Where does all the excess Resource go?

[Autochthon]

Greetings,

Forgive me if i'm forgetting the obvious, but I was wondering about something...

If Resource is not fully spent on units in a turn, are they wasted? If so, that doesn't seem right. Resource is already handicapped enough in that it's nowhere near as liquid a form of capital as gold.

In most economic models, "hard" capital like Resource is usually stockpiled, re-invested into the local economy or converted into a more liquid form of capital via trade. Like Alchemy, it isn't an efficient exchange, but it's better than being wasted.

Am I missing something here? Maybe it's a game balance issue.

[Zylithan]

Some of resource is raw materials, but some of it is human capacity. For example, your ironsmith can only make so much armor in a month, etc... That can't be stored up (well, I suppose one could say that you could stockpile empty armor suits, but... you'd have to pay for them ahead of time with gold...)

Resources prevent you from instantly raising huge armies from nonfortified provinces.. which sort of makes sense?

I think that is the role-playing answer, and that your guess that it is a game balance issue is also very true.

[Sombre]

I like resources the way they are now, basically, though I think there should be more nations that use the MA ulmish resource bonus in forts, just to a lesser extent.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Well, practically every game that allows you to convert production (resources) into gold also allows you to increase your production and invest into your production.

As Dominions 3 really doesn't have any city infrastructure, you never invest money into resources- so why should the reverse be true?

This has been an episode of random bull by lazy p. This post does not represent the opinions of the broadcasters, advertisers, game developers, or the poster himself. This post is not valid in California, China, or where otherwise prohibited by law. Drink responsibly.

[IndyPendant]

I do wish there were a way in the game to use up resource remains. For example, if you have 20 resources in a non-castle province, but want to build a 43-resource leader, you're SOL without a castle. Would be nice if you could build it in three turns (20 + 20 + 3). Or have a stack of units, where there are 15 resources free. The last unit costs 26 resources, so next turn it uses up 11 to complete building the unit...

[atul]

You can build a commander in a province with less resources, just like you described. Only the display of "resources left" is bugged in that case, the commander will be built when the resources have accumulated.

[Aezeal]

I think resource can best be seen as labour too

[Autochthon]

Sure, but even labour can be rerouted into less efficient but still useful means.

For example, if the forklift operators in a warehouse don't have any product to move, then they can be redirected into doing inventory and cleaning, which helps them take care of future influx of work.

A smith with no orders for arms and armour can still beat swords into plowshares, which would contribute to the local economy. Or he could prepare more blanks and semifinished pieces in anticipation for future orders. Or go home and fix the roof for the wife (Reduce Unrest )

In all cases, labor is redirected to less productive but still useful means. And we still haven't gotten into the issue of trade...

I think it's an interesting idea to debate, particularly since I think Resource is gimped enough by being non-portable (can't use Resource outside of the Province) vs. Gold.

[IndyPendant]

atul said:
You can build a commander in a province with less resources, just like you described. Only the display of "resources left" is bugged in that case, the commander will be built when the resources have accumulated.

Heh. Learned yet another new thing here. I just saw that regular units didn't 'carry over' their resources, and assumed that applied to leaders as well. Good to know, thanks!

[Arralen]

@ IndyPendant
Read up "Recruitment: restrictions" in your manual. (p. 59 in the first edition, maybe 61 in the 2nd)
I hope you have one ...

@ Autochthon
Ressources are meant to reflect the econ capacity of a province in very general terms - tools, workforce, raw materials, but also time used to make things and grow up things (like recruits and mounts). Obviously, you cannot run your economy on more than 100% capacity.

The impossiblity to turn e.g. surplus ressources into gold was a deliberate design decision: There is no and will never be an extended econ simulation in Dom3 - the game is about fighting, not building. (That's why there are no additional buildings for towns, etc). Placement of castles, labs and temples is part of the strategical (fighting) decisions, not some poor attempt of econ simulation.
Furthermore, ressource are meant to be the cap for local (provincial) production: You can't levy any numbers of troops from a province in a given time (month!), no matter how much gold you have.

For the same reason, there's no trade - gold revenue from trade (tax) is "inherent" in population.

And you're wrong about ressources not being usable outside of a province: Build a castle next to it and use 50% of it's ressources in the neigbouring province. (What actually simulates some local trade going on, btw. ...)

It's IMNSHO a design error that most (mid-late game) units only cost negligible to no ressources (mages,summons), as this basically renders the whole ressources thing moot, for some nations even right from the start. What you can tell from the fact that "Sloth" is a good scale choice for most nations, what it shouldn't be.
E.g. mages should cost a fortune not only in gold but also in ressources - not because they need that much plate armors, but because of the infrastructure and the consumables you have to spend to "raise" only a single one of them (mage schools, universities, libraries, the whole paper industry, all those tailors making fancy -and costly- robes instead of workwear for your working classes ...) Don't think this is going to change unless someone does a Mega-Mod ..

Another design error is the fact that ressources are actually only an indicator for the availability of raw materials, especially iron and lumber: they are heavily dependand on the terrain -you get only get them in woods and mountains, but not in highly populated grasslands- .. so there's no sign of "workforce simulation" to be seen. Anyhow, I think it should cost lots of fire and construction wood to "grow up" a mage ...