How does comsumption of strategic resources work?

Question

When are strategic resources (Firaxite, Floatstone, Xenomass, Petroleum and Titanium) consumed?

• If I offer to trade 3 petroleum to an opponent, will I get the resource back at the end of 30 turns?
• If I build a satellite with a strategic resource cost, are the strategic resources lost forever, or will I get them back when the sattelite crashes?
• If an opponents gives me strategic resources for 30 turns, and I use those to build units, what happens to those units at the end of the 30 turns, when I lose access to the resource needed to build them?

Answer 1

1. Yes.

2. You will get them back when the satellite crashes (or gets destroyed by an enemy or removed manually by you).

3. You will end up with a negative number for that strategic resource until the unit is destroyed or deleted. Also, the unit's maintenance cost will rise and it will receive a penalty to combat effectiveness until you reacquire the strategic resources it "needs" again. (I don't have the exact numbers, maybe someone else can contribute them.)

Think of your strategic resource total quantities as a steady "stream" rather than a fixed amount.

Strategic resources, when acquired, are added to your global total. When you consume an amount of strategic resources in any way (building a unit, accepting trade deal, etc.) those resources get "locked" in usage. When you stop consuming them (unit is destroyed, trade deal ends, etc.) they return to your global total.

Answer 2

If you trade strategic resources with an opponent, you will lose (or gain) them for the 30 turns the deal lasts. When the deal ends, the resource's original owner will have access to them again.

Strategic Resources that are spent on a unit are considered spent as long as you own that unit. If you disband the unit or it is destroyed, you will get those resources back but until then you won't be able to use them for anything else.

If you lose access to a resource while you are using it, causing your total to go negative, two things will happen. First, any production in cities that requires that resource will end. Second, if you are still negative, any units that use that resource will receive severe penalties until you acquire more or reduce the number of units.