Production Chains

What is a production chain?
In The Settlers Online, the main source of income is through creating resources. This is done by creating what we call "production chains," which are buildings which work together to make goods. A great example of a simple production chain is for Pinewood:



Pinewood needs to be chopped down and then sawed into planks, but then new trees need to be planted so that this process can continue without one of the buildings running out of resources.

To the left is a good basic example of a production chain. Foresters plant (replenish) the trees, cutters chop them down into logs, and then the sawmill building turns them into planks. This in turn means that more trees need to be planted, in order to keep this balance going.

These production chains can be quite the balancing act. For instance, buffing one and not the others can throw it off, if you're not careful. As an example, buffing the sawmill means that your cutters need to keep up with the increased demand, or run out of resources.

Building placements
An important aspect of placing buildings (and something that directly affects your production chains) is where you place them. The farther your buildings are from the resource node (such as a mine), the longer it takes to process them. Similarly, the farther your buildings are from your storehouse, the longer it will take to deliver the goods to your storage. The picture below is created by ZugZug, and it details the importance of building placement relative to the storehouse (click for a larger image):



Production ratios
Being efficient in the Settlers Online is not always easy, and one of the best ways to be efficient is to properly utilize what we call "production ratios." These are the balance between production and consumption of specific resources.

For more information on production ratios, check out our wiki page with exact ratios as well as a more in depth explanation on how important this can be for your overall personal economy.