Lack of resource

[Xiarti]

Hey everyone.
I've got a bit of a problem. I'm play as Persia, and attempting to win through culture. Right now my culture is in the industrial age (around 1860 ad, I believe) and I have finished researching refining to make oil appear. Low and behold, not one oil appeared within all the land I control!!! There is no spot on the map not occupied already, thus I don't know how to get any oil! No nation has it available for trading! What can I do to get myself a supply of oil? I really don't want to go to war, and no city with oil is close enough to be influenced by my capital. I also have not researched espionage.
So how can I get oil?

 

[JustBen]

If someone has unconnected oil supplies, you can try to get a Right of Passage agreement and march a few workers over to build a road on it yourself. That way you can be sure to be the first civ to have a shot at trading for it.

If that also is not an option, you're going to have to make the choice. Which is more important: peace or oil?

 

[Xiarti]

Originally posted by JustBen
If someone has unconnected oil supplies, you can try to get a Right of Passage agreement and march a few workers over to build a road on it yourself. That way you can be sure to be the first civ to have a shot at trading for it.

If that also is not an option, you're going to have to make the choice. Which is more important: peace or oil?

I have roads connected to most of the oil supplies but I don't receive any, nor will anyone trade it. The problem is my nation really has no military; we focus on remaining peaceful, with our alliance to the most-powerful force acting as a safety. I think oil is one of the most important end-game resources, isn't it? Any tips on how to start a war, capture a city, and then negotiate peace? When I do it they'll never answer my envoy.

 

[conehead234]

What differculty level are you playing on. The Ai probrobly hasn't researched refining yet so they can not see it.

 

[patronr383]

Originally posted by Xiarti


The problem is my nation really has no military; we focus on remaining peaceful, with our alliance to the most-powerful force acting as a safety.

this is the worst defense strategy EVER. ive done it before and they wil turn on you sooner or later. if youre gonna do this make sure you really suck up to them so that they dont.

 

[JustBen]

Artillery. Lots and lots of Artillery.

The ability to blast any opposing unit down to a single hp from 2 squares away at no risk to your armies (assuming you have enough defenders to protect the guns from capture) should be enough. You'll see a lot of Cavalry perishing, but if your economy is up to snuff, you should be able to crack through eventually. Just make sure to collect a whole bunch of guns and your strongest offensive unit (Cavalry? I'm assuming you have Saltpeter here) before you declare war on anyone.

Hey, sounds like a perfect opportunity to cut your ally down to size!

 

[Generalissimo]

If you don't want to go to war, here is a way you can get cheap oil for at least 20 turns, which should be enough for you to research tanks and build enough to get your own oil.

Do ctrl+m to clear the map and look for a civ with more than one oil resource that is hooked up.

Then trade the Oil required tech(refinery?) to that civ for the highest price you can.

They will now be able to trade you Oil since they already had two sources hookd up. You can't build any units with oil yet, (assuming you just researched refining) so they won't charge you very much for the oil, maybe 2 gpt.

Research motorized transportation and build tanks to capture your own oil source.

Hope that helps.

 

[bluebox]

Originally posted by conehead234
What differculty level are you playing on. The Ai probrobly hasn't researched refining yet so they can not see it.

yes, the ai must know oil by itself. you might gift your possible trade partner(s) with techs up to refining so they can offer you oil. generalissimo just said it all.

military: it may sound paradox but you need an able military to play a peaceful game. the ai will start to attack you once they see a chance to beat you militarily and they drag you into wars you don't want. defensive units (infantry + artillery) will do the job of just hanging out there without fighting.

btw: without war at all you will have no chance for a leader (at least until you gonna buy "Conquests" next month).

have fun!

 

[Aggie]

Why do you need oil when you say that you want to stay peaceful? It isn't required for Culture win...

 

[Bamspeedy]

If trying to win by culture then you don't really need oil. Start building infantry (or riflemen if you don't have rubber/replacable parts) so your cities are defended (especially your border cities!). If you don't really need the oil, then you don't want to gift techs to the AI allowing them to catch up and possibly build the UN or something.

I'd only be concerned about the oil if you wanted to go for a late-game conquest/domination.

If you are in a situation where you do need to get a resource, then artillery is definitely the key, like JustBen stated. If you follow the 'Beyond Sid' link in my signature you will see a prime example of this. I didn't have any saltpeter, so I used catapults and pikemen to fight musketmen and capture the saltpeter on a difficulty level that is way harder than deity. With help from the catapults I also kept killing the civ using musketeers to kill riflemen.