Spending Resources

RESOURCEs are consumed in two ways: actively (through the action of COMMANDs) and passively (to maintain UNITs and BUILDINGs). Both are tracked by scheduling an event in the GLOBAL CLOCK schedule. When the event is encountered and executed, the corresponding number and proper types of RESOURCEs are deducted from the player's BANK. For example, suppose a Consume($u_{97}$) event is scheduled for GLOBAL TIME 972, where $u_{97}$ is a Scout UNIT. When the GLOBAL CLOCK reaches 972, the Consume event is removed and one unit of food (the maintenance cost of a standard UNIT) is deducted from the BANK. Because Consume is a repeating event (so long as the UNIT is alive), a new Consume event is scheduled for GLOBAL CLOCK time 1012 (==972+40; see Section ).

The cost for each COMMAND is listed in Tables  and . The maintenance cost for UNITs and BUILDINGs is listed in Tables  and , respectively.

When an event is encountered, if the player's BANK does not have enough of the appropriate type(s) of RESOURCE(s) to cover it, the event fails. The result of failure depends on whether the event was active or passive:

Active When a COMMAND fails, the result of the COMMAND is simply not executed. RESOURCEs are, however, consumed, up to the BANK's ability. For example, suppose BUILDING $b_{11}$ was attempting to Spawn a Soldier (cost: 1 food and 1 iron). Suppose the BANK currently has 4 food and 0 iron. The Spawn fails and no Soldier is produced, but 1 food is still consumed.

Passive When a maintenance cost fails, the corresponding UNIT or BUILDING is destroyed (starvation). RESOURCEs are still consumed up to the BANK's ability to pay, however. For example, suppose that the maintenance event for Building $b_{7}$ (a Fortress - maintenance cost: 1 food, 1 iron) is not met, though the BANK has 0 food and 3 iron. The Fortress is destroyed and the BANK loses 1 iron.

OPTIONAL RULE At the designers' discretion, the starving UNIT or BUILDING may defect to another player, rather than being destroyed. The exact conditions of defection are up to the designers, but MUST be documented in the player's guide.