Economy

The economy is the set of systems that produce, store, move, spend, trade, and lose resources. Wood, cloth, metal, Warehouse capacity, population, ships, raids, voyages, market activity, and Trade Routes all affect what a port can do next.

Resource flow

Wood, cloth, and metal come from production buildings, trade, voyages, market activity, and combat loot. Local production is recurring. Trade and raids can move resources faster but depend on ships, timing, relationships, targets, and risk.

Each source behaves differently. Production is local and recurring. Trade Routes move resources over time. Direct resource sending is a one-time transfer. Market offers exchange one resource for another. Raids can bring loot after combat. Voyages commit ships for delayed rewards.

Storage

Warehouse capacity sets how many resources the port can hold. If resources arrive while storage is full, production, trade arrivals, raid loot, voyage rewards, or market activity can exceed the port’s capacity.

Higher Warehouse levels add resource protection. Protection starts at Warehouse level 12 and hides a per-resource amount from raid loot and spy/scout resource reports. The protected amount increases by 500 every two Warehouse levels after level 10.

Storage is also visible through gameplay consequences. A full Warehouse can support expensive work, and it can also make a port more attractive to raiders. Port Defenses, stationed ships, and Armada coverage affect how costly that port is to attack.

Spending and constraints

Spending is constrained by resource amounts, Warehouse capacity, population, build requirements, ship unlocks, and timing. Docks unlocks affect available ship types. Farmland affects population. Production buildings affect recurring resource income. Trade and market systems can change the resource mix.

Buttons becoming available does not mean every constraint has disappeared. A production upgrade still depends on Warehouse capacity to store output. A ship order still depends on Docks unlocks, resources, and population. A rich port still interacts with defense, spying, and raid risk.

Risk and raids

Raids can add resources, and they can also cost ships and time. Cargo matters when loot is part of the goal. Spy reports can reveal resources, defenders, Port Defenses, and other target details before the attack lands.

Raid value depends on more than visible resources. Combat result, surviving cargo, travel time, return timing, diplomatic context, and the attacker’s own port exposure all affect the economic result. Repeated failed raids create economic loss through ship replacement and time.

Market and trade choices

Market offers exchange one resource for another. They still depend on Trade Ships, so a port with every Trade Ship committed to routes or movement may not have the same market flexibility.

Market offers can expire. When that happens, the offered resources return to the creating port and the report records the expiry. The returned resources still need Warehouse space, so expiry timing can matter if the port has filled up.

Trade Routes provide recurring support. Direct resource sending provides one-time movement between your own ports or to another target when available. Market offers provide exchange. All three are logistics systems with different timing, relationship, and ship requirements.

Skill points and specialization

As ports grow, skill points let a port lean into a role. Early skill points arrive quickly as port points climb, then continue at regular point thresholds through mature-port progression. Production skills strengthen resource output, trade skills improve trade usefulness, voyage skills improve voyage value, combat skills support movement and battles, and port skills help ship construction. Specialization affects what a port contributes and which systems it depends on.