Perverse mechanic: I can work an iron mine, but can't build iron units

[Way_Traveler]

I'm not sure if this mechanic has been discussed before, but I thought it was worth a thread.

Over in the funny screenshots thread, I posted this cap, grousing about what a dick the map generator can be:

[/QUOTE]

The relevant part is that there's a nearby iron deposit... completely blocked in by mountains. There's another one semi-nearby, but it's near Ceasar of Sumeria; in the real game, he settled it before I knew about it (imperialistic, Sumeria starts with mining). And I obviously wasn't going to be able to take on Ceasar's vultures without metal of my own. So, the question is: Is there any way to get that nummy, nummy Iron?

Obviously, there's always settling on the iron:



This is a less than ideal solution. Barring some unrevealed resources, the only thing in its fat cross will be iron. By my count, 9 (NINE!) tiles in the fat cross will be permanently unworkable (5 mountains, 4 desert). There are 9 water tiles, but even with those +1 water statues, this will never be anything more than a marginal town

Are there any other options? In the thread, it was proposed that building a mine while having sailing would be enough.

So, here goes:



Built a monument, waited for borders to pop, built a mine:



You'll note that while I can work the mine, my cities don't have access to iron. WEAK.

I thought maybe building a road on the mine would do the trick. Still no dice.

Hmmm. What about a fort?

Still doesn't work:




So, to sum up: If you have a blockaded resource like that, the only way to get it is to actually settle on it. It's not all bad, I guess. Once it outlives its usefulness, you could always leave it undefended and hope it gets razed/captured by barbs or another civ. Still, extremely frustrating.

 

[ggganz]

put a road on the fort and the tile 1 east of the city

 

[Way_Traveler]

That didn't work. But while I was doing that, I noticed something truly weird:

Even though my city with iron in the fat cross didn't have iron... Rome did (note that the years are the same)!





It also worked if I replaced the fort with a mine. And, of course, roading from Rome to the other city was effective as usual.

So... in the game world, a ship sails the iron up to Rome, and then a wagon takes it back down. MAKES SENSE TO ME.

 

[ggganz]

THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE! Why would Rome get it but Antium not get it??????

Try... try putting a fort 1 East of Antium.

If not, give yourself each water-related tech one by one and see if any makes a difference.

 

[Hammurbabble]

The answer to the question is this: the iron deposit is on the coast. With sailing, the iron is in the network for Rome, BUT since the city working the mine is NOT on the coast, it can't take advantage of naval transport.

Build a road from Rome to that town, then it will have the iron. Weird, but true.

 

[ggganz]

Did you try my suggestion with the second fort?

 

[lovetramy]

ok Rome has Iron beacause you researched Sailing , which mean you're able to trade along river and coast . So your Iron is on coast so Rome has it
but ur Antium is not a coastal city nor riverside , so no trade network .
solution : connect your city to the river nearby

 

[Way_Traveler]

Connecting the cities definitely works.

Building a fort doesn't:

 

[lovetramy]

so it's time for some praets ownage ?

 

[Way_Traveler]

Lovetramy. That'd be nice. But notice the date:By the time we get iron online, it's already 300 BC. I would need to wait until at least construction for cats.

And while it's not obvious from the screenshots, I only even got that far by neglecting everything else. I'm at about half of everybody else on the power graph.

That being said, I might restart, try something balanced, and see if I could make it work. Might be one for "Stories and Tales"...

 

[r_rolo1]

If you had built a road to the second fort it would had worked......

 

[TheLastOne36]

If you had built a road to the second fort it would had worked......

Or connect it to that nearby river, (if it goes to the coast or rome)

 

[Cutlass]

I would plant a city on the iron tile, put a lighthouse and limited other improvements and a couple of defenders and then just forget about it. it's perfectly safe unless you get a neighbor near enough to amphibious assault it. After it has minimal basic improvements, set the production to commerce and leave it.

 

[Hammurbabble]

Guys, obviously the reason he put the town where it was, was to have some kind of decent city. The iron's in the radius but so are those two food resources. This is an exception to the "no towns 1 square away from the coast" rule. I think he made the right choice, except for not connecting Rome and Antium by road right away.

Connecting it to the river would only work if Rome was on the river, and anyway you want as good a road network as possible if you're going to war.

 

[Cutlass]

Guys, obviously the reason he put the town where it was, was to have some kind of decent city. The iron's in the radius but so are those two food resources. This is an exception to the "no towns 1 square away from the coast" rule. I think he made the right choice, except for not connecting Rome and Antium by road right away.

Connecting it to the river would only work if Rome was on the river, and anyway you want as good a road network as possible if you're going to war.

but it's not necessary for every city to become a decent city. some cities never will be, but there are reasons to find that acceptable. if the city is planted on the iron, then the source of iron is safe.

 

[Hammurbabble]

Not every city HAS to be a decent city but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make every city as decent as you can. And it's hard to imagine a safer source of iron than that one!

I think he was better doing what he did, plus a road.

 

[ggganz]

Building a city on that iron would have made it almost impossible to capture.....

 

[ParadigmShifter]

I had something a bit similar the other day... cities blocked by sea ice don't count as being on the coast... most annoying.

 

[Thanny]

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think anyone pointed out that the reason you weren't getting iron with the mine is that you weren't actually working it.

Stick with the mine, and put a citizen on it, and you should get the iron in that city. Using a fort requires that you have a trade route to the fort, which was amply explained elsewhere.

 

[deanej]

There was only one screenshot where he had the iron in his borders and he wasn't working it. In all others he was.

I would still stick with the mine though. I don't know why so many people use forts to gain access to resources because the improvement that gives access to the resource is MUCH cheaper, with the exception of the oil well and plantation (both of which are still cheaper than forts, just not by much). I only build them if I need a canal or air base.