Each cell produce a ressource of its color and consume a ressource of its opossite color, when you lock a cell it prevents it to change for the next step but if you have more cell of the opposite color you will not get a positive gain.
Locking a cell ensure that the ressource of the color of the cell us produced at each turn.
I know that the game could be a little obscure but I did not have the time to had all the feedback I wanted