[3pt14159]

Well, it's more that resource storage allows adaptivity rather than being a shock absorber, per se.

For example, in the fog of war or the early game we don't know if the enemy is teching, econo-expanding, or rushing. In the mid-game we know an attack is coming, but we're uncertain its unit composition. So in the early game we store some resources while we scout. If we see them teching we can dump everything into military expansion since they'll have neither the army nor the production to counter any attack. Same idea for mid-game: knights -> build pikeman, archers -> build knights.

If it were merely about shock absorption we may as well have dumped it all into walls, archers, and castles.

[Retric]

I would describe those as shocks. I may prefer to set money aside and then fix my car before it breaks down from a transmission issue or whatever, but I don’t know that it will be a problem. In the same way I would prefer to blind counter in an RTS, but I just don’t have that information.

[3pt14159]

Well, why not dump all the money into units then? Right? It's fundamentally about the adaptability not the defence depth.

[Retric]

It’s still about lack of information. Building random units in an RTS without information is like replacing random car parts, it might work but it’s likely to be wasteful.

Of course risk vs reward can still favor replacing parts early or building units / eco.