Total War Pharaoh how to get resources and best ways to build up stockpiles

Need to get resources in Total War Pharaoh? No matter how skilled a general you might be, you’re not going to be able to get very far in Creative Assembly’s newest title in the Total War series without resources to build and maintain your empire. So how do you actually get resources?

Here, we’re going to go over how to get resources in Total War Pharaoh, and which way is the best. If you’re not all caught up on the game mechanics, why not check out our tips and tricks guide, covering everything you need to know? Alternatively if you’re in search of answers to other specific queries, like how to win battles or how to start a campaign, we’ve got you covered there too.

Best ways to get resources in Total War Pharaoh

Here are the ways you’ll be able to get resources in Total War Pharaoh.

• Choose your starting faction carefully.
• Conquer settlements.
• Sack or raid outposts and settlements.
• Disband army units.
• Trade with other leaders.
• Build specialised buildings and upgrades.
• Use the trade route expeditionary system.
• Unlock Royal Decrees.
• Complete Ambitions.

Each of these will offer different sorts or returns for your efforts, with some giving immediate lump sums of resources and others acting as long-term investments of your time and workforce. Let’s go over each method in a bit more detail.

Choose your starting faction carefully

Generally speaking, no faction or leader in the game has it all. While there are certainly some who can be thought of as the best leaders, most own territory and settlements that focus on only a few products.

However a handful of leaders lean heavily into their niches, occupying regions that are lacking in some resources, but extremely wealthy in others. Kush is a great example of this, being abundant in gold, but not so wealthy in other resources.

If you’re having a hard time, try playing as one of these niche leaders, and use your abundance of a particular resource and exploration to gain favourable trade to supplement your other resources.

Unlock Royal Decrees

Royal Decrees act as your tech tree in Total War Pharaoh. Though there isn’t much to unlock, many different decrees can offer resource bonuses. These are indicated by turquoise squares, which are your economic oriented decrees.

Conquer settlements

It’s probably an obvious one, but conquering new land is a fast – though not always easy – way to get more resources. Next to the name of any major settlement, you’ll see one of the four resource symbols. This indicates what resource that place focuses on. If you’re struggling with a particular resource, consider annexing nearby allies into your lands, and using their abundances to fill your own shortcomings.

Sack or raid outposts or settlements

If you need a quick boost of resources, raiding your enemies is a pretty good strategy to go for. Attacking unguarded outposts will give you an option to ‘sack’ them, dealing damage to their structures, but making off with a bit of gold, food, bronze, and stone.

You can do the same when attacking larger settlements too. Be careful though, as looting these settlements can incur happiness and diplomatic penalties, so it’s sometimes wiser to weigh your options beforehand, especially if you still plan to occupy the place.

Disband army units

You’ll often find that a number of factors incur resource costs, but none tend to be as substantial as maintaining your armies. Armies, and especially those with elite units, are expensive to maintain, costing vast quantities of food and bronze.

If you’re struggling with dwindling resources, consider reducing the size of your armies by disbanding unneeded units. You can always build forts to support your settlements with garrisons instead of conventional armies, if you’re worried about defence.

Trade with other leaders

One of the best ways to handle resource shortages is trading. If conquering and pillaging aren’t options, consider building friendly relations with some other leaders. You can trade with others for different resources, making one-time deals for lump sums, or recurring deals that trade resource amounts per-turn for a number of turns.

Be sure to check out what resources they value and don’t, too. By looking at the bottom right of the trade negotiation screen, you’ll find an outline of other leaders’ resource priorities. Resources they have in abundance at the moment and don’t value very much will be colour coded in red with a cross. Resources they’re short in supply on and value more will be colour coded green and have a tick. This is a great way to make the most out of your trade deals.

Build specialised buildings and upgrades

Perhaps the best way of all to solve your resource woes is to invest in your settlements. Depending on where they are, certain settlements will be able to support different resource buildings. By hovering over a building when you have a settlement selected, you can upgrade these resource gathering structures to higher tiers, as long as you have the resources and workforce available.

You can also create upgrade buildings, which will boost the production rates for different resources in a given province. These tend to also come with some drawbacks though, with high tier production upgrade buildings often reducing province happiness.

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Did you know?

When starting a campaign, you can change settings such as reducing army upkeep or boosting resource production as another potential way to overcome resource shortages.

Use the trade route expeditionary system

Not long into your campaign, you’ll unlock your ability to choose an Ancient Legacy. These are powerful mechanics you can use to reach a variety of ends. If resources are a problem though, try out the “Hatshepsut The Merchant” option. This will give you the ability to send out expeditions to distant lands and cities, trading different resources. Some will be less valued in one place and more valued in others, allowing you to build up a large amount of goods over time.

When you return to the capital, you can use these for a variety of different purposes. Some can be used as ancillaries for your generals. Others however can be turned into raw lump sums of resources, or given to certain cities to provide temporary buffs to their production output for different resources.

Complete Ambitions

Ambitions are a small and simple objective-based system, and a good way to earn some extra resources. Every so often, you’ll be able to choose between three different ambitions. Each ambition will offer a lump sum reward of resources for completing all sorts of objectives. These can really be anything. It might want you to maintain a certain happiness level in every province, or conquer a province that focuses on particular resources.

What are resources in Total War Pharaoh?

Resources are the components you’ll need in order to build and maintain your settlements, population and armies in-game. There are five main resources in the game.

• Stone
• Food
• Wood
• Bronze
• Gold

Different provinces will usually have different abundances of these resources. Some will completely lack certain resources, while being abundant in others. Managing all of the factors we’ve covered will help you to maintain a healthy supply of these vital components to grow and expand your empire.

That covers everything you’ll need to know on how to get resources in Total War Pharaoh. If you’re still grappling with some of the game’s many mechanics and events, and want a hand understanding the Pillars of Civilisation mechanic, or need help to win civil wars, we’ve got you covered.

What’s the rarest resource in Total War Pharaoh?

There is no resource in Total War Pharaoh distinctly rarer than the others. Rather, most areas will simply be abundant in some resources and rare in others.

What’s the most important resource in Total War Pharaoh?

Although all resources are necessary for growing your empire in Total War Pharaoh, food is probably the most important, as it’s crucial to growing and maintaining your armies.