User Guide

9
Plants (uncommon) Minerals (rare) Unique
Mandrake Root Bloody Ruby Frozen Flame
Black Lotus Poison Emerald
Smoke Diamond
Star Sapphire
You normally need great quantities of uncommon resources (plants), so one of your goals should be to
control as many gardens as you can and to develop them to increase their resource yield.
The demand for rare resources (minerals) depends on your race, since every race has its own preferred
mineral (see chart below). When accumulating resources, you should consider the preference of the
race you control.
Minerals (rare) Favored by (race)
Bloody Ruby Chaots
Poison Emerald Vitals
Smoke Diamond Synthets
Star Sapphire Kinets
Frozen Flame is a unique resource whose deposits and mines are very rare and well-guarded.
However, many uncommon and most rare spells will require this resource, as will upgrading your
buildings, so it is worth your while to seek out these sources.
The non-accumulative resource – Ether. Ether can be found in Ether sources. Heroes initially need
some amount of ether to create their Castle. As mentioned in the prologue, four types of ether exist and
each source is shown in a different color on the map. As a rule, each race creates its Castle near a
source of its preferred ether. Thus, ether of your own race’s type is fairly easy to find. You can also
seize and control another race’s preferred ether source, but the ether income you receive from doing so
will only be half of that received from an ether source of your own racial type. Seizure of an enemy’s
ether can significantly complicate his actions. Ether units are called “ether quanta.”
Ether Balance. Each game turn, you receive a fixed amount of ether from your Castle and any ether
sources you control. Most of your daily ether income is used to support your heroes. Hero upkeep
requires a certain amount of ether quanta daily, and ether consumption increases the higher the hero’s
level. Ether is also used to maintain ongoing global spells you have cast and to cast new global spells in
the Castle (See “Global Spells” for details). Any remaining ether can be used to regenerate your
Castle’s damage, if any. Any ether unused at the end of a game turn is lost; it does not accumulate like
your other resources.
If incoming ether amounts dwindle (e.g. in case you lose one of the sources), these support processes
slow down in reverse order. At first, Castle regeneration stops. Next, the casting of new global spell
slows or stops. Third, ongoing global spells stop as well. If ether resources drop even more, your
heroes won’t receive any experience but will still be able to act.