Gold

Gold is a resource that forms the primary method of progression through the purchase of Wheat, Wood and Tiles, and is primarily obtained by abdicating.

### Abdication

Gold is first obtained by abdicating once all tiles are filled with a building, though if new tiles are added and not filled, for example through tile purchase or from conquering them using a hero then abdication will be barred until all tiles are filled again.

Abdication gold is calculated by taking the sum total of Wheat, Wood and Stone income, and returning a 1/10th fraction of this, rounded down to the nearest integer and then applying abdication bonuses. For example, a combined income of 119 units for a new player with no bonuses would give 11 abdication gold.

Bonuses are then successively applied to this base number in the following order;

* Rituals - A stacking 10% bonus per ritual started. This is not affected by which rituals were completed, just the total number.
* Gold Production - A bonus of 1% extra abdication gold for each unit of gold being produced by buildings.
* Chicken Trial - A static bonus of 20% for completing the 2nd Divine Trial of the Chicken God.
* Fame - A bonus of 3% per point of Fame, gained after using the Sail Away mechanic to prestige and soft reset.
* Pyramids - A 50% bonus for every pyramid (cathedrals upgraded by the second Egyptian empire bonus)

### Gold Production

Gold can also be produced by certain buildings like normal resources at later points within the game; the Shipyard and Custom House, offering a consistency of gold income and opening access to International Trade.

The Shipyard is unlocked on each continent after Sea Outlets have been discovered (20 tiles owned, effectively 22), though can only be placed on coastal tiles adjacent to the Sea. This building hires Trade Ships using Wood rather than workers using Wheat, and gives an income of 1000 Wheat, 100 Wood, 10 Stone and 1 Gold per second for each Trade Ship.

The Custom House is a replacement for the Forest Hut, unlocked by gaining the Russian 2 empire trait, a three empire point investment. This building is identical to the Forest Hut for all other purposes, but once 20 tiles are owned (and thus sea outlets discovered), begin to produce gold at a rate of 1 gold per 20 workers. This can be improved later on by the Russian 3 trait, which allows gold production at 10 total tiles rather than 20.

### What is Gold used for?

Gold is used to buy things, obviously!

Initially, it is only possible to buy Wheat, Wood and Tiles;

* Wheat and Wood purchases cost 1 Gold per purchase each, and return an amount of Wheat/Wood equal to 50 + half the current Wheat/Wood income. This IS affected by rituals, making purchases during rituals much more cost effective than otherwise
* New territory tiles begin with a cost of 1 Gold, which initially scales at a rate of 10n for each n tiles purchased; i.e. buying the 5th tile has a cost of 104 or 10,000 Gold. This scaling can be reduced to 9n by the Russian 1 empire trait, and the overall cost can be reduced by half both by the American 1 trait and stacking purchases of Expert Surveyors.

Once Gold production has become, International Trade is then opened, allowing the following;

* Purchase of 20,000 seconds worth of current Wheat, Wood or Stone production for 1 million gold. These purchases can not be made while undergoing a Ritual of any kind.

* Hiring the following Experts from abroad;
	+ Surveyors - Reduce the cost of tile purchases by 1/2
	+ Headhunters - Reduce the hiring time of production tiles by 1/2
	+ Cultists - Reduce the Holiness cost of Religion Perks (but not Servant Perks) by 1/2
	+ Nurses - Reduce the healing time of Heroes by 1/2

These experts are multiplicative; for example three Surveyors will half the tile purchase cost three times over, to a total reduction of 1/8, and all experts are retained on Abdication, Heritage Creation, and Becoming a Mentor resets, but are not retained when Sailing Away.