Bonus Resource Oligopolies

[Enginseer]

First part:

Spoiler :

Hi
let's say for a modmod purposes and intent.

There was Bonus Resource monopoly. Why? Well, I don't really like improving bonus resources outside of workable tiles especially if I can't settle a city to work it and every other resource has a reason to be improved even if they can't be worked.

So I offer Bonus Resource Monopoly. They don't serve as a conventional monopoly because policies like Exploitation do not boost them nor can they be banned in the World Congress like strategic resources cannot be. Most importantly, they don't serve prereqs in establishing a Corporation. this is totally intended and not because bonus resource monopoly cannot be just added to the monopoly table conventionally

Because they're not conventional monopolies, they don't need to have a 25% or 50% threshold of acquiring their bonuses. Now isn't it an oxymoron to have a monopoly at 10% or even 20%? Sure, but it works out significantly when some bonus resource like Fish outnumbers many while some like Rice only exist in 4 of the world. Thoughts?

Second part
Now we develop a concept of Bonus Resource Oligopolies. Since bonus resources cannot be imported, exported, or duplicated. They have a much lower threshold (as well as having a >= operator instead of a > operator) and multiple civilizations can acquire oligopolies of a resource type as opposed to only one civilization being allowed to have a monopoly on a resource type.

Resources	20% (Local)	40% (Regional)	60% (International)	How much is spawned (Easiness to Acquire)
Fish	+1 Science on all Fish tiles.	+1 Food to Ocean tiles (excluding Coasts).	+10 Science to all Coastal Cities.	Abundant (Hardest)
Deer	+1 Food on all Deer tiles.	+1 Empire-wide Happiness.	-5% Culture Cost of all future Social Policies.	Abundant to Common (Hardest to hard)
Stone	+1 Golden Age Point on all Stone tiles.	+25% Tile Improvement Speed.	+5% Production to Stone Works.	Common (Hard)
Maize	+1 Gold on all Maize tiles.	+3 Gold in all Cities.	+4 copies of Oil.	Uncommon (Medium)
Bison	+1 Food on all Bison tiles.	+1 Empire-wide Happiness.	+4 copies of Coal.	Uncommon (Medium)
Wheat	+1 Food on all Wheat tiles.	+3 Food in all Cities.	+4 copies of Oil.	Uncommon (Medium)
Sheep	+1 Food on all Sheep tiles.	+1 Empire-wide Happiness	+4 copies of Coal.	Uncommon (Medium)
Cattle	+1 Food on all Cattle tiles.	+1 Empire-wide Happiness.	+4 copies of Coal.	Uncommon (Medium)
Bananas	+1 Gold on all Banana tiles.	+10% Yields from Trade Routes (International and Internal).	+1 Max Trade Route	Rare (Easy)
Rice	+1 Production on all Rice tiles.	+2 Production in all Cities.	+3 copies of Oil.	Rare (Easy)

 

[FinMc]

I think this sounds fun, I don't know why but the monopoly mechanic scratches an itch in my brain and I love collecting them

 

[Slyceth]

I don't know how this would work, when it comes to trading I always just trade away duplicates to the highest bidder, and I buy all duplicates if I can afford them, and buy all other resources if they're not angry-overpriced and/or I can afford them

 

[Enginseer]

I think this sounds fun, I don't know why but the monopoly mechanic scratches an itch in my brain and I love collecting them

My exact thoughts!

I don't know how this would work, when it comes to trading I always just trade away duplicates to the highest bidder, and I buy all duplicates if I can afford them, and buy all other resources if they're not angry-overpriced and/or I can afford them

Can't trade the bonus resources. The modmod feature would just add them to the monopoly list with lower thresholds and weaker bonuses that cannot found a corporation essentially.

 

[gabrielsfarias]

Kinda unrelated but what are the benefits of improving something you can't work?

Wouldn't you think that having more then 25% of a resource which is abundant in the map would be stronger than strategic? I think this would make Wheat monopoly better than Iron, so it should be harder to achieve.

