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Date |
: Nov 22nd, 2001 |
| Genre |
: Strategy |
| Developer |
: Nival Interactive |
| Author |
: Jin-Ning Tioh |
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Before all the ass-kicking and battle cries however, resources must be obtained. Resources can be used to support heroes, buy new spells and purchase runes. Eight types of resources are available. Seven types are accumulative - Obtained amounts are added to your supplies. This include plants such as the Black Lotus and Mandrake Root, rare resources such as the Bloody Ruby, Poison Emerald, Star Sapphire, Smoke Diamond and the much sought after Frozen Flame. Plants grow in gardens and minerals are extracted from mines. When a garden or a mine is captured, it begins producing certain amount of resources daily. Production can only be raised if a mine or garden is upgraded. Still, it's not all bad news. Some resources can be freely picked up in some areas of the map, but beware - access to deposits of resources are usually very well guarded (Fooled you!). You can also receive resources in the form of loot after winning against an enemy monster. A good strategy is to concentrate your forces on resources that are more useful to your race. For example, Chaots generally like rubies, Kinets prefer Sapphires, Vitals favor emeralds and Synthets like diamonds. Last of all, is the much sought after Frozen Flame. The Frozen Flame is a unique resource since its deposits and mines are very hard to come by and they are often extremely well guarded. However, without this resource you won't be able to get many uncommon and rare spells or upgrade your mines and gardens.
Last of all, is Ether - A non-accumulative resource. This means that unused amounts disappear at the end of the day. Ether can be obtained from various Ether sources found on the adventure screen. Four types of Ether can be found - One Ether type for each race. Blue for the Kinets, Green for the Vitals, Red for the Chaots and Black for the Synthets. As a rule, Castles are created near sources of a race's "own" ether. So Ether of a certain color is fairly easy to find. You can also seize "strange" ether sources but you will only be able to use half the amount of such Ether. In other words, your daily supply of "strange" ether will be two times less than that of your "own" ether. Seizure of your enemy's Ether can also significantly complicate his actions. Ether units are called "Ether Quantums".
Most of your Ether is obtained daily from the Castle while Ether Nodes are useful for supporting your heroes. Heroes use certain amount of Ether Quantums daily and Ether consumption increases with the level of a hero. Ether is also used to cast and maintain global spells. The remaining Ether can be used for the regeneration of your Castle should it be attacked and damaged by enemies. Unused Ether is irretrievably lost. If incoming Ether amounts dwindle however, the processes slows down in the reversed order. At first Castle regeneration stops. Then production of global spell slows down or stop. If Ether resources drop even lower, you heroes won't be able to receive any experience from battles. The suspension caused by lack of Ether is however reversible. As soon as you increase Ether resources or reduce consumption levels by canceling global spell production or dismissing one of your heroes, everything will return to normal.
Another unique resource is used in battle. Known as White Ether, it is available to heroes through special ether channels and only during battles. White ether sources cannot be found on the map.
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