I haven't crunched the numbers, but I'm acquiring the impression that the weapons made out of strategic resources tend to have about the same industry cost as their iron/dust counterparts (sometimes lower) and dramatically higher stats--in particular, the tier 1 adamantine/palladium weapons are available in era 3, yet seem to be noticeably better than all iron/dust weapons in the entire game, even in era 6.



Meanwhile the armors made out of strategic resources tend to have significantly higher industry costs than their iron/dust counterparts and stats that are only marginally higher, to the point where iron/dust armor from era X+1 might have a lower cost AND better stats than the resource armors from era X. Even when I had resource armors armors from the current era available and no shortage of the resources themselves, I often used iron/dust armor in my unit designs just to keep the unit's industry cost down.



Some of the armor techs may be worth it anyway, just for the accessories (particularly the hero accessories). But it strikes me as odd. Does it seem this way to anyone else?



(I don't think it matters, but just in case, my last game was as Ardent Mages.)

A nice spreadsheet with a side by side comparison of all available techs in the game would be very beneficial. I may take some time and try and put something together if I can find the time and information quickly later this week.

Using this data http://endlesslegendwiki.com/Armor

I made some preliminary graphs in excel to compare stats visually. There is definitely a drop in effeciency when comparing raw stats to production costs however, specific armor types also provide a % buff to various stats, both offensive and defensive, depending on the type of material you use.



Therefore if you value a perticular stat it may be worth the added cost. It really depends on your units, and what you want.