]

   Excellent answer, right on the button - now I know!
a final point, when I look at the provinces map, their fortress is in flames - clearly they have been seiged already, but is it likely that there is still some gold in there?
What does it mean (apart from the obvious), what is the difference between the crosses and the fort in flames!

[Radooo]

crosses means those provinces were pillaged in the last 168 hours and a fort in flames means that the fort was destroyed during a siege and it wasn't repaired (but that DON'T mean that the fort has no hp...a destroyed fort means only that the player can't build or research anything from that province)

[jacko667]

Thank you all for your information - now I will sally forth!!!

[Console_Cowboy]

crosses means those provinces were pillaged in the last 168 hours and a fort in flames means that the fort was destroyed during a siege and it wasn't repaired (but that DON'T mean that the fort has no hp...a destroyed fort means only that the player can't build or research anything from that province)

Radooo, may I make a suggestion on the description of destroyed fortress?     It would be clearer to describe a fortress in flames using the adjectives: breeched or sieged rather than to use an adjective that suggests destruction (annihilated, destroyed, burnt to charcoal, etc..).  Given the reality of game play, no IO player actualy sieges a "destroyed fortress."  It will take time before the new adjective for what is currently termed "destroyed fortress" becomes common useage but it would help if all mods made it a point to use the new adjective.
It's not my business to "correct English"  (me, correct English ) but another adjective in this case would certainly help all players envision and understand the game mechanics of a fortress in flames.

[Starbuck]

I have "damaged" fortress in my descriptions .... isn't it alright ?

... I mean, it can't be helped if some players want to assume that a fort with no standing army or "damaged", is going to open their gates when they arrive with their troops, even htough there are no mentions in the rules that a fort loses any hp because of the damages or that no defending army equals to cakewalk for the attacker .... actually, the manual specifically tells otherwise


have fun,

[Console_Cowboy]

I have "damaged" fortress in my descriptions .... isn't it alright ?

Yes, Starbuck. That's accurate.  I have to admit I am not a big reader of manuals etc. so I may have missed it.  My comment is general.  Others (I mean all posters) have repeatedly written destroyed fortress. It would be a good idea for the next few months if a mod jumped in to correct destroyed for damaged whenever the misnomer occurs.  A little thing perhaps but it can be caught and it will clear up much confusion IMHO. Cheers.

[Starbuck]

I agree it's confusing for beginners
the same when we talk about pillaging a player and pop pillaging ....

[Console_Cowboy]

I agree it's confusing for beginners
the same when we talk about pillaging a player and pop pillaging ....

Yes.  Pillaging is another loaded word - but at least it is enshrined in the IO vocabulary as an attack. I really have not been around long enough to have picked up on any other loaded words.