Aquiring resources from undertech civs without war

[Jezner]

Does anybody have any tactics on how to aquire strat. resources from under-developed civs without mounting a full scale invasion? I've been trying to work this out, but I can't seem to get anywhere. Sure, you could give the civ the technology, but that doesn't garauntee anything except the leveling of the playing field. How do you deal with this?

[Gray]

Do you have peace treaties or protection pacts with the civs you are trading with? This may help. Also commercial civs seem to be ready to trade all day. I know that sounds lame, but the Greeks have been making fairly decent trade deals with me for a while now in my current game. Where as the Zulu's won't give me the time of day and I offered them 2 techs and 50 gold for wine-just to see if they would take it-and they would not except...

[Jezner]

But can you trade for a strat resource with a civ that doesn't know it exists? Meaning, If the Persians are living in an oil field, but they are still doing the medieval thing, what options are available to you for aquiring that oil. I didn't think civs could trade resources in which they are not high-tech enough to understand.

[Gray]

Not sure about that, my guess would be that they cannot trade it if they do not know it is there. In that case, you can either give them the tech necessary for them to see it (maybe as part of a peace treaty) or you can build an army and you can take over that part of their empire. If they are that far behind you, and you move in enough troops to take, and hold, 2 or 3 cities then they will most likely sue for peace anyway...

Again, if they are militaristic, I would not bet on them wanting to trade a whole lot. So in that case the conquering route is probably the way to go...

[Diety]

you need to give them the tech the need to spot the stuff, then ask for it...

[Jezner]

It seems like that's the only way to do it. But - that kind of stinks. Imagine bartering for uranium. It's like -
"Here's the secret of the nuclear bomb, now can I have the material to make it."

"Er, no. But thanks for stopping by"

Extreme example, but my point nonetheless.

[Diety]

point taken.

On the other hand... what's the alternative ? If they have uranium on their grounds, you're not gonne find it there, are you ?

The main problem is not that the under-tech civ now has the tech to make a nuke. The problem is that when you give it to them, you can bet they will give it to the other civs. And then all bets are off.

Decisions, decisions !!!

[miradus]

I try and find a city of theirs that is right next to the resource and then I start making outlandish deals for the city. The AI doesn't really catch on, but they trade their cities pretty high as it is.

"I don't know why the Greeks want Abydos so badly. It's only a 1 population and is out in the middle of that desert. Still, look at all they're willing to give us. Those suckers!" -- Dumb French Advisor