Age of Empires Online: Material Production and Purchase

[Skullnit]

I am here actually looking for the Material Production and Purchases made in this game. I just need whole information about this. How long will it take before producing my own materials start saving me gold? Why can't I produce material X? How long before producing materials helps me make gold? What if I want to change workshops? So anyone have any answers for my questions?

[RyanInt]

Although the initial buy-in is substantial for a low level city, it will save you money in the long run and possibly become a potent revenue stream for your city. Furthermore, it may help speed the progress of your other cities if you have multiple ones. It isn't instant gratification, but it will show more sooner than later.

[Loveyboo]

Here I have answer of your “How long before producing materials helps me make gold?” question. This one is pretty much up in the air, odds are you will not make much with common or uncommon materials, and this is heavily reliant on finding recipes for producing rare or epic materials.

[AZUL]

For a new city, I'd recommend at least one of each basic workshop, with the remaining at your discretion. Later on you may specialize production for what rare and epic recipes you have, but it is inadvisable to specialize prior to getting those recipes. For the Advanced Workshops,*shrug* pick, as the limit is not high enough for you to make one of each.

[RockOn]

All basic workshop blueprints are purchasable at the Construction Store in your home city. You do not start out with a Construction Store, but you can buy the recipe at the General Store for 50 gold and get going from there. Alternatively, you can visit a different player's city and buy the blueprints from their Construction Store (if they have one) for your own use. They all cost 100g apiece. You can rely on loot for the blueprints but this is not recommended, as they are not common and odds are you won't get the structures you want.

[Squibbit]

The paradox: You need materials to get materials! If you are a treasure hunter you should get the vast majority of the materials you need through grabbing that treasure. There are also repeatable quests that give materials as a reward. Most expensively, you can purchase them at your home city's General Store. They are not expensive, but the cost will quickly add up if you rely on this too much. Of course, you can purchase the materials from other players, but it is rare for players to sell common or uncommon materials due to low profit margin.

[Wyvern]

You start out with the recipes to produce all common materials. You can purchase the recipes to produce uncommon materials at the basic workshops in Mycenae (Greek) or Nubia (Egyptian). They sell for 50 gold each, and you will only need them once. You can also occasionally get them as loot, but this is not recommended as a strategy due to rarity. Rare and Epic recipes must be found or purchased from other players; there are no NPC shop sources as of yet.

[ApplePowerPC]

There are some materials you cannot make and are only available as quests rewards. The most common are Delphi Limestone, Giza Limestone, and Mozaic Tile. Giza Limestone is only obtainable by Egyptians and Delphi Limestone only by Greeks. All three of the quests for the items are repeatable, but there is a 12-hour delay from when you complete it to when it is available again. Essentially, they are "daily" quests. Each completion gives 2 units of the item type desired.