People

Gold comes from people. Your Settlers show up on their own and work on their own, and the map holds people and relics that any of your units can pick up. None of it needs a click, but you can send a Settler to a tile to build next to it; people and relics are still picked up just by walking past.

Posts — where gold comes from

Houses provide housing and have no work posts. A Settler is born beside a House every 2 turns, on a shared schedule for your whole side. Before your first House, births happen at the HQ. Leave free ground beside a House for births. Other structures offer 2 work posts, except the HQ. Each working Settler earns 1 gold a turn. Idle Settlers earn nothing. Your Settler limit is half your population, rounded down, with a maximum of 10. Sending a Settler to build takes it away from work.

People who belong to nobody

Every map starts with 6 people and 5 relics, all at least 6 tiles from both HQs. Any of your units — a Settler included — that ends a turn next to one picks it up on the spot. A person raises your population cap by +1, which lets you keep more Settlers; a relic pays +1 gold every turn for the rest of the match.