Consumables and the Crafting Hall

Consumables are items which you can use while on a quest.  They can be dropped automatically into a quest without the need to use the resources you have gathered during the quest.

The Craftsman school symbol

I have to admit I'm not a big user of consumables myself.  Not because I'm opposed or anything like that, but as a general rule, once I'm up and about in a quest, focusing on the game, I just don't think about whatever conusmables I have.

It is fair to say that the elite player (that doesn't include me) will generally shun consumables, because:

1. they don't need them; and
2. well.... they don't need them.

Having said all that, I believe they do have their place in AoEO so it's worthwhile getting to know them a bit better.

Open the book to learn about consumables!





I decided to make this article also about the Crafting Hall because that will be a primary source of your consumables.  The other sources include the stores, quest rewards, chests and of course you can buy them from other players via the trade channel.

Crafting Hall, centre of screen

To make your own consumables, you need the following:

1. Select a school from the Crafting Hall.  You can have two selected at all times.  Once you have selected your first two, to change any of them costs you $1,000 - but good to know that you are not stuck with the first two that you choose.
2. You need a recipe.  Each time you select a school from the Crafting Hall it comes with one basic consumable recipe - I describe each of these below.  After that, you need to either buy recipes from the in-game stores, or with the really good ones, either win them in quests or buy them from other players on the trade channel.
3. Each recipe will require you to have in your inventory 2 or 3 different materials (wood, grain, copper, etc).  The most efficient way of getting materials is to have a workshop.  The purchase of a workshop allows you to produce a common material, but after that, you need to win or buy higher value recipes to make the more valuable materials.  There are five different basic workshops, and you can have a maximum of eight in total.  There are a further five advanced workshops, but you can only have two of these.

Early on in your AoEO playing career, it's actually quite hard to decide which crafting school to learn.  It's not just a matter of deciding what consumables you like, it's also worth remembering that you can produce new technologies to improve your gear.

Here are a few pointers, although this is entirely a matter of personal preference:

1. Greeks - you are going to be using your ranged troops, so the Archery School is useful.  Not only will you have the opportunity of producing new belly-bows for your gastras, but you'll find recipes to produce better arrows, which are useful with some buildings and ships.  On top of that, the bandit archers (the basic consumable) are one consumable that are worthwhile early on while your're finding your feet.
2. Egyptians - priests are big in Egypt, and so the Religion school is a worthwhile addition.  You'll be able to improve the powers of your different priests, plus you can make gold deposits as your basic consumable and these can always be handy.  Rogue priests are the other consumable if you can find the recipe.
3. Celtic - this one is easy - they have their own crafting school called Metalwork.  A wide range of different recipes are available for this school, including a myriad of elixir which give your troops a bit of a boost while questing.
4. Norse - they have a strong infantry, so the infantry school might be the go here.  The basic consumable is the bandit spearman.

Towers are useful consumables

The other schools not mentioned above are:

1. Cavalry - basic consumable = bandit cavalry.Could consider for Persian.
2. Construction - basic consumable = bandit tower.  Good for all civs.
3. Engineering - basic consumable = stone quarry pit.  Good for all civs.
4. Craftsman - basic consumable = cattle.  Good for all civs.

The  military consumables mentioned above can only be used from Age II.

As you quest, you will pick up more valuable consumables, such as the bandit fortress.  This is probably one of the more useful consumables but they can only be used from Age III.  Others can only be used in Age IV (and to be honest, it's rare you need to use something by the time you reach Age IV).




The storehouse is another very useful consumable early in a quest, allowing your villagers to start work immediately without wasting time building one.  Each time you use these consumables, there is a cool down period before you're able to do it again.





In juggling which school you think might be useful, there's no harm in trying a few, and blowing a $1,000 if you have to.  Ultimately, be guided by:

1. What you find useful.
2. Whatever recipes you have picked up.  Once you pick up a rare or epic recipe, you may as well have the school to produce it.
3. Whatever rare or epic materials you're able to produce in your workshops. 

One further point of clarification, there's a category of consumable I haven't mentioned, and they're the ones which you can buy with empire points from the Empire Store.  I'm usually tight with empire points, so I have rarely dabbled in these, but there are some very powerful ones here.

One such powerful consumable is the Strength of the Empire:  increases health and damage by 150% and speed by 75% for around 90 seconds.  I've used this once, and I can vouch for its potency, but it's such an extreme jump that I would only recommend it in cases when you are absolutely desperate (hanging by a thread in a legendary quest, and a dozen legendary military units appear on the horizon).

There is a wide range of such consumables in the Empire Store and occasionally they are on sale at half price, so it's worth taking an occasional look.

Last bit of advice.  Don't sweat it - as you collect all the civs, you can plug gaps.  By the time you've added your sixth civ, you'll have absolutely everything well and truly covered, and with an empire vault, it's a simple matter to shift stuff where it's needed most.


My personal preferences?

Bandit fortress

I have the recipe for the Bandit Fortress (unfortunately, only uncommon), and produce enough of them to make sure all my civs are well provisioned.  If I'm feeling the stress of a particularly difficult quest (something like You Complete Me or an Elite Cyprus quest), and I've reached Age III without building up my army well enough, I might pull out the fortress to to give me a bit of breathing space - if I can remember to do it!

Brawny Polecat