 

[CppMaster]

Cool idea! Yeah, I wouldn't call 10% a monopoly, but that's ok. Mechanics stay the same, only the threshold is different.

 

[Stalker0]

Hi
let's say for a modmod purposes and intent.

There was Bonus Resource monopoly. Why? Well, I don't really like improving bonus resources outside of workable tiles especially if I can't settle a city to work it and every other resource has a reason to be improved even if they can't be worked.

So I offer Bonus Resource Monopoly. They don't serve as a conventional monopoly because they're not boosted by policies like Exploitation nor can they be banned in the World Congress like strategic resources cannot be and most importantly, they don't serve prereqs in establishing a Corporation. this is totally intended and not because bonus resource monopoly cannot be just added to the monopoly table conventionally

Because they're not conventional monopolies, they don't need to have a 25% or 50% threshold to acquire their bonuses. Now isn't it an oxymoron to have a monopoly at 10% or even 20%? Sure, but it works out especially when some bonus resource like Fish outnumbers many while some like Rice only exist in 4 of the world. Thoughts?

Because they effectively don't work in many of the same ways as monopolies, perhaps they should have a different mechanical name to differentiate them?

That ensures no one gets confused with the 25/50% mechanic, or that it doesn't work with monopoly boosting things.

 

[Bad_At_Diplomacy]

I love this idea. On a (somewhat) related note, can we roll the monopoly buildings modmod into base VP? I think it adds great flavor and is currently balanced.

 

[Enginseer]

Because they effectively don't work in many of the same ways as monopolies, perhaps they should have a different mechanical name to differentiate them?

That ensures no one gets confused with the 25/50% mechanic, or that it doesn't work with monopoly boosting things.

Just looks like this basically. Considering a 25%/50%/75%/100% mechanic since you cannot technically import bonus resources or double them by any means.

 

[alchx]

But such monopolies from bonus resources mean that the empire receives a permanent bonus that cannot be destroyed in any reasonable way - it is impossible to loot a tile with this resource or capture a tile with a Great General, or build an East India Company and get a duplicate resource by neutralizing a neighbor's monopoly .

 

[Enginseer]

You can pillage them and capture the tile with a Great General as always.

Besides the monopoly (especially Fish) are impossible to get in an existing game unless you go out of your way to grab every fish.

 

[Tekamthi]

Now isn't it an oxymoron to have a monopoly at 10% or even 20%?

just call them oligopolies instead of monopolies and you're good.

 

[nekokon]

This won't change how ppl play the game so I don't think it's a good idea, just more bloat and micromanagement for minor bonus (or if the bonus is good enough to make use of, it'd be like giving free bonus to everyone and lead back to yield inflation again)

 

[Enginseer]

just call them oligopolies instead of monopolies and you're good.

sounds neat thx

 

[CppMaster]

This won't change how ppl play the game so I don't think it's a good idea, just more bloat and micromanagement for minor bonus (or if the bonus is good enough to make use of, it'd be like giving free bonus to everyone and lead back to yield inflation again)

It could sometimes. It makes bonus resources more valuable.

 

[N.Core]

It could sometimes. It makes bonus resources more valuable.

Do you want to make bonus resources more valuable? Do it EMR style where if you improve a resource it gives bonuses to a city. It currently only has production bonuses, but it can be expanded to other things. It makes you want to improve a bonus resource quickly to gain its benefit.

 

[nekokon]

It could sometimes. It makes bonus resources more valuable.

If you want it to be more valuable it's better to have a bonus with condition/trade off rather than a blanket "here have more stuffs for whatever you were doing since forever".
At the minimum, for tile improvements the 2 most common ones are big yield with restriction to nearby improvements, or little yield with bonus to nearby improvements. I'd prefer some rarer ones like bonus on road/railroad or trade route if we're to get more of these micro, but overall I don't even think having these bonuses would add much to gameplay anyway.

 

[CppMaster]

Wouldn't make it worse either, so why not