The world has 126 distinct resources across 5 tiers. Every resource has a complete chain from a tile on the map to a final consumer — building, unit, equipment, or city need.
Single source of truth. The full chain catalog lives in
docs/design/resource_chain.md(33K). This page summarizes the structure; for the complete entry per resource (extractor / refiner / consumer / tier), refer to the source.
Map (tile + biome)
↓
Extractor (Farm, Mine, Lumber Camp, Fishery, etc.)
↓
Refiner (Sawmill, Forge, Granary, Loom, etc.) [optional, depending on resource tier]
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Consumer (Building, Unit recruitment, Equipment crafting, City need)
Each resource has at least one chain; some have multiple alternative chains.
| Tier | Examples | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — Raw / Base | Grain, Timber, Stone, Iron Ore, Fish, Cattle, Clay, Pine Timber | Direct food/manpower; raw input for refining. |
| Tier 2 — Refined / Processed | Bread, Planks, Bricks, Iron Tools, Linen, Leather, Bronze | Construction goods + direct unit equipment. |
| Tier 3 — Specialized / Crafted | Mail, Crossbows, Silk Cloth, Lacquerware, Glass, Engineering parts | Mid-tier equipment + civic goods. |
| Tier 4 — Luxury / Strategic | Pearls, Frankincense, Tea, Cacao, Jade, Featherwork, Wampum | Happiness + diplomatic leverage. |
| Tier 5 — Wonder / Divine | Gold filigree, Sacred wood, Ritual vessels, Avatar-tier inputs | Wonder construction + Avatar summoning. |
Each culture has a list of native resources (produced cheaply / efficiently at home) and imported resources (must be traded in). See cultures for per-culture native + import lists.
This asymmetry is the root of the trade economy. No culture is self-sufficient.
Plains tile (with grain biome)
→ Farm (extractor)
→ Granary (storage)
→ Bakery (refiner)
→ Bread (output)
→ consumed by: City food need (population growth + morale)
Forest tile (boreal/temperate)
→ Lumber Camp (extractor)
→ Sawmill (refiner — Planks)
→ Boat Shed (refiner — Hull frame)
→ Shipwright Guild (refiner — Longship)
→ Longship (output)
→ consumed by: Naval unit recruitment
Mountain tile / hill tile
→ Mine (extractor)
→ Bloomery Furnace (refiner — Iron ingots)
→ Forge (refiner — Iron tools / Mail armor)
→ Mail Armor (output)
→ consumed by: Heavy infantry equipment
Hill / monsoon-plain tile
→ Mulberry Grove (extractor — leaves)
→ Silkworm House (refiner — silk thread)
→ Loom (refiner — silk cloth)
→ Silk Hall (refiner — silk garment, Jade Lotus signature)
→ Silk Garment (output)
→ consumed by: Luxury trade + happiness + diplomatic favor
Grassland tile
→ Pasture (extractor — live cattle)
→ Granary / Cattle Kraal (storage)
→ Bakery + Tannery + Stable (refiners)
→ Meat (food)
→ Leather (equipment)
→ Draft cattle (construction speed)
→ Multiple consumers: City food + equipment chain + construction labor
Climate stress modifies chain throughput:
See climate.
Each culture is biased toward certain chains:
See per-culture pages for the full lists and chain-by-chain detail.
In end-times (see world collapse), Tier-1 resources deplete faster. A heavily-extracted tile becomes plain.
Source: resource_chain.md (33K, canonical Map → Consumer for all 126 resources), economy_resources.md (31K, per-tier listings), cultures.md (per-culture native + imports).