Overview
The Five resources you can produce in the game are Blood, Steel, Crystal, Concrete and Platinum. These resources are necessary to accomplish anything. Without a steady supply of each you will quickly find yourself unable to do anything. The buildings in the Resource field produce a continous supply of the first four of these at a base rate determined by the number and level of each type of building. These base rates can be magnified through research and wilderness conquest.
Platinumis produced by taxation of the population. When something increases resource production by some percentage, N, that means N percent of the base rate. So a pair of 25% increases will give you a total rate of BaseRate x 1.5. The base rate is determined solely by the buildings in the Field, each of which adds 50 x Level x (Level + 1) units of base production. Base amounts can be determined by clicking on the Downtown in your city.
Blood
Blood Lab LVL9
Blood, used to feed troops, set troops to train, and build buildings. It is produced by Blood labs, which are built in the Resource field. Blood production can be amplified by researching Blood Chemistry at the Research Center and by capturing Prairie or Lake wildernesses.
Throughout the entire game, Blood is obtained from Redblood Camps. There is very little need to build more than one or two Blood Labs because of this. It is better to produce other resources in your Resource field that are more difficult to get from attacks. Even if you build the maximum amount of Blood Labs to the maximum level, you will never be able to keep your food in the positive.
If your troops are eating more blood than you produce (ie, your hourly production rate is negative), you will NOT lose any troops from "starvation". Instead, your reserve will simply stay at zero, preventing you from performing any upgrades or training any new troops. If you are looking for ways of temporarily reducing your upkeep, you can reinforce alliance members or reinforcing a wild.
Steel
Steelworks LVL9
You get Steel from building Steelworks in the Resource field. Steel is the resource you need the most for buildings and troop training. There is nothing you can build or train that doesn't require Steel. It is your most used building resource untill you get to level 9 downtown and level 7-8 Wall. Small amounts of Steel can be obtained from attacking Redblood Camps,but it is much less than the Blood gained. Researching Vein Mining will increase production of steel and by capturing Mountains wildernesses.
Crystal
Crystal Pit LVL9
You get Crystal from building Crystal Pits in the Resource field. Crystal is required for all but 3 types of research. It is also used for most troops. Building 2 or 3 Crystal Pits will boost your production and you will be able to keep up with research needs. Later on when you start to build a larger army with stronger units Crystal is used as much, if not more than Steel, and is easily your most precious resource... Researching Crystallography will increase the production of Crystal and by capturing Chasm wildernesses.
Concrete
Concrete Plant LVL9
You get Concrete from building Concrete plant in the Resource field. It is extremely valuable during the initial stages of building up your Fortress, Science Center and Garrisons. Researching Concrete Blends will increase production of Concrete and by capturing Hill wildernesses.
Platinum
Platinum is earned from citizens of your city paying taxes. Platinumis used for researches. Platinum can also be looted from Redblood Camps. The higher the level of the camps, the more Platinum can be looted.
50% tax rate produces the most Platinum , more or less than 50% gives you less Platinum unless you have a Nightclub.
Ruby
Ruby are the special in game currency that is used to purchase different things to further enhance the game in the favor of the player. Ruby may be purchased or earned by competing in contests hosted by Kabam. Things purchased with Ruby are called Items.
General Builds
How many of each resource plots you build depends on your playing style, how often you are online, and how quickly you want to train your army up.
Dedicated ToN'ers
This player type will want to get resources from attacking other players, building troops quickly, and advancing quickly. Minimal fields allow the player to have more idle population to train troops with later without having to pay money to nullify buildings.
1 Blood Lab lvl 9
3 Steelwork lvl 9
3 Crystal pit lvl 9
3 Concrete plant lvl 9
Reasoning for this, you can gain all the resources you need by attacking other people and camps for blood. You can begin "farming" active or inactive players around you early on, as soon as you are out of Beginner Protection if you have around 1.5k sniper and some transport troops. The earlier you start on troops, the lower level I recommend you build the fields to... around lvl 6 is usually where I stop.
Power Builders
This player will be the one that does not attack many active players. They gather resources, set troops to train, buildings to build, set their researches and leave the game until something else is needed. If you farm a lot of inactive cities, you may want to produce less resources.
1 Blood Lab lvl 9
3 Concrete plant lvl 9
1/2 Remaining slots = Steel
1/2 Remaining slots = Crystal
Reasoning for this, Blood is never an issue because everyone farms Camps for blood. But if you do not want to start conflict with other people, you won't have nearly as many options available to get resources... so you must produce them yourself.