Complete Resources Guide for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
Get the basics down first!
If you are a new player starting Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, reading through all the types of resources can be a bit overwhelming. With so many resources available, even building management can become challenging.
However, if you get to understand the resources even more, you’ll realize it is very simple. Here’s a complete rundown of everything you need to know about each resource available in HoMM: OE.
Basic Resource Guide for Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
There are six key resources in a game of HoMM: OE. These are: Wood, Ore, Gems, Crystal, Mercury, and Alchemical Dust. Most of these are used to construct or upgrade buildings, trade for more gold, and learn magic.
If you just play casually without looking into things, you might miss a trend in these resources, such as some being needed more than others. Here’s a more complete breakdown of each resource.
Wood – While all resources are used for buildings, Wood is the most used one. Most income buildings only need Wood and Ore, apart from the last upgrade that requires only 3x Gems, 3x Crystals, and 3x Mercury. Apart from income buildings, recruitment buildings also use Wood, along with other resources.
Ore – Ores are the 2nd most used resource. They are also needed to build income buildings and some recruitment buildings (although much less needed than Wood).
Gems, Crystals, and Mercury – These are the more lucrative resources, and they are scarcer than Wood and Ore. They are needed for some key buildings, like the last tier of the income buildings that produce Alchemical Dust daily. They are also used for crucial recruitment buildings and the Mage Guilds.
Alchemical Dust – Alchemical Dust is the rarest resource, but only because you cannot find an outpost that can give you some daily or weekly Alchemical Dust like the other resources. You also can’t buy or sell Alchemical Dust in the marketplace, making the resource time-gated through other means. You can get them by visiting specific objects in the map, synthesizing Gems, Crystals, or Mercury in an Alchemical Lab, destroying artifacts, or building several Alchemical Depots. Alchemical is crucial to your kingdom’s power. These are mainly used to construct the best upgraded recruitment buildings and upgrading spells in the Magic Observatory.
These are all the resources, but it is also important to know their rates. When you get a Marketplace, you can freely exchange all resources for other resources or gold. In most cases, especially in the mid to endgame, you are looking to sell all resources for gold to fund your massive recruitments and upgrades. Here are the rates of each resource in terms of gold at a 0% markup price:
- Wood and Ores: 1:250
- Gems, Crystals, and Mercury: 1:500
This should give you an idea of which resource to prioritize, especially if you see “weekly visit” outposts on the map. Another helpful tip is to remember to hold the L. Alt key to see your income information on the top panel. The “X+” number indicates your daily income from the resource. It is a very useful hotkey to know.
