Number of resources for an economy sim rts?

Hello Everyone.

I'm currently struggling with how many resources I should have in a rather unique game similar to Anno 2070 and to an extent, Anno 2205. I'm currently debating implementing either a select range of the more useful resources or just cave in and utilize a full periodic table with a large selection of composite materials.

Given that to build something in the game it doesn't require a specific material. [Similar to when laying internet cables you can choose between copper, fiber or wifi] What would be a good range of materials?

 

Start with what the end products, the things the player is going to use, and work backwards. Save the resource tree for later. The worst thing you can do is create ten thousand resources and find that most of them at best have only one use case.

You want dilemmas. You want the player to struggle with whether a limited resource should be spent on military or the population's happiness.

 

2-4. Most successful RTS games have this number. Any more and resource management becomes too complex and arbitrary. Read up on the Paradox of Choice.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll start at the end product and work my way back.

 

It's also worth channeling the great gigiwoo. "What will the player be doing?" Looking at some great games in the genre the number and complexity of the resource system is directly related to this question.

The player is directly involved in micromanaging combat and unit formations and combinations. Use a low number of simple resources. Starcraft has 3. Warcraft has 3. Dawn of war has 2-4, depending on race.

The player is balancing resources between unit production and climbing a tech tree. Use more resources, but still simple. Age of empires uses 5. Arsenal uses 4.

The player is spending all of their time managing a complex economy. Use a complex custom resource system. Civ, 7 Kingdoms, Stronghold are good examples of complex resource systems.

The player is managing some complex simulation that's not resource based. The resource system should be simple again. Kerball, High Frontier and Simcity are examples of this.

 

BoredMormon
obviously never played Anno games lol

love Anno 1404 (time periods cooler to me than futuristic) .. wanna make a game like its someday .. actually the first type of game i tried making .. had to learn alot more before i tried, hmm could maybe make it now huge project though

yeah you gotta come up with the uses first, and have tradeoffs, have choices, should i spend wood on buildings? or ships? or charcoal? should i spend metal on tools? or weapons?

if every resource (or most) only have 1 usage ,its not as cool