Resources

Resources are your fundamental need in Iron Rage. Anything you want to do in the game -- construct buildings, hire troops, fight battles, research technology, train troops, etc. -- requires some amount of resources.

There are five basic types of resources: Steel, Fuel, Ammunition, Ionites, and Recruits. These are produced by the corresponding buildings in your base -- your foundry, oil rig, armory, ionite mine, and quarters, respectively.

Steel is the most important resource for building your base, and is produced at a foundry. (Despite the name of the game, it's steel, not iron, that will be your key!) Steel is required for all construction and upgrading of buildings, so you will need a consistent supply of steel for that. All troops require at least some steel to hire as well. As a result, you will almost always find yourself needing more steel, so make sure to construct as many foundries as you can and keep them upgraded.

Fuel is also a resource you will frequently find yourself in need of, and is produced by an oil rig. Most buildings also require significant amounts of Fuel to construct or upgrade (although there are a few exceptions). Fuel is also required for all combat operations, so if you want to actually fight some battles, you'll need plenty of fuel to keep going.

Ammunition is a little less critical than the above two, but it's still used in plenty of things. It is produced at your armory. You'll need ammunition to hire and train troops, as well as to build artillery and resonators. The demand for this resource varies a lot over the course of the game -- there will be times when you'll have more ammunition than you know what to do with, and times when you'll be running annoyingly short.

Ionites are a mysterious mineral which are apparently highly explosive, as you'll need them for things that go boom (artillery, resonators, etc.). Ionites are found by your ionite mine. Ionites are also required to conduct scientific research at the Academy, although there typically your limiting factor is research points, so like ammunition, you'll often find yourself with gluts of ionite at parts of the game.

Recruits are the last of the basic resources, and are produced in your quarters. As you can guess, they are heavily used in troop hiring and training, as well as constructing flywheels for some reason (probably better not to think about this too much). In the early game you'll usually find yourself with way too many recruits and not enough to do with them, but because the quarters have a significantly lower maximum level than the other resource buildings, you may have a hard time keeping up with demand in the later game.

In addition to the five basic resources, there is one premium resource, gold. Gold cannot be produced in your base, but normally must be purchased with cash or Kreds. There are many ways to earn gold for free in the game, however, such as from daily rewards, level 10 taxes in the command center, completing achievements, or completing some missions; some gold can also be recovered from your treasury. Gold can be used for a wide variety of tasks -- it can be used to speed up construction, training, or research; it can be traded for other resources; and it can be used to purchase special units or chests. In addition, there are a few things which can only be bought with gold, including skins, equipment for heroes, and some upgrades at the design bureau.

There are two other components which could be considered resources, resonators and flywheels. These are produced from the basic resources by specific buildings -- the arsenal makes resonators out of ionites and ammunition, and the assembly workshop makes flywheels out of steel and recruits. They are used for various advanced upgrades.

Finally, keys and city plans are also important resources, although they cannot be directly produced and must be obtained by other means. Keys are used to open reward chests, while city plans are used to unlock new areas in your main base.