When does resources get distributed?

[AnthonyIII]

As the title says, I am wondering when the game decides the number of resources on the map. If I select a tiny map with two opponents, will it for exampel have less resources than if I had 3 opponents? Or does the game only refer to the map size, and then distribute resources as like if it was max opponents? Is there the same amount of resources on a standard map with 5 opponents vs 1 opponent?

 

[Aabraxan]

Resources are placed when the map is initially generated. IIRC, reducing the number of opponents does impact the number of resources on a given map, though.

 

[Richie0]

it's determined at the start i think

it also explains why you see the AI settling in crap squares, like tundra or desert, cos they know that there will eventually be a resource there, even if its 1000s of years away

i don't know the exact amounts but i find that horses are the most plentiful, they never disappear. iron is rarer, it disappears. salpeter is even rarer, same with coal. can't say much about oil or the other resources since my games usually end or i get bored before then.

 

[AnthonyIII]

Aabraxan, you're right. I used to think that resources were distributed after selecting the world, but it's actually determined after you've selected opponents. I did two tests on a tiny pangea.

The first one had 3 opponents and gave me this(extracted from C3MT):

Horses: 4
Iron: 3
Saltpeter: 3
Coal: 3
Oil: 3
Rubber: 3
Aliminium: 3
Wine: 2
Uranium: 3
Furs: 2
Dyes: 1
Incense: 2
Spices: 3
Ivory: 1
Silks: 2
Gems: 1
Whales: 5
Game: 4
Fish: 5
Cattle: 3
Wheat: 4
Gold: 1
Sugar: 2
Tropical Fruit: 3
Oasis: 0

For two opponents it looks like this:

Horses: 3
Iron: 3
Saltpeter: 2
Coal: 2
Oil: 2
Rubber: 2
Aliminium: 2
Wine: 2
Uranium: 2
Furs: 2
Dyes: 2
Incense: 2
Spices: 1
Ivory: 1
Silks: 1
Gems: 1
Whales: 7
Game: 4
Fish: 7
Cattle: 3
Wheat: 3

I had hoped reducing opponents would keep the resources as many as with max opponents for better trading opportunities, but it seems this does not work like this.

 

[Aabraxan]

No, reducing opponents reduces the number of resources available. That's why you'll often see advice to new players on here just to go ahead and play with a full slate of opponents for that map size.

 

[Spoonwood]

I wonder how 15 vs. 12 vs. 8 compare actually. Then again, there do exist maps where you can trade for all the luxuries and early resources with 8 opponents even on Sid, as Moonsinger proved long ago... I just wonder how common they come. The clear upshot of all this comes as that if you want to use the disconnect-reconnect trick for say a very high level game, maximum opponents (maximum according to the HoF rulebook) makes it more likely to work, and it probably can work better, and minimum opponents makes it more difficult. How much more difficult, however, I don't really know.