Expeditions: Rome — How to Get and Trade Resources

To be successful in Expeditions: Rome, you’ll need to know how to get and trade resources. Managing things like denarii, rations, medicine, and slaves is incredibly important. If you mismanage assets, you might run out of the items your recruits need, or you may find that your wallet is empty.

In this Expeditions: Rome guide, we’ll tell you what each of the different resources are and how to get them through various means, including trade with the merchant, exploration, and more. 

How to Trade Resources With the Merchant in Expeditions: Rome

Once you have a base of operations for your Legion in Expeditions: Rome, you’ll be able to trade resources with the merchant. The four main resources are:

Denarii

Denarii is basically your money on hand. Denarii is used to recruit generic companions, replenish lost army troops, buy certain items based on dialogue options, capture infrastructure on the world map, exchange for crafting materials from specific vendors, and more. It’s one of the most ubiquitous resources in Expeditions: Rome.

Rations

Food in the form of Rations is consumed by your Praetorians (your main character, unique companions, and any generic recruits) while you’re traveling on the world map. Rations are reduced if characters have the Ascetic perk, as it causes them to eat less each day. 

Rations are depicted as the golden food bar to the right of your character’s portrait on the world map. If you run out of rations, your characters will eventually starve and die, making it one of the more important resources.

Medicine

Medicine is only used when a character is injured and is being treated in the Triage menu. The healing rate depends on the severity of the injury and how long the treatment lasts. An alternative is to leave a character in the Dispensary in your Legion outpost (it won’t use up your medicine). You can learn more in our healing and injuries guide.

Slaves

Slaves are required for your Legion to capture infrastructure on the world map. For instance, capturing a farm would cost 50 denarii and 15 slaves. Meanwhile, taking over a lumber mill or tannery would require 50 denarii and 25 slaves. You can learn more in our Legion conquest guide and Legion outpost upgrades guide.

Bonus Resource: Water

Water isn’t really a tradable resource, but it’s still worth mentioning. The water you have stored is depicted as the blue bar to the left of your character’s portrait on the world map. If it runs out, characters will die. You can replenish water automatically by revisiting your main camp/active outpost or finding a well.

Generally, the merchant in your active outpost (where your Legion is garrisoned) will only sell the four resources mentioned (excluding water), and you can trade any of these like a barter system. You choose one of your resources and trade with another resource at the merchant.

For example, if you want to purchase rations with medicine, click on the medicine icon on the left-hand side (your inventory) and the rations on the right-hand side (the merchant’s inventory).

The exchange rate is variable depending on the resource that’s being traded (slaves are worth more than other resources for example) and the merchant’s prices (which are based on the Market’s upgrade tier).

Other Ways to Get Resources in Expeditions: Rome

Naturally, there are other ways for you to earn resources in Expeditions: Rome outside of trade with the merchant. These are mostly related to exploration and progression.

• Battle and map loot: Apart from weapons and various items, enemy corpses and chests tend to have denarii, rations, or medicine.
• Caches and carts: These objects on the world map might have resources, too. You can interact with an Observatory to reveal them.
• Random events: Certain events that trigger on the world map can provide resources. Beware, though: failure might lead to the loss of these items as well.
• Hunting Grounds: Send your Legion to hunting grounds to obtain rations.
• Legion Missions: Send your Legion on missions to obtain denarii, medicine, or slaves depending on the icon.

Note that Hunting Grounds and Legion Missions require that you have full control over a region before you can send your Legion out to engage with them.

And that’s what you need to know about how to get resources and trading them in Expeditions: Rome. For more tips, consider heading over to our guides hub for the latest strategy RPG in the franchise.