MICHAEL13000, Ingame news about maintenance are always posted in the time needed with a time corridor for you to be able to hide your troops. 

At the same time we always warn players at the forum in advance about such cases, here is the link to the post we made this time - http://forum.plarium.com/en/sparta-war-of-empires/news-and-announcements/topics/maintenance--2/ 

Would it be possible to add something in the game that would indicate when a fellow Coalition Member / Friend was online?

Perhaps in the bar at the lower of the screen. I see that friends have a blue surround if they are Summoned as a Hero, could they get a Green Surround if they are currently online?

This would make Coalition activity easier to co-ordinate and add to the group play of the game.

Hello Archon,

You can get this kind of information from your embassy, at least for your coalition members. :)

Archons, this thread was created for suggestions and ideas regarding our forum and website. If you want to share your ideas for the game, please use another topic.