Resource management

For the upcoming new season not only have we done major visual and game mechanical updates, we have also spent a lot of time looking at the balance and pacing of the game. The heart and core of the game is all about resources, it is what drives almost everything else in the game. Getting resources right, therefore, plays an important part in getting the flow and feel right.

But it's also important for how we envision the shape of the gameplay to be. How large could armies become? How quickly can a player replenish their army if it is destroyed? How often can a player full send Kontor-voyages, claim territory, sustain territory and so on. Getting the resource producers right and designing rewarding resource sinks that counter balance that is at the core of a good strategy game. You want there to be someplace to spend all those resources that you have so carefully acquired.

For us this means looking at spreadsheets, looking at resource flows and finding a standard producer as a comparison point. In this case the base point is wheat and approximate wheat per unit on a per labor basis.

As an example, if we ignore outposts, planks generate at a small rate from a lumbermill at level 6 and above. The wheat per unit value for planks sits at 33,3. That means everything else equal a farm generate 33,3 wheat per 1 planks generated from a lumbermill. This becomes an interesting number for tuning supply / demand.

Another interesting number to look at is resource chain throughput. Imperia works on a tiered resource system, with basic resources at the bottom (lumber, wheat, stone etc), refined resources (planks etc), advanced/industrial resource and luxury resources.

This forms a kind of a resource pyramid with the luxury resources at the top. Each fine linen or stained glass (luxury) in practice costs hundreds or thousands of basic resources through the entire resource chain.

If you have ever played factorio or satisfactory you should recognize the pattern.

This pyramid, or funnel, then also fuels other aspects in the game, like combat or foreign trades. So what should be a reasonable throughput at village, hub and city tier? What if an alliance or group of friends decide to pool resources? There is a lot of interesting design space and also potential for "cleaver use of mechanics" but also for exploits. Getting it right is a never ending task.

The next season of Imperia Borealis is a bit over a week away from release. If you would like to check it out, head on over to Imperia Borealis and play for free today.