Acquiring 2nd source of iron

I've exited the AA and have entered the MA. Iron will be king for awhile, but I only have 1 source. Do you guys prioritize getting a 2nd source (fearing your only source could 'disappear')? Is it a goal high enough to make you alter your entire attack strategy?

You will need iron for railroads and factories. But apart from that aquiring a second source of iron has a limited priority, unless selling it for something of high value for you changes those priorities. It always does depend on circumstances, but generally speaking aquring a second source of iran has a low priority. Cavalry does not need iron, nor do musketmen. Cannons do need irron, but trebuchets do a good job aswell. Something that might be gamechanging is that frigates and privateers do need iron. On pangea that is not so important.

Delphi456 said:

I've exited the AA and have entered the MA. Iron will be king for awhile, but I only have 1 source. Do you guys prioritize getting a 2nd source (fearing your only source could 'disappear')? Is it a goal high enough to make you alter your entire attack strategy?

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Yes, I like to have a 2nd source within my borders, but no, it doesn't usually rule my early-game strategy (NB Emp player, generally Small-Standard size maps). This is because I never count on having Iron before I can gain control of (most of) my Continent -- which rarely happens in my early game (I tend towards the wimpy end of the aggression-spectrum!). I will fight wars for Luxes though.

Bear in mind that Iron (or any StratRes) can only exhaust while it's hooked to a trade network (i.e. roaded within culture-borders, or roaded+Colonised if outside them), and only if the connection is in place over the interturn. So if you're really worried about it disappearing, you could use the 'disconnect/ reconnect' trick: in addition to being able to build a powerful military much faster, it can also eliminate the resource-exhaustion risk.

(If you don't know it already):

I don't care.
If my iron runs out, then I'll get that source by force anyway. Don't need to hurry.

Delphi456 said:

I've exited the AA and have entered the MA. Iron will be king for awhile, but I only have 1 source. Do you guys prioritize getting a 2nd source (fearing your only source could 'disappear')? Is it a goal high enough to make you alter your entire attack strategy?

Click to expand...

I like to grab a second source to deny it to an AI neighbor... which I will probably attack, anyway.

When going for a non-military victory condition, I don't care. As justanick already pointed out, in this case iron becomes important only at the beginning of the industrial age in order to build railroads. (Railroads are so strong, it's absolute priority to get them laid down asap!) But by the time Steam Power comes along, I usually have enough territory that iron is no problem and has probably be connected already long ago...

When going for a military victory condition, I don't care either... Horsemen can conquer an enemy much quicker than swordsmen, so horses are more important to me than iron. Only if I have absolutely no chance of connecting horses, I try to get some iron. (However, I try to deny iron to my neighbors, once the middle age is approaching, as I don't like to have to overcome tons of hill towns protected by pikemen... Those are a pain in the a**...)
Once the enemy's defenders become too strong for horsemen (pikemen or even musketmen), I will upgrade to Knights, if I have iron. But even here iron is not vital: if I have none, I can instead beeline to Cavalry, which will take 3 techs more than Knights, but are much more powerful. So the extra time needed for getting to Cavalry instead of to Knights, can be made up later by a much swifter conquest.

tjs282 said:

(If you don't know it already):

Spoiler :

1. Station a cheap mil-unit and a Worker(s) on the road to/on your Iron (or Saltpeter)
2. Pillage the connection, allowing you to begin building the cheaper precursor unit(s)
   • If you only have 1 Worker available, start rebuilding the road (if non-IND, needs 3T on flatland, 6T on Hills, 9T on Mountains), while your units get built
   • If you have sufficient Workers to spare, you can wait until all units are built, and then re-road in a single turn (i.e. 3 Workers on flatland, 6 on Hills, 9 on Mountains)
3. On the same turn the road is completed, upgrade any completed units (if you have the cash)*
4. Repeat steps 2-3 ad infinitum

*Yes, upgrading's expensive, but it costs less gold per shield than cash-rushing, with the additional advantage that you can buy upgrades under whipping governments (although those govs make a lot less gold per turn, they also tend to support larger militaries for free, with lower costs for overages). If you save up cash, you can usually upgrade a decent attack-force in the late AA/ early Mid-Age

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You did not yet get this completely right: this procedure can be improved by reconnecting iron/saltpeter before the units get finished, not afterwards. Then you can do the upgrade interturn (instead of in the following turn), so the units will be ready to march one turn earlier!! This is extremely powerful. (Spoonwood pointed this out to me once, while I was researching interturn mechanics, and I've been using it ever since...)