Streamlining Resources news - Hyrule Conquest mod for 0 A.D. Empires Ascendant

An element of feedback that we have received over the last several years is that "there are too many resources" in Hyrule Conquest. To some degree this is true: 0AD's resource structure is based on the Age of Empires paradigm of techtrees. Hyrule Conquest has shifted dramatically away from Age of Empires and plays much more like the Battle for Middle Earth now. To address this issue, we've discussed what exactly should be done about the resources over the last few months. While other members of the team have been pretty confident on what route to take, I personally agonized over what to do before finally coming to a decision.

As with many of the gameplay decisions made over the last several years, we have decided to go the Battle for Middle Earth route and combine all four resources into a single resource, represented as Rupees. In-universe this is explained as each faction selling their resources as they are gathered, allowing their governments (the player) to spend the earned money on hiring units or construction projects.

Despite the fact there is only one resource the player directly interacts with, that does not mean there is only a single place to gather it. Berries, Fish, Trees, Stone, Rock Sirloin, Farms; none of these are going away and instead each specific source will generate Rupees in different ways and at different rates. For most factions in the game there are three general ways to create resources:

Farms: Farms are the most reliable way to generate income. Farms will never deplete, however they generate Rupees very, very slowly. Unless you are able to amass many farms, they should be treated as a supplementary income. Most factions have farms or some equivelant.

Lumber Camps: Lumber Camps generate resources faster than any other, however the wood of trees depletes very fast. Setting up a Lumber Camp on a Lumber Node will result in a short but large burst of resources. Not all factions can build Lumber Camps.

Mines: Mines generate resources at a rate between Farms and Lumber Camps, granting you a steady income. While they last longer than lumber, they will eventually drain of resources. Not all factions can build Mines.

There are numerous other variations of these three resources, such as Berry Bushes, and every faction interacts with all of them in different ways. In addition, different factions will also have unique structures to contribute to resource generation (as they currently do in Hyrule Conquest, such as the Lanayru Bank).

In addition to Rupees, Gold Skulltulas will also become a resource of sorts. This is a feature that probably won't be completely implimented until further down the road, so in the next few releases you'll just have to stare at the golden spider wondering what it will be used for in the meantime.