Whether you plan to focus on combat or the campaign map, resources are going to be integral to success in Conqueror’s Blade. Without the likes of wood, leather and iron you won’t be able to arm your troops, build siege weapons or evolve your settlements towards raising new and larger armies.
Sure, if you’ve amassed a vast income, you may be able to acquire everything you need from the market, but for most that will be an option for when times are desperate. To win battles, you must also win at logistics, which means having access to the right resources at the right time and in the right amounts. Towards that, knowing what the various resources do, where they can be found and how to acquire them is essential.
It helps to know that there are broadly three types of resource, Basic, Exotic and Materials, although there are some subtypes within each that are worth distinguishing, which we’ll get to later
By and large, Basic and Exotic resources can be found in one of eight types of resource site found throughout the world. Simply visit a site that has what you need, hand over the requisite currency or Extraction Token, then, once extraction is complete, you can transfer your new resources to your wagon or caravan. Next, you simply escort your goods to market or store them for when you need to process them into Materials - which are the refined resources used in personal and unit items and equipment, siege weapons and construction and building upgrades.
Basic Resources
These resources are available across all parts of the world and are essential to the creation of all basic Materials. There are eight categories of basic resource: Food (from Farms), Horses (from Paddocks and Stables), Timber (from Logging Camps), Animal Hides (from Tanneries), Cotton (from Cotton Fields), Iron Ore (Iron Mines), Copper Ore (Copper Mines) and Stone (from Quarries).
Each resource category is further divided into four ranks or tiers (Common, Uncommon, Rare and Epic), with the fundamental difference between them that fewer quantities of an Epic resource (e.g. Cedar, from a Cedar Logging Camp) is required in the creation of a Material compared to a Common resource variety (such as Pine, from a Pine Logging Camp).
Exotic Resources
Exotic resources are required in small but significant quantities to improve the quality level of a refined Material. For example, only Basic resources are needed to fashion Common materials, while a single Exotic item - in addition to Basic resources - is needed for Uncommon materials (and two Exotics for a Rare material, etc).
While many Exotic resources can be found across all regions, some are only available in one or two regions. Also, unlike Basic resources, which are harvested in specific amounts, there is no guarantee that any Exotic resources will be found during an extraction cycle. However, Exotic resources are not limited to specific extraction sites. For example, while Cedar lumber can only be harvested from a Cedar Logging Camp, Exotic lumbers such as Larch can potentially be found at any of the four varieties of logging site. (Though also in the case of Larch, so long as they’re located in Maoyang or Liangyun.)
Materials
Materials are essentially production resources. They are refined from Basic and Exotic resources, to be used in the creation of personal and unit equipment, siege weaponry and construction.
As with their namesake Basic resource groups, each Material is classified by its rank (Common, Uncommon, Rare and Epic), which is generally determined by the ratio of Basic to Exotic resources required to create it. For example, “common” Seasoned Wood requires only Basic resources (Pine, Cedar, etc), while “rare” and “epic” Wood will require some additional Exotic wood resources, such as Larch lumber.
It’s worth noting that Materials produced purely from Basic resources (which is to say Common Materials) cannot be used in the production of personal (Warlord) items. In order to craft high-grade hero items, it will be necessary to have access to what are called “Player Resources”, which are created from the dismantling of personal items. Treasure, a type of Exotic resource that includes Amber (from Logging Camps), Garnet (from Iron Mines), Moonstone (Quarries), Silk (Cotton Fields), Musk (Tanneries) and Moonstone (Quarries), though primarily a sale resource, may factor into personal item production at a later date.
Salvage
Classified as a Player resource to distinguish it from resources from the various resource sites, this is a small group of production resources that are created when an inventory item is no longer required and is broken down rather than sold. Player resources can them be taken to NPC crafters and used in the creation of new Warlord and personal mount items and equipment. As with other resource types, “salvage” comes in Common, Uncommon, Rare and Epic variants.
To be continued…
Because the resource system was still being adapted at time of writing, we’ll be following up this guide closer to release with a detailed look at the all the resource types, where they can be found and in what quantities they are needed to create specific Materials. We’ll also be detailing all the NPC types and how they facilitate the refining and production process.
