Refinery

Economic

A solid economic building that you need for advanced progress, but build it only when you have secured the mining of basic resources and something to put into it.

Quick overview

Category	Economic
Max level	5
Size	5×5
Priority	Medium priority

The refinery is your workshop for refined resources, making it a building you will definitely need at a more advanced stage. It works by allowing you to place a production order, input basic resources, and it transforms them into more valuable materials that higher buildings and upgrades require. It is not passive mining like the sawmill or quarry, where it produces automatically; here you manage the production manually. My opinion: a useful thing, but definitely not the building you should construct first.

When to build it

Don't rush to build it right at the start. First, get your basic mining and resource production going, otherwise you'll have a refinery with nothing to put into it. Once your basic resources start overflowing and you encounter buildings or upgrades that require refined materials, it's time to build it and start placing orders. It takes up 5×5 tiles, which is quite a bit of space, so think ahead about where to place it in your castle to avoid having to rebuild later.

Is it worth upgrading?

It's worth upgrading, but wisely. The first two or three levels increase production the most for the least cost, so take those without hesitation as soon as you have something to process. Higher levels towards the max (level 5) should only be added when you are actually running low on refined resources and it's hindering your progress. If you have enough supplies, feel free to keep it at a lower level and invest elsewhere.

Pro player tipKeep your production of basic resources a step ahead of what you are processing in the refinery. No level of upgrade is useful if you don't have anything to feed the order. Before you start production, check if you have enough input so that the workshop doesn't stand idle. And before you upgrade it to the next level, check if you are genuinely lacking refined resources or if they are just piling up in storage.

Common mistakeThe most common mistake is building the refinery before you have enough basic resources to input. Then it just takes up space and stands idle because you have nothing to put into the order. Another classic mistake is to upgrade it to maximum right away, even when you are not consuming refined resources at all, thus wasting resources that could be used elsewhere. Build and upgrade it according to how much production you actually need.

Related buildings

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