Best Gathering Units in Conqueror's Blade: Maximize your Resource Gains

Gathering resources in Conqueror's Blade is the leading way to generate crafting materials and, more importantly, Fief Quests. While creating Unit Kits and Siege Weapons may be an attractive prospect, Fief Quests provide the largest source of honour in the game, which leads to you having a more powerful army. In addition, it is also the leading way of acquiring treasures, which can be sold on the Resource Market for between 9,000 and 15,000 silver each.

Preparing for Gathering

The primary stat that decides how many resources you gain for each gathering attempt is "Labour". This grows as units level up, and some units like the Serfs, Village Watchmen, Woodcutters, and Tenant Farmers have veterancy tracks that boost the Labour even further. Furthermore, there are several Doctrines that can also help you gain Labour.

Unit Comparison

The Optimal Method - 5 Serfs

After extensive testing, I found that the Serf unit was the best farming unit. This is largely due to their extremely high Labor score, and with their bottom line, veterancy gains a 60% bonus towards resource gathering. The overall goal you should set early on is to recruit 5 Serfs and get them to Level 8. Follow the bottom veterancy line. This will drastically improve your gathering potential by almost 400%.

In the Terracotta season, the method to recruit more than one of the same unit changed. To recruit more than one serf, you will need to acquire Expansion Permits.

Unlocking Expansion Permits for Free!

There are several achievements and seasonal challenges that award Expansion Permits that will unlock Expansion Permits instead of purchasing them via the in-game store using Sovereigns.

Achievements

• Units:
  • Career Commander - Own ten units.
  • Full House - Unlock 10 units on the Unit Tree.

Seasonal Challenges

• Season IV: Blood of the Empire: Wages of War
  • Stage 1: 4 Challenges
  • Stage 4: 4 Challenges

Leveling Your Serfs

I would advise all new players to use their Unit Medals to get their serfs to level 8. I'd recommend that you maximize your gains, keep all of your Serfs at the same level as they level up. Driving all of them to 3, then 4, then 6, then 7, and finally 8 will ensure you get the most from them as you push them to the cap. Additionally, you can use your Shared Unit EXP from your battles to help level your Serfs up so that you don't need to bring them into battle at all.

Essential Veterancy Nodes

• Lv. 3: Harvest Duties: Increases collected resources by 20%. (Improves Labour Score to 7.68)
• Lv. 4: Mustering: Adds 4 more soldiers to the unit. (Improves Labour Score to 8.64)
• Lv. 6: Mustering: Adds 4 more soldiers to the unit. (Improves Labour Score to 9.60)
• Lv. 7: Harvest Duties: Increases collected resources by 20%. (Improves Labour Score to 11.20)
• Lv. 8: Harvest Duties: Increases collected resources by 20%. (Improves Labour Score to 12.80)

The Mixed Lineup - For those too lazy to quest.

Not all of us were made to chase questlines and achievements. Some prefer the constant taste of battle and glory and want to just enjoy life as it comes. While there are other units that can do the job, none will do it as well as the 5 serf method. If you must go without 5 serfs and simply cant be bothered to unlock or buy a few extra slots, then I have a lineup just for you.

Increasing Gathering Potential

While the first way to increase gathering potential is to get all 5 of your serfs to level 8 on the bottom veterancy path, there are more ways you can increase your output. 

The Technology Tree

This will unlock at level 100 and will allow you to increase your gains by advancing through the technology tree. My suggestion is to focus on a single path until you reach the first "Increases X Exotics production by 100%.". Once you have that node in a line go to the next one and focus on getting it to that third node. Then keep moving down the technology tree until you have all of the first three nodes. Then go back to the start and focus on getting to the 5th node and work your way down the tree. Some areas might be more important depending on which regions are open. For example, in Maoyang, Iron Nodes yield "Tungsten" which is a Regional Exotic that is used in Unit Kit Crafting for gold and purple unit kits. It's also one of the most sought-after materials for Houses to Gain XP. This makes it very lucrative in the Resource Market. If you want to subsidize your farming expeditions, focusing on Regional Exotic collection might be a good way of doing so.

Labor Doctrines

The next major improvement is found when you unlock the Doctrine system. You can begin finding these when excavating the "The Field of Broken Lances" node from the excavation panel. As you begin to use Doctrinal Alchemy, you will start to find some of the more advanced versions. 

• Labor Doctrine: Increase labor by 0.05
• Health & Labor Doctrine: Increases health by 360 points. Increases labor by 0.05 per living soldier in the unit.
• Health & Labor Doctrine III: Increases health by 400 points. Increases labor by 0.06 per living soldier in the unit.
• Health & Labor Doctrine IV: Increases health by 440 points. Increases labor by 0.06 per living soldier in the unit.
• Health & Labor Doctrine V: Increases health by 440 points. Increases labor by 0.07 points per living soldier in the unit.

The Supporting Data

Now, the important part to know is how this works. Here are some numbers to help you see how each step changes the overall gains. For this data, we used a single Limonite Iron Mine.

1 Serf

• Lv. 1: 791 Limonite, 2 Black Manganese, 1 Tin
• Lv. 8 Bottom Veterancy: 1,424 Limonite, 3 Black Manganese, 9 Tin
• Lv. 8 with Labor Doctrines: 2,086 Limonite, 21 Black Manganese, 14 Tin
• Lv. 8 with Technology Tree: 2,367 Limonite, 24 Black Manganese
• Lv. 8 with Labor Doctrines & Technology Tree: 2,733 Limonite, 48 Black Manganese, 16 Tin

Setting off on your Gathering Expedition

To start gathering you must first leave the city you're in by speaking to the Watchmen or Agents. You can do this by holding the tab key and by clicking on the label on the right side called "Watchman" under Officers & Info. This will autorun you to the Watchmen and allow you to leave the city. Once at the watchman select "Leave Fief" and a screen will pop up where you can select your Serfs to bring with you.

Being Persued

Now, occasionally, there will be malicious players afoot, and you may want to bring some fighting units to protect yourself. In all honesty, the chance of survival isn't great to begin with, as there is no real benefit for doing this, and it is a really poor return on investment. These players are usually "try-hards" and do this to feel better about themselves. 

From my extensive testing, the amount of resources you lose is pretty consistent.

• Your Loss: 50%
• Their Gain: 25%
• Resources Destroyed: 25%

While being pursued is annoying, it does complete a weekly challenge for you. Typically, you will have more resources than you know what to do with and will eventually be throwing them away or refining them into refined materials anyway. It's best to just let it happen and move along. You will be immune to being pursued for 3 minutes after you leave the fight. 

If you're hauling something important. Swing by your local Trade Colony or Capital City and list the item on the Resource Market, then immediately cancel it. You can then go to your local Watchman in your hometown and ask them to ship it to you. This is an easy way to ensure the delivery of your most precious goods. It costs a little silver, but it's guaranteed delivery.

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