Similar to Empire Earth, Iron could be introduced as an optional resource to add an extra layer of difficulty on top of the classic economy system.
This would be a pre-match toggleable option, not a default mechanic. When enabled, certain units, buildings, and technologies would require Iron in addition to—or partially instead of—existing resources. In some cases, Iron would replace part of the gold or food cost; in others, the cost would be split across gold, food, and Iron, allowing for more nuanced economic decisions.
To support this system, villagers would be able to mine Iron Mines placed on the map and store the resource at Mining Camps, using existing drop-off mechanics. The introduction of Iron would also unlock two universal technologies available to all civilizations (maybe nerfed in the future for more historical accuracy):
Iron Mining → Villagers gather iron 15% faster
Iron Shaft Mining → Villagers gather iron 15% faster
These technologies would function similarly to Gold and Stone mining upgrades, improving Iron gather rates and reinforcing long-term planning. No civ/team bonus would impact on iron mining.
Also, Markets would have an option to sell/buy Iron.
Iron would be intentionally rarer than stone, making map control and expansion even more critical. Its scarcity would discourage overuse, prevent early snowballing, and reward strategic prioritization rather than brute-force production.
By keeping Iron as an optional rule set, this system would cater to players seeking deeper economic complexity without disrupting the core balance and accessibility of the standard game.
Can we have silver, iron, copper and gem mines added even as eye candy, and maybe with editor cart units carrying them. We can operationalise them as resources with triggers.
Seems pointless. Since you’re proposing that iron is less common than stone, either the iron costs would have to be essentially negligible, or you end up in a trash war much earlier than usual. Neither seems appealing.
Making iron significantly less common than gold is also nonsensical, although to be fair, so is making stone less common than gold…
Speaking of additional resources, has anyone else noticed that the ore from the hidden Ore Mine (OREMN, remnant of early AoK development) can no longer be dropped off by Villagers since some patch last year?
I wonder whether this is worth a bug report, for something that doesn’t officially exist. Though it was FE that made the Ore Mines minable in the first place, in The Forgotten. And a player’s Ore Storage can be displayed in-game with a trigger. Any way, it sucks that it ceased to work.
Could be even more various unique resource deposits (and the bonuses of controling them). Thus, it will make game a bit more similar to Rise of Nations.
Stone is already considerably rarer than it should be, so I guess it’s fine for iron even though it’s not realistic. As its main appeal (compared to bronze) is how ubiquitous it is.
I only remember demonstrations/tutorials, don’t know if it was actually used in a scenario meant to be played.
In the CD game OREMN looked like a Gold Mine and could not be mined, which changed with The Forgotten, where it was also given a different sprite (from AoK alpha, like below, disappeared with DE).
Maybe this could even be made an official editor object with new sprite, it used to work until last year anyway. At least one FE dev cared enough about the Ore Mine object to make the changes mentioned above back then.
Thinking about it, it’s kind of weird that AoE1’s resources weren’t stone, copper, tin and iron. I suppose with food and wood as well that would be way too many resources. Gold as a representation of metal ores in general makes more sense gameplay-wise. (Funnily enough, I think it’s impossible to spend stone in the Stone Age in AoE1 though…)
That would have been quite nightmarish for a RTS, having to find 2 rare resources to stand a chance in the midgame, while stone and iron aren’t rare. Especially if they are nicely spread apart (copper mainly in Cyprus, while tin has to be imported from Cornwall or Afghanistan).
For a properly made grand strategy game however, it would be a must-have.
