I hope this question is in the right section of the board.

I want to use the editor to place oil offshore, so that it can be used as a strategic resource. So far I have had no luck. Is there any way to do this?

:(

in the editor, you can edit resource and terrain types

terrain types have a section on what resources can be placed.

i am assuming you want coast or ocean?


then you have have to go in and allow the ocean tile to allow oil to be placed there.


there is no way in my mind however i can see of how your going to get the oil... no roads can lead to it.

Putting the strategic resource oil offshore isn't the problem, getting to it is. You'd have to allow oil to be placed on water, which is possible, allow roads on water, which is possible, put workers on boats to build these water roads, which is possible, and (critical part) you would have to make the AI realize what the heck is going on, which is not possible. Also, roads in water would look pretty nasty, anyway.

i think that if you build a harbour then if the Oil is in water you will get it?

No, it doesn't work that way.

What if you made oil into a bonus resource, then it wouldn't need a road?

What if you made oil into a bonus resource, then it wouldn't need a road?

No because you do not need a to be connected to bonus resouces. :) The only have to be within a cities radius. :)

Well, you can make it into a bonus resource, but then building oil platforms seems a little illogical (if you're already getting a bonus from the offshore oil, what bonus does the platform represent...) Of course, its already sort of ridiculous to not be able to use the oil your platforms are supposedly drilling in units that require the stuff.
And I think Iron Beagle was explicitly looking to make it into a strategic resource. Unless you had a custom map with a seperate type of oil on 'coastal' land squares that allowed you to build 'drilling platforms' if it was in the radius of a city and which provided copies of every unit that needed oil (which would look awful messy in the build menu if you had access to both land oil and offshore oil), then I don't see it being used effectively in conjunction with the AI and graphics, since otherwise (I believe) you'd have to road out into the water like I mentioned.

Allthough it is erroneous, I like to think offshore oil rigs are a necessity resource, more than a tradable resource... at least that is the new justification in my mod, as to why offshore oil can't be traded. Fact is, Civ III engine can't do a sea strategic or luxury resource. Bonus is the best you can get.

You could make a secondary oil resource that works as a 'within city borders' requirement. Iron Works, for example, requires resources within a city's borders to be able to build it (I don't believe roads need to connect to them, but maybe someone can confirm/deny this?). If you made an 'offshore oil' resource, you could have coastal buildings require it in order to be built.

I'm pretty sure you need to be connected to a resource for a city improvement/wonder which needs it in the city's borders...even if its not that particular city's resource that is connected (IE if you had iron and coal in your local trade network and built a new city with a road out to it which had both iron and coal in its radius but didn't have individual roads out to them, that new city would be able to build an iron works. However, if you didn't already have iron and coal in your network, it wouldn't. I think.)

Hopefully that makes sense and is factually straight.

I think it needs to be connected in the cities radius. I have added many resources to my game that need to be in a cities radius in order for certain buildings to be built, and the resource always needs to be connected in the cities radius. I use oil rigs in my game as an extra bonus resource just for a bit of flavour.

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

I wanted to be able to use offshore oil to build units and buildings that need oil. I guess that can't be done.

Actually you only need the resource in the city radius andto be connected to that resourse from somewhere on the map. That specific resource doesn't need to be connected...:crazyeye:

Didn't someone a long time ago (pre C3C) show that the AI would attempt to put colonies on strategic sea resources if the requisite abilities et al were enabled? If this is true, and the colony was located next to land, building a road to the land tile next to the colony would connect it, even if borders later expand and disband the colony. The problem would then be getting a colony in place before borders expanded past the resource.

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

I wanted to be able to use offshore oil to build units and buildings that need oil. I guess that can't be done.

just make a new resource called "offshore oil" and only place it on the map near costal squares. Of course your scenario can only have one map then. And you would have to specify "offshore oil" as a requirement to build the troops or buildings. this could solve some of your problems. besides, the gridded map in civ is an abstraction of reality, just like icons representing good or bad things.

make a unit called oil rig? make it so that it can be placed off shore? have attach and defense capabilites? i dont know. all kinds of other units out there... why no this one?

striq and cidknee, people have been trying to incorporate offshore oil into civ 3 for 4 years now. Unfortunately your ideas isn't new, neither can you get the AI to get a clue.

Actually, striq's idea works (he's saying to put the oil on land tiles next to the sea), but only on preset maps.

Ah, I misread "near coastal squares" :crazyeye:

Actually, striq's idea works (he's saying to put the oil on land tiles next to the sea), but only on preset maps.

thats right man, only on preset maps!