Hi there and welcome to Rise of Nations Heaven. Its a desolate place but with some activity from folks like you, we may just be able to revive it to its former glory.
Believe it or not, collecting resources is very simple in this game. I assume you know the basics such as that you need to build farms to gather food and then assign 1 citizen to gather it right? Right. Next you need to know that you must be methodical. The little window at the top left details your income collection and your maximum possible collection. If your collection rate for ANY of those resources are NOT at the maximum (i.e. they should be flashing yellow)then there is something wrong. Assign more citizens to collect those resources and make absolutely sure that you build granaries, lumber mills and smelters in the appropriate cities. Sometimes just researching the resource techs at the granary, lumber mill and smelter is just enough to get your resource production to the max.
Wealth works a little diffrently. It takes much longer to cap (expect it to cap at around the gunpowder/enlightenment age) and requires caravans (trade routes) and taxation research at the temple. Use it to trade often. Trade is your friend.
Finally theres knowledge. It has no cap at all so keep building universities and hire those scholars ASAP. University techs are extremely important in that regard. Save your wood and get them whenever possible.
And do NOT forget your commerce techs at the library. Those too are extremely important.
-Hell hath no fury like an Urban Cohort.
-Ah! The clans! They are numerous but not good for much!
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