Resources
Resources are commodities that exist in the game world. They are the economic foundation of Living Universe Online — every act of construction, development, and fleet operation depends on them.
Purpose
Resources give the game world economic texture. Without them, stellar objects are strategically interchangeable. With them, every system has a distinct economic identity determined by what it can yield.
Player Value
Resources create natural asymmetry across the game world. No region is self-sufficient. Players must trade, ally, or contest other players' territory to access what their own region cannot provide.
The Tier System
Resources belong to one of two tiers.
Tier 1 — Primary resources are sourced directly from the environment. Their availability depends on the composition of stellar objects in a region.
Tier 2 — Derived resources are produced from Tier 1 inputs. They cannot be obtained directly from the environment.
The Four Core Resources
Four resources exist at launch, organised into two chains.
Construction chain - Structural Materials (Tier 1) - Industrial Alloys (Tier 2)
Fleet operations chain - Volatiles (Tier 1) - Fuel (Tier 2)
Occurrence
Each Tier 1 resource has an occurrence rating on each stellar object that can yield it. This rating is assigned at world creation and does not change through gameplay.
Occurrence is expressed as a tier. Each tier represents a multiplier on extraction output.
| Tier | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Trace | 0.5x |
| Low | 0.75x |
| Moderate | 1.0x |
| High | 1.5x |
| Rich | 2.0x |
Only Tier 1 resources have an occurrence rating. Tier 2 resources are produced through processing, not extracted from stellar objects.
Rules
- Every resource belongs to exactly one tier.
- Tier 1 resources have no resource inputs.
- Tier 2 resources require Tier 1 resources to produce.
- Resources are distinct commodities and cannot be substituted for one another.