# Ikariam blockade guide



## twhincup (Apr 21, 2007)

Mortat and Paddle-WheelRam ships are the way to go and also a blockade guide:

Blockading Guide

Here it is as promised.

Blockading has a major flaw compared to ground combat because defenders have no advantage, but attackers cost out the nose on top of that.

I can't tell you how to defend better, because you can't. Sorry. Ships just suck.

BUT! Here's a step by step guide how to attack and blockade effectively.

Step 1) Send your big fleet for only 1 hour blockade.
You need to get there and get back as soon as possible. Your bankers will thank you.

Step 2) After you break a defending blockade, send a new blockade with fewer ships for 8 hours (or longer if they ever adjust it higher). Often times only two or three ships is enough to hold the blockade after a standing fleet is broken. If they reinforce at a later time, then just attack again.

Step 3) Plan your times.
This is the real key to attacks. PLAN PLAN PLAN!
First check how long your ground troops would take to land somewhere (go to the pillage attack screen as if you were actually attacking).

Step 4) After you know how long it takes to get there with your ground troops, send your fleet and keep an eye on their timer. If a ground force takes 2 hours to arrive, then wait until your fleet has around an hour until they arrive before you send your ground forces.

Warning 1) Be careful not to wait too long or your enemy could rebuild his fleet.
Warning 2) Be careful not to send your fleets too close together, otherwise the battle still could be going on when your ground troops arrive.


Step 5) Now that your fleets are moving and things are going places, good luck with it all. You'll need it to stand up to the mess of sea battles out there.

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Paddle-Wheel-Ram

Strengths - Wow. Look at those stats! This ship is your attack king. Use him in a good mixed fleet of flamers and ballistas when attacking an enemy port and you'll wipe them out fast.

Weaknesses - Higher costs again, worse upkeep based on those stats.

Speed - 8 (fast) WOOHOO! That's what I'm talkin' about! This is the biggest damage ship with a speed of 8 and is your best choice to ship out in mixed combat blockades.

Notes: Higher speed and higher stats, mixed with assult, and you can't go wrong on attack. Just don't train too many since their upkeep hurts a bit.


Kayi's Combat Score
Defensive use: * (1 star, now that you have Mortar Ships, you shouldn't put these on defense)
Offensive use: ***** (5 stars, high speed and high power, mixed combat is still key though, so use with caution)
Training cost: **** (4 stars, Much less sulfur, much more wood. It's a tradeoff, but worth it if used right.)
Upkeep costs: *** (3 stars, Bah, here's where this ship hurts. It's upkeep shoots through the roof for not being too strong. It gets 3 stars only because of it's speed becoming useful for attacks)
Overall: **** (4 stars)
Great attacker, good bonuses, but bad upkeep and suffers same problem of attacker turning into defender while blockading. Use in mixed combat, as always.

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Mortar Ship

Strengths - Here we go! The big boys! Biggest stats, relatively low upkeep. Get these bad boys for your defense as soon as possible.

Weaknesses - Higher cost to produce (though not that much higher relative to it's stats honestly), this ship's greatest flaw is it's speed...

Speed - 4 (slow) OUCH! At half the speed of flameships and ballistas, you just can't afford to use this ship for attacking anything more than a couple islands out. So sad...

Notes: Awesome ship, best in the game, but with a big penalty sadly.


Kayi's Combat Score
Defensive use: ***** (5 stars! Awesome defender, huge stats!)
Offensive use: * (1 star... It's speed just hurts too much)
Training cost: **** (4 stars. Although it's slightly worse on it's cost vs. stats ratio than some other ships, it's not bad enough to rate it poorly, and it's advantages are well worth it)
Upkeep costs: ***** (5 stars! BOYAH! This ship has the BEST stats for it's upkeep out of all ships, making it the king defender!)
Overall: ***** (5 stars!)
Yeah I just said above that no ship really deserves five stars becaue they all suck, but this ship is the one that breaks that pattern. Keeping a few of these in port will balance out against anything but the biggest attacks. Unfortunately, no wall bonuses means that they'll often be wiped out anyhow.
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## JamesGarner (Jan 29, 2007)

i thought different ships had defence or attack bonuses

cant remember exactly wich ships do what but 
Im sure flame ships have a bonus whilst they are attacking but once as they have won the battle and just sit blockading they lose there bonus as they are defending
even if sombody else sends flames to free the port they will bonus as they are attacking and your flames are defending so lose there bonus

so your better to send attack bonus ships to destroy the local fleet 
and time a second wave of defence bonus ships to sit and block the port
if you can be bothered mind i tend to use a mix of ships and just 1 wave


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