Ikariam Auto Build Guide

Auto Build manages a per-city construction queue. It can upgrade an existing building, construct a new building on an empty position, request missing materials from other cities, and queue a colony on a scanned island.

Select the city at the top of the feature before editing its queue. Building positions and levels come from the extension’s refreshed city cache.

Upgrade Existing

Choose an occupied building position and set its target level. The queue item remains active until that building reaches the target or you remove the item.

The task validates the current position again before building. This prevents a stale label from upgrading a different building after city state changes. Active construction, missing prerequisites, insufficient stock, or a completed target will change how the queue item is handled.

Construct New

Choose an empty position and the building to construct. The position must still be empty and compatible when the task executes. Research requirements, special slots, current construction, and server rules remain authoritative.

New construction and upgrade targets share the selected city’s main build queue. Keep the queue ordered according to the prerequisites you expect to complete.

Resource Supply

Enable Resource Supply when Auto Build should request missing construction materials from other owned cities. The task calculates the build cost from live city data, subtracts stock already present in the destination, and plans shipments only for the remaining shortage.

Configuration includes:

preferred provider cities;
per-provider minimum reserves for wood, wine, marble, crystal, and sulfur;
whether preferred providers should be tried first;
optional rounded shipment amounts; and
whether partial supply shipments are allowed.

Provider reserves prevent the planner from intentionally shipping stock below the configured minimum. Transporter capacity, travel time, and active shipments can still reduce or delay a transfer.

When partial shipments are disabled, the task waits until the missing requirement can be satisfied by the available plan. When enabled, it may send useful available stock and re-evaluate the remaining shortage after arrival.

The Supply Status panel reports required resources, missing resources, the current phase, the latest reason, and in-flight shipments with arrival countdowns.

New Colony

Colonization is an independently switchable subtask. It uses island records collected by Islands:

Scan the intended region.
Confirm a cached island reports a free slot.
Select the origin city in Auto Build.
Open New Colony and enable its switch.
Select the target island and queue the order.

Free slots can change after a scan. The task refreshes relevant state, but you should still verify an important target in Ikariam.

Queue and Next Check Behavior

The main build queue is shown for the selected city. Colonization has its own queue and schedule. Remove any order whose target is no longer wanted.

Auto Build schedules from server construction and shipment timing when available. A Next check countdown represents the earliest planned re-evaluation. Clearing it makes the task check sooner but does not finish construction or transport instantly.

Recommended Setup

Add one target level or new building.
Verify the exact position and target city.
Configure provider reserves before enabling Resource Supply.
Prefer a small provider set while testing.
Enable partial shipments only if incremental delivery fits your plan.
Re-scan islands before a time-sensitive colony order.

For general city-to-city movement, use Resources. City production and donation controls are described in Cities.

FAQ

Can Auto Build transfer resources from other cities?

Yes. Resource Supply can calculate a construction shortage and plan shipments from enabled provider cities while respecting each provider’s configured minimum reserves.

Why is a queued building not starting?

Check active construction, resource cost, prerequisites, position state, provider shipments, and the task log. A queue entry represents a target, not a guarantee that the current server state permits it immediately.

Does a cached free island slot guarantee colonization?

No. Island occupancy can change after scanning. The server makes the final decision when the colony request is submitted.