Metal Processing:

Metals play a central role in your settlement’s economy. A good indicator for that is that almost the entire food production industry is geared towards providing for your Miners. Secondly, the tools and weapons produced by your heavy industry are absolutely vital to your settlements success and dependent on the raw materials provided by the Mines.

There are five types of Mines in total, only three of which are directly related to metal processing. These are the Gold, Iron and Coal Mines. The other two Mines produce sulfur, used by the Mayans to produce ammunition, and stone, which is required in the construction industry and which can also be obtained by building Stonecutter’s Huts. Before you ignore the last two resources completely, please remember that goods not required for your settlement can be very useful in trading with outsiders.

The Gold and Iron Mines are where the ores are extracted, which are then processed to obtain the metals themselves. For this you need the coal from the coal mine. The Smelting Works produces metal ingots for your Toolmaker and Weaponsmith. Please keep in mind these buildings also need coal to function.

The gold ingots from the Gold Smelter come into play as a means of payment. You need them for constructing Temples and Eyecatchers as well as for training higher-ranking soldiers.