Age of Origins Gather Resources Phase: The One-Second Rule

Part of the Events series:

• Strongest Commander Guide: The parent event.
• Attack Monsters Phase: The other throughput phase.

Quick Answer

• Gather scores collected resources, and gold is the highest-value target — it's also the slowest to gather, which is exactly why it pays.
• The core trick: have marches finish gathering one second after the phase opens. Points credit on collection, not on effort.
• That means the real work happens the night before — send long gathers timed to land inside the window.
• Camp high-level gold mines specifically; low-tier resource tiles are a waste of the phase.
• Bigger marches score more per trip, so army-size research and the Saki launch-swap both pay here.

Points Credit on Collection

Here's the mechanic that decides this phase, and it's the same principle running through all of Strongest Commander: the game scores completions, not activity. A gathering march that has been working for eleven hours scores nothing until the resources land in your city — and if they land inside the phase window, the entire haul counts.

The exploit that follows is beautiful and entirely legitimate: send long gathers before the phase opens, timed so they complete a second after it does. Eleven hours of overnight work, banked, credited in full the moment the window starts. Players who begin gathering when the phase opens are eleven hours behind before they've dispatched a single march.

This is why the phase-order reveal matters so much. Once Phase 2 shows and you can deduce the sequence, you know which night to set up the big gathers.

Gold First

Not all tiles are equal, and the community's verdict is consistent: gold is the phase's premium target. It's the slowest resource to gather, which is precisely the reason it's worth the most per unit — the scoring rewards the difficulty.

Practical implications:

• Camp high-level gold mines ahead of the phase. Sitting on a good tile before the rush is worth more than any dispatch speed.
• Don't dilute with cheap tiles. Food and oil runs feel productive and score poorly by comparison; save those for ordinary days, per the resource management guide.
• Coordinate with your alliance. Good gold tiles inside alliance territory get contested during gather phases — claim early, and gather where your neighbors can respond if someone hits your march.

Bigger Marches, Bigger Score

Since scoring keys on volume collected, everything that raises march capacity is a score multiplier:

• Army-size research — the permanent lever, worth finishing before a gather phase lands.
• Saki appointed at launch — the free capacity boost most players forget, applied at the moment the march leaves.
• Full marches only. A 70% march does 70% of the scoring for 100% of the trip time.

Safety During the Phase

One warning that costs people armies every cycle: gathering marches are the most exposed thing in the game, and a gather phase means the whole server has marches sitting on tiles. If your nation is in a hostile week — or the kill phase is approaching on Sunday — gather inside alliance territory, keep escape awareness, and don't leave premium marches parked on a distant gold mine overnight.

The Routine

1. Deduce the phase day from the reveal.
2. Position on high-level gold the day before.
3. Dispatch long gathers timed to land just after the window opens.
4. Appoint Saki at launch; run full marches.
5. Re-send immediately on collection and keep the rotation going for the full window.
6. Recall before Sunday if the kill phase is next.