Ghost Towns

What is a Ghost Town?

On the map, ghost towns (or abandoned cities) are represented with a gray banner. The term 'Ghosts' refers to the process by which a player's city is made into a ghost town.

A ghost town can be created in a number of ways, but the core cause is that they player who owned the city has left the world. In a bit more detail though...

• The player has not logged in for *at least* 15 days and did not have Vacation Mode activated.
  • If a player is banned, this is essentially what happens. They are unable to log in and so their account ghosts.
• The player chose to delete his account on that world.
• The player restarted on that world.

Note: If you have active gold in your account, it will delay the process. However your account will still eventually Ghost.

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When a city turns into a Ghost town, it is in the same condition as it was prior to ghosting. I.e. building levels, troop numbers and researches are all the same. However, they begin to lose points day by day as each day a building loses a level (this process is random). The troop number will slowly decrease over time due to some being killed by falling rubble as buildings collapse due to the lack of anyone to maintain them.

Attacking Ghost Towns

These cities can be attacked just like any other city. They continue to produce resources (however the rate at which they do so will decrease as the production buildings slowly lose points). You are also able to conquer ghost towns just like any other city. Though you should remember that, as mentioned above, these cities will most likely be protected by the units that were in it prior to ghosting- however it is possible that it had no units in it or that another player has already attacked it and killed all of the units there. However it is still recommended to spy the ghost towns.

Things to Note

• Unlike a normal city, it is impossible to cast a spell on a ghost town.
• In Revolt worlds, you do not need to have placed the city in revolt in order to take it, you can simply send the colony ship.
  • You do not need to have Revolt researched in the academy.
  • In Conquest world you DO need to have conquest researched however.

Supporting Ghost Towns

You are still be able to support a ghost town, but be aware that as the ghost towns disintegrate and fall into ruins- Your troops stationed in them could find themselves trapped in the rubble of buildings and will therefore be lost. A report will be sent with your losses. It will appear in your inbox with the title: Some of your troops in City X are buried under the rubble of a collapsed building. If the city completely disintegrates, all of your units stationed there will be lost. You also do not receive any battle points for supporting ghost towns, so be careful about leaving your troops there.

• Note: Ships are just as vulnerable to this as land units.

Pros and Cons

Pros are in Blue.
Cons are in Red.

... of attacking/conquering Ghost Towns

Attacking:

• Units stationed in Ghost Towns are effectively free BP. You can attack and destroy the units in them and not have to worry about being attacked for doing so.
• Free resources!
• People often support Ghost Towns, you may log on one morning to find that your little farming army has been destroyed.
• If the wall is at a high level, the resources that you are receiving may not cover the cost of the units that you lost to the wall (depending on how many you send obviously).

Conquering:

• They are easy to conquer as, unless someone else is also going for the city, you shouldn't face any resistance.
• On revolt worlds you do not need to have researched 'Revolt'. This saves time and resources :)
  • You also conquer the city as soon as the CS arrives, meaning that you can gain cities very quickly if you have the culture points and there are some big Ghost Towns around you.
• If it is a large Ghost Town that you are thinking of conquering, it is highly likely that someone else has the same idea. They may boost the defence in the city while they get ready to take it themselves. Spy the city more then once to see if troop levels change.
• If the city has less then full resources then someone else may be using the city as a farm, make sure you send a large defence with the CS (especially on conquest worlds) or risk getting it destroyed by someone's farming raid.

...of Supporting Ghost Towns

• Ghost towns are very useful when you are trying to hide units.
• Stationing a trip wire (a small force of maybe just 5 swordsmen and 2 biremes) in ghost towns is very helpful. You can see if someone is regularly attacking the city and then send more support to the city in order to destroy their farming army (or even CS if you're lucky).
• Obviously if you want to take the city, then supporting it and stopping other people from doing so is always good.

• You may log in one morning to find that a building has collapsed and killed some of your men.
• If you are hiding units there, you may log in to find that your army has been destroyed by someone who is trying to clear it to take the city.
• You do not receive BP from supporting Ghost Towns.