Game Info: Inventory and Resources
Page last updated on 2011 / 02 / 08The Inventory Screen
The inventory screen will quickly inform you how much you have of each resource across the whole of your kingdom. It includes goods sitting in warehouses, being transported, or sitting at a construction site. It's important to note the last one...I found myself upgrading roads and wondering why it was taking forever to build a stronghold. It turns out that upgrading roads will take stone from wherever it is in your kingdom, even if it's already assigned to a building site.
This screen is essential for forward planning. If you're looking to build an army and conquer new territories, you're either going to need a lot of beer to turn into gold, or lots of gold and weapons at a minimum to recruit more of an army from the stronghold. If you want to build musketmen, then you'll also need coal. For horsemen you will need horses in your inventory and finally, for cannon you will need wheels.
If you find that a particular resource is building up, depending on the resource you may want to take a course of action to get rid of the surplus. It's all fine and well having 'extra', but the extra brings you no benefit until it is used.
To get a better understanding of where resources are used, check out the Building types tutorial.
Logs
- Required by the blacksmith, coking plant, paper mill, sawmill, toolmaker and wheelwright
- Do you have enough tools, or a toolmaker at all? Getting a toolmaker early on is essential.
- If you are in the early stages of the game, and have not upgraded your church yet, you could plan ahead and create a paper mill to create books for future clerics. This may enable you to churn out research quicker than your opponents.
- If you are short on planks of wood, create another sawmill to make use of the excess logs, or if you anticipate a mass building spree when conquering some more sectors. This is particularly the case if you have around ~10 planks of wood and want to build or upgrade fortifications, the stronghold, church or trade office.
- If you are short on coal, consider creating a coking plant, which requires 3 logs to generate 1 coal, and will quickly gobble up your excess logs
- You can never be short of weapons. After the game beginning, where you have likely bought some soldiers at the tavern for an expensive 3/4 gold a pop, you will want the stronghold to generate your soldiers. The blacksmith is required to create all new units, so consider creating more blacksmiths, or a wheelwright or two if you intend to make cannon.
Wood
- Wood planks are exclusively used for creating new buildings and upgrading existing ones.
- Consider adding wooden fortifications to sectors that you do not already have fortifications in, particularly on your frontiers.
- Possibly destroy one of your sawmills so that there are more logs for buildings that consume logs. An added side benefit is that this may create more room for more urgent buildings that are desirable in a particular area. Otherwise, if space is not a factor, turn your sawmill work rate to idle or on demand so that logs are directed to other buildings that may have a supply shortage.
Stone
- Stone is required to create and upgrade some buildings and is also used to upgrade roads.
- If you have not yet created a stronghold, church or trade office, and also have enough wood, consider creating one while you have the surplus. This means later on in the game you do not have downtime when you have the requirement for one.
- Upgrade your roads! Upgrading roads greatly increases the speed at which settlers can transport goods across them. Look at your overall map and see where the most transport is occurring, particularly around storehouses. Also consider buildings that are lacking a particular material, and what direction their material comes from and upgrade the route between them so that the lacked material can be transported quicker.
Coal
- Coal is required by the iron smelter and mint, which in turn make iron and weapons, essential for the creation of soldiers. Coal is also required to create musketmen.
- Because coal is required eventually to make soldiers, you can never have enough. Even if you have four generals with full armies of 35 each, you may inflict losses and quickly need replacements. Consider creating more mints or iron smelters & blacksmiths (if you have enough gold and iron ore respectively) to hoover up the surplus and create more end products that are used to create soldiers.
Iron Ore
- Iron ore is purely required by the iron smelter in order to make iron ore.
- Iron ore tends to be in short supply, though if you find you have more than enough (i.e. not enough coal for the iron smelter to make full use of the iron), consider turning some of your iron miners into geologists, who will return stone instead of iron, handy if you have a shortage of stone.
Iron
- Iron is required by the blacksmith, goldsmith, wheelwright and toolmaker.
- Early on in the game, you will need to have a steady supply of iron to make tools at the toolmaker, in order to continue a rapid expansion. Settlers, tools, wood and stone are all needed to continue a quick expansion.
- When you have enough tools, you will want to focus on making weapons at the blacksmith and perhaps send some iron to the goldsmith, in order to fund new units at the stronghold. Lacking a stronghold, gold from the goldsmith can be used at the tavern.
Gold
- Gold is required by the mint and the jewellery
- You will almost exclusively use your gold reserves to create troops, and thus will send most of your gold to the mint to create gold coins, which in turn are used to create soldiers.
- The jeweller will make jewellery that can be used to create father clerics and can also be traded for gold by default.
Gold Coins
- Gold is required to train soldiers and can be used for a variety of trading options.
- Because gold is required by all soldiers and is a flexible trading resource, having lots of gold is always a good thing. Having more gold than your opponents can also result in a victory point.
Wheat
- Wheat is required by piggeries, windmills, breweries and stables
- Windmills and breweries require 1x wheat, piggeries require 2x wheat while stables require 3x wheat
- Ensure that you create enough wheat in order for your piggeries, windmills, breweries and stables to be operating at full efficiency. If you have a surplus consider:
- Making more windmills and piggeries if you are short of plain or fancy food.
- Making more breweries if you lack enough beer to train clerics. Beer can also be traded for gold at the tavern.
- Making more stables to create horses for your cavalry units. Remember that stables require 3x wheat, so any surplus of wheat may disappear quickly.
Flour
- Flour is required by bakeries to make simple foodstuff
- Build more bakeries to make use of your surplus flour. If you already have a large enough supply of plain food, consider knocking down some of your windmills to free up wheat, tools and space.
Bread
- A form of simple food that is required by noble residence
Fish
- A form of simple food that is required by noble residence
Animal
- Required by the butcher in order to create meat, a "fancy" food
Meat
- A "fancy" food created by the butcher
Horse
- Required to create cavalry at the stronghold
Water
- Required by breweries, piggeries and shepherds, and is made available by creating a well
Beer
- Required by the church in order to create novice clerics
Paper
- Required by the bookbinder to make books
Books
- Required by the church in order to create brother and father clerics
Wool
- Required by the weaving mill in order to create cloth
Cloth
- Required by the tailor in order to create garment
Garment
- Required to create traders and by default can be traded for gold
Jewellery
- Required by the church in order to create father clerics
Weapons
- Required to create any form of soldier from the stronghold
Wheel
- Required to create cannon at the stronghold
Tools
- Required by all buildings that house a settler and output produce, in order for the produce to be made
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