Resources
In KeeperRL the amount of resources you have is limited: trees don’t grow back, all ores are shown. Through the use of alchemy there is an exception with gold being used to turn into other materials; iron, adamantium, adoxium, and infernite equipment can be recycled at a Furnace to recover half their cost in ore.
To gather resources you have to select them using the Dig or cut tree tool. Your imps and other workers will then start to harvest the resource and carry it to your stockpiles.
Most resources can be haphazardly stored in a “Resources” stockpile zone, without penalty. Additional stockpiles can help speed acquisition as your miners will drop fresh deliveries at the nearest stockpile. Corpses, however, require a “Grave” stockpile built using stone, and will not be stored in a “Resources” zone.
Left to right: Gold, wood, stone, iron, adamantium, adoxite, infernite, and corpses.
Gold
You get gold by mining gold veins.
You can store gold pieces in a treasure chest, if you like.
Gold is usually used to build statues, and can also be used to recruit specialized units and purchase goods from certain factions. It is the only way to seriously increase your population cap. Hoarding too much gold will attract bandits, and the throne itself makes your neighbors hate you more.
Some units carry gold, but not many and not a lot of it. Building a solid defense will no longer farm gold from enemy dead. (Their settlements may have pleasantly-stocked treasuries, though.)
Wood
You get wood by chopping down trees or bushes. Giant treeshrooms may be available underground, too.
The amount of wood planks per tile is more from trees than from bushes.
Wood is used to build rooms (/keeperrl_wiki/3 of them) and installations, like doors, bridges, etc. While wooden furniture is not very efficient, it is what gets your dungeon started. Making do without early wooden furniture (the Workshop, along with beds, bookshelves, and training dummies) is possible, but difficult.
Later on, you’ll want wood to build archery targets & the bows to go with them, as well as beast cages for steeds and werewolves. Wood is required for your dining areas (hay for beasts, tables for humanoids). It’s not just a starter resource.
Stone
You get stone by mining granite veins.
Stone is used to build several rooms, such as the graveyard and the laboratory. The furnace is also made from stone. It is needed for flooring and other structural uses, such as filling in liquid tiles, safely bridging lava, constructing and reinforcing walls, etc. It’s usually worthwhile to dig more stone; there’s always something useful it can do.
Iron
You get iron by mining ore veins.
The amount of iron ore per tile is randomized somewhat.
Iron is used to build rooms, usually with a military theme, such as the training room, and the forge. Your prison also uses quite a bit of iron.
Further, iron furniture is required to recruit useful troops like Harpies and Werewolves, along with providing solid amounts of training.
Adamantium
You get adamantium by mining ore veins.
Adamantium is used to build special dummies and finer, sharper, better weapons and armour than iron. Naturally occurring veins can be guarded by golems that will wreck an unsuspecting keeper, but such golems can also be wrecked and their component adamantium can be harvested by keepers who prepare for the possibility.
Adoxite
You get adoxite by mining adoxium veins.
Adoxite is a particularly magically-active form of adamantium, useful for making armor and magical staves that greatly reduce spell-recharge time and offer top protection: almost as good as the most sumptous of cornuthaums, but much less “Squishy”. As such, it’s prized by Evil Wizards and high priests, but not particularly important for doughty and stalwart melee fighters.
Infernite
You get infernite by mining infernite veins.
Infernite is another magically-active metal, useful chiefly for making weapons that strike with burning power. Infernite swords, axes, and hammers all do fire damage rather than melee damage, being particularly useful against undead or fire-vulnerable foes.
Corpses
You get corpses by killing creatures. Ideally, the creatures you kill are hostile, or at least not your own.
Corpses are primarily used to recruit, raise, etc. undead units, from the humble Zombie, through vampires and mummies, to the pinnacle of the Necromancer’s arts. Even if you don’t plan on having undead troops, it’s still helpful to build a Grave so your workers can keep your map tidy.
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