The resources of Empires are not unlike those in many other RTS games. They break down into food, wood, gold, stone.
Food[edit]
Food is one of the most important resources in Empires.Food is used to create citizens, certain soldiers, and for advancing through ages and building Wonders. Food can be collected by either ordering citizens to gather food at a forage patch, herd of animals, or farm. Fishing boats can be built as well to improve the income of the ressource. The United Kingdom has an alternate way to collect food, which is by building food warehouses which automatically collect the resource over time. The other nations must build granaries where civilians can build farms.
Wood[edit]
Wood can be used to create and repair buildings and wonders, create siege weapons, planes, boats, and used for some types of soldiers, such as archers. Wood is quite plentiful throughout most maps in the form of trees, and any citizen can chop down a tree (or part of one) in order to raise a player's wood level. Some civilizations have special abilities which make it possible to create new trees or burn them down.
Gold[edit]
Gold is used throughout the game to create anything that requires money. All soldiers, cavalry, siege weapons, tanks, boats, and planes require gold. All innovations and technologies require gold to research, and moving to the next age or building wonders also requires gold. Gold is found at gold mines and can be mined by different numbers of citizens depending on what type of game mode is being played. Some civilizations have technologies which make it possible to add more gold mines or add to the longevity of the gold mine, as well as the ability to collapse a gold mine.
Stone[edit]
Stone is used in a battle to create any wall or tower. In early epochs, towers also use some wood, but are predominantly made of stone. Walls are also made of stone, and are important in making barriers in a level. Stone can be mined in the same fashion gold is, which by citizens or mining camps mining the stone and bringing it back to a settlement or town center.