Production is how raw ground becomes usable stock. It happens inside districts, through buildings wired up with roads.
Extraction
Extractor buildings draw down the finite resource deposits around a district: lumber from forest, stone from rock, and ore from the mountains. Each pulls from the live deposits nearby, so an extractor’s output depends on how rich the surrounding ground is. As deposits deplete, that output falls, and you have to push out toward fresh ground.
Manufacturing
Factories produce materials without needing a deposit at all, in exchange for a heavier build. They let an established district keep producing even where the ground has been worked out.
How you interact with it
Production rewards reading the terrain. Park extractors among clustered deposits, keep them road-connected, and back them with industry once the easy ground thins. The output flows into your economy to fund building, training, and expansion.
Why it matters
Production is the bridge between the map and everything you do with it. Because the richest deposits run dry, where and how you set up production keeps shifting, which is what keeps the economy an active problem rather than a solved one.
This article reflects the game in active development and will change as systems evolve.