To be successful in Expeditions: Rome, you'll need to know how to get and trade resources. Managing things like denarii, rations, medicine, and slaves is extremely important. If you mismanage assets, you may run out of items your recruits need or you may find that your wallet is empty.
In this Expeditions: Rome guide, we'll walk you through what each of the different resources are and how to get them through various means, including trade with the merchant, exploration, and more.
How to trade resources with the merchant in Expeditions: Rome
Once you have a base of operations for your Legion in Expeditions: Rome, you will be able to trade resources with the merchant. The four main resources are:
deniers
Denarii is basically your cash in hand. Coins are used to recruit generic companions, replenish lost army troops, purchase certain items based on dialogue options, capture infrastructure on the world map, trade crafting materials from specific vendors, and more. It's one of the most ubiquitous resources in Expeditions: Rome.
Rations
Food in the form of rations is consumed by your praetorians (your main character, unique companions, and all generic recruits) as you travel the world map. Rations are reduced if characters have the ascetic perk, as this causes them to eat less each day.
Rations are represented by the gold food bar to the right of your character's portrait on the world map. If you run out of rations, your characters will eventually starve and die, making it one of the most important resources.
Medicine
Medicine is only used when a character is injured and is healed in the Triage menu. The healing rate depends on the severity of the injury and the length of treatment. An alternative is to leave a character in the Dispensary of your Legion outpost (this will not use up your medicine). You can find out more in our healing and injury guide.
Slaves
Slaves are needed for your Legion to capture infrastructure on the world map. For example, capturing a farm would cost 50 denarii and 15 slaves. Meanwhile, taking over a sawmill or tannery would require 50 denarii and 25 slaves. You can find out more in our Legion conquest guide and our Legion outpost leveling guide.
Bonus Resource: Water
Water isn't really a tradable resource, but it's still worth mentioning. The water you have stored is represented by the blue bar to the left of your character's portrait on the world map. If it runs out, the characters will die. You can replenish water automatically by revisiting your main camp/active outpost or by finding a well.
Generally, the merchant at your active outpost (where your Legion is garrisoned) will only sell the four mentioned resources (excluding water), and you can trade any of them as a barter system. You choose one of your resources and trade with another resource at the merchant.
For example, if you want to buy rations with medicine, click on the medicine icon on the left (your inventory) and the rations on the right (the merchant's inventory).
The exchange rate is variable depending on the resource being traded (slaves are worth more than other resources for example) and the merchant's prices (which are based on the level of improvement in the market).
Other Ways to Get Resources in Expeditions: Rome
Naturally, there are other ways for you to earn resources in Expeditions: Rome aside from trading with the merchant. These are mostly related to exploration and progression.
- Battle and map loot: Along with weapons and various items, enemy corpses and chests tend to contain denarii, rations, or medicine.
- Caches and Carts: These objects on the world map can also contain resources. You can interact with an Observatory to reveal them.
- Random Events: Certain events that trigger on the world map can provide resources. Be careful though: a failure can also lead to the loss of these objects.
- Hunting Grounds: Send your Legion to the hunting grounds to get rations.
- Legion Missions: Send your Legion on a mission to obtain denarii, medicine or slaves depending on the icon.
Note that Hunting Grounds and Legion Missions require you to have full control of a region before you can send your Legion to engage with them.
And that's what you need to know about how to get resources and trade them in Expeditions: Rome. For more tips, consider heading to our guides hub for the franchise's latest strategy RPG.
