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There are many different types of resources scattered throughout the mainland map. Some are quite common, such as Fresh Water and Fertile Soil, while others are exceedingly rare. Each of these resources confers a bonus to one or more stats for the nation that occupies the resource’s land square. The stats that can be boosted by resources include the combat stats (Tech, Bio and Psi) as well as Energy Generation Rate, Manpower Generation Rate, and Experience Multiplier. To see information about a particular resource, click (or tap) it and select its name (followed by the (i) info icon) from the menu.

The stat bonuses granted by each type of resource grow as a nation progresses further east on the mainland map. While a Unique Ecosystem resource on the west side of the map may only boost the Bio stat by 3, Unique Ecosystems may be found on the east side of the mainland that boost Bio by up to 12.

Though resources can only be found on the mainland map, the stat bonuses they give your nation will apply when defending your home island, and raiding other nations’ home islands, as well.

A nation’s Geographic Efficiency has a crucial impact on how fully a nation is able to benefit from the resources that it captures. To gain the full resource bonuses, a nation must have Geographic Efficiency of 100%. If the nation’s Geo is, say, only 40%, then the nation will gain only 40% of the stat bonuses from each resource they possess.

For each of the stats that can be boosted by resources, you can view how much of a bonus you are gaining from resources any time by clicking (or tapping) on that stat’s line under the Stats tab of the Nation panel. The “Resources” column will show how much of an increase is due to resources; if low Geographic Efficiency is preventing your nation from receiving the full bonuses from its resources, the column header will read, for example, “Res x 40%”.

Tech stat info showing resource bonus and the effect of geo efficiency

Resource strategy is what can make the difference between a good nation and a great nation. While it’s tempting to capture every resource you find, ultimately you’ll want to be choosy about which resources you hold, and which stats you are seeking to max out using resources. There are two reasons for this.

The first reason is that most resources a nation holds will require one or a few land squares, separated from all of the nation’s other territories. Too many of these small, scattered territories will lower a nation’s Geographic Efficiency, which will cut down the stat bonuses being received from all resources, and also cause defensive structures to become inert.

The second reason is that each stat can only be boosted by, at most, +200% before an hourly manpower cost is incurred for processing the extra resources. The further a single stat is raised by resources above +200%, the greater the manpower cost grows, exponentially — so, for example, it’s much more practical to raise five stats by +220% each than to raise one stat by +300%. Balancing the manpower cost, which will decrease the nation’s capacity to attack, against the resource bonuses gained becomes a strategic decision. In the extreme, if excess resource bonuses result in so high of a manpower cost that a nation’s manpower reaches zero, then the nation’s Hit Points per Square will also decrease, as the nation will no longer have the manpower to defend its territories.

An overview of all the resources occupied by a nation can be found under the Resources tab on the Nation Panel. For each resource type, the number of resources of that type that the nation owns is shown, as well as the total bonus for each of the six stats that can be boosted by resources. Click (or tap) on the plus symbol [+] beside the name of the resource type to open a list of all of the resource locations of that type that the nation occupies. For each resource location, the map coordinates are shown along with the bonuses of each type that this resource location confers. Click (or tap) on any of these lines to move the map view to that resource location. The panel will also display, at the bottom, any manpower penalties that are incurred for using resources to boost any stats by more than +200%. This panel can be very useful for keeping track of resources, evaluating manpower costs, and deciding which resources to keep and which to evacuate.

The Nation panel’s Resources tab

Next: Leveling Up and Choosing Advances

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