So I’m playing on Prince difficulty on a small map with 4 other civs. There’s a war going on – Me, Holy Roman (my vassal) & Germany vs Rome & Persia (rome’s vassal).

I’m stuck on an island and can’t invade the enemy because they have destroyers and I don’t! I have the technology but no access to uranium or oil. I can’t even get a single ship across the ocean without being sunk, so capturing some oil/uranium from the enemy isn’t an option.
My vassal shares my island and has oil in his territory but isn’t doing anything with it (even though he has the technology to build oil wells). My war ally, Germany has lots of oil and uranium which he is using (including some on one of his cities on my island), but on the diplomacy screen other resources show up but NOT oil or uranium!!

So what can I do?
Is there a way to get oil / uranium to show up on the diplomacy screen?
Is there a way to force my vassal to use and trade the oil with me?
What would you do?

Thanks for the help!

Hi

First a dbl check. You are SURE you have required techs to USE oil and not JUST see oil patch locations? Sci Meth lets you see the oil but combustion is required to be able to actually use oil. If that's all set and not just a confusion over which techs are needed then--

If your vassal has combustion but for some reason ISNT building an oil well on oil in his borders then send in your workes and build a well for him and then demand it.

As for trading with non vassal allies. Again a dbl check you are saying oil does not appear AT ALL and not just redded out. If it's showing up and redded out then it most likely they just dont like you enough to trade a start resource like that too you.

But if it isnt showing up AT ALL like not even redded out but not there in any form then it for only one of two reasons. They either do not have the necessary techs to use oil yet OR they just dont have any spare oil available for trade.

Again after dbl check to make usre they necessary techs and if they do then they just dont have any spares. You could try to look on diplo screens and see if they are trading oil to someone else already. If they are you could try to see if they are willing to take a "stop trading with..." request for that civ. If they are and you can get em to agree to it then it SHOULD give em back their spare oil and then you could try and trade for it then.

However best bet is still just sending in your workes and building oil well for your vassal then demanding it.

And this also applies to uranium except the techs are physics to SEE the uranium and fission to actually use it.

Kaytie

Standard Ethanol, if you're playing BTS.

About your vassal, he may have Combustion for wells, but if he doesnt have Scientific Method, he can't see the resource.

Great, thanks, that gives me lots of options!

It’s a shame that the founding of corporations is based on something as random as the appearance certain types of great people; if it was the kind of thing you could plan for then getting standard ethanol would be a good strategy.

I’m not allowed to build anything other than roads on my vassal’s territory, but I could gift him a worker to see if that helps.

I don’t think anyone has fission yet, so my ally might trade for uranium if I give him the tech.

Is there a diplo screen where you can see the resources being traded between other civs? If I remember correctly the main diplomacy -> resources screen only shows what other civs will and won’t trade with me, not with other civs.

It’s a shame that the founding of corporations is based on something as random as the appearance certain types of great people
...except it's only as random as you allow it to be. :)

I suggest posting a save. The AIs are usually pretty quick to build Forts on revealed resources that arent in their BFCs, so I cant imagine him not building a well. Its not Ocean oil, is it? That requires a different tech for the Platform (Plastics).

Is there a diplo screen where you can see the resources being traded between other civs? If I remember correctly the main diplomacy -> resources screen only shows what other civs will and won’t trade with me, not with other civs. On the main diplomacy screen, click on the AI leaderhead to view their relationships with all other civs, which will also show you the active trading deals with other civs.

If it turns out Germany is trading oil to someone else, you can fix that by sending spies to the other country and destroying whichever resource they are trading for. (AI's usually give each other ridiculously cheap deals for strategic resources, so it's likely to "Oil for Wheat" or something like that.) You will need to destroy ALL of that civ's resources on a single turn, so it will involve several spies in a coordinated, terrorist-style attack. :lol:

After that, on the next turn, Germany should have oil available for trade (assuming he doesn't trade it to someone else on the interturn) -- be prepared to pay something outrageous for it, though!

If you decide to go for Standard Ethanol, keep in mind the corporation requires Corn, Rice, or Sugar to produce anything.

If the gap between islands isn't too extreme you might want to try out using an airforce of airships to bomb out any destroyers. Then your navy could finish em off. If you are extremely close, you could try without an airforce at all and just use paratroopers. Another option is that if you have a vassal with any cities on another island you can airlift into his cities, and launch an invasion from their borders, I believe you may be able to airlift into a civ with a permanent alliance as well.

Germany isn't trading oil to the others--all trade deals are cancelled by war.

Kaytie was spot on, it sounds like you don't have the Combustion tech.