Resourcing

Resourcing is a critical element of Dark Colony. Mining Petra-7 allows you to sustain your armies and take the fight to the enemy.

Overview

 * The main source of energy is the precious gas called Petra-7. With the use of the resource extraction units such as the Human Exploiter, or the Gray Brozaar, this gas can be collected from erupting vents and converted into Petra Units.
 * The number in the lower right-hand field shows the amount of Petra Units (the only version of "money" on Mars) you have available to spend on buildings, units, and upgrades. This number grows slowly unless you have an Exploiter or Brozaar over a Petra-7 vent. Once positioned over the vent, the extraction unit automatically deploys and begins mining the Petra-7 and converting it into money.
 * To see how much a vent produces, use the mouse cursor to drag a box around one of the Petra-7 vents. A number appears in the description window showing a yellow number that might look like this: 30000/20. This number indicates that the vent has a total reserve of 30000 units of Petra-7 and they can be mined at a rate of 20 units per second.
 * Without a vent, you will still see a modest amount of energy trickle in, coming from your colony. Each is built over a stable Petra-7 vent and ensures you always have some money coming in.
 * A separate form of resourcing is extracting artifacts once you have the advanced R&D structure built. An exploiter has to remain stationary, but as it does not deploy, you cannot count on it to survive by its lonesome. Keep it protected - and use the artifacts to your advantage.
 * Furthermore, when exploring, you can run into Petra-7 containers. Collecting those gives a one-time boost to your credit count and can help rapidly improve your army and colony.

Strategies

 * Actively seek out existing and erupting Petra vents with fast, long range units like infantry or flyers. The resourcer can find them on its own, but it has a short sight range and lacks armor and weapons. Early on, investing in a second exploiter to secure another vent is a decent strategy to build up your credit reserve - but leaves you vulnerable to an attack.
 * Exploiters are costly, but not as costly as rebuilding an entire regiment. If overwhelmed, cut your losses and withdraw.