Bonus Resources, useless?

[SonofHades]

Perhaps i am missing something, but it seems to me that some bonus resources are useless.
For example Cattle od Sheeps on gaslands.
If u just ignore them and build a farm on them u get the same yield of the title (+1 food), and later on if u advance in tech u get even more with the farm. so why should anyone build a Pasture on them? Are there some other benefits form bonus Resources that i am missing?

 

[warpstorm]

Well, there is the fact that you can't build a farm on some of them (except Wheat, I think). Cattle adds a hammer when you build the pasture.

 

[rastak]

Well, there is the fact that you can't build a farm on some of them (except Wheat, I think). Cattle adds a hammer when you build the pasture.

That is a rather compelling argument.

 

[Dbob]

Pasture probably adds other bonuses like production or happiness with certain building or technologies. At first I thought they would be like bonus resources from Civ 3, but now I'm not so sure...

 

[SonofHades]

Well, there is the fact that you can't build a farm on some of them (except Wheat, I think). Cattle adds a hammer when you build the pasture.

From wich source did u get this information? in the manual pasture tile yields is "NONE".
if this is true, having cattle near your city would be a disadvantage. So i just hope and think that u are right.

 

[Helmling]

Cows have been nerfed! Oh no!

Seriously, though, the resource tiles were too bountiful in Civ 4.

 

[Hamil]

I think the bonus from cattle is the bonus without improvement. So with a pasture the bonus of cattle will be higher. +1 would be quite useless, you are right here.

 

[SirTurtle]

They aren't just nerfed. They seem to be completely useless. Cattle occur only on Grassland, and their only bonus is +1 with a pasture. I would never build a pasture on Cattle, I'd always just build farm instead. This requires less tech, less time to build, and gets better with later techs. The Cattle would be meaningless.

I must be reading the manual wrong?

 

[bhavv]

Pasture gives +1 production I think.

 

[bhavv]

Surely all those improvements cant give 0 improvement, or everyone will just build farms on them :x

 

[Alsark]

It says in the manual that all worked resources provide gold. You'd think they would include this quantity of gold somewhere in the manual, though...

Also, all resources provide empire-wide happiness. Only the first one counts, but the others can then be traded.

:Edit: Maybe they only meant luxury resources... it's kind of vague...

 

[Spark026]

I think the main benenfit of most bonus resources will be how they affect happiness. This will be the incentive to build the correct improvement on them.

Cattle and sheep seem to be the exception. As stated in the manual there is no reason not build farms on them. I'm thinking perhaps the +1 food bonus will be empire wide if you build a pasture on cattle or sheep. Then it would make sense, and for the city with the cattle/sheep nothing will have changed, cause they already were getting the +1 from working the tile.

 

[Alsark]

I'm thinking perhaps the +1 food bonus will be empire wide if you build a pasture on cattle or sheep. Then it would make sense, and for the city with the cattle/sheep nothing will have changed, cause they already were getting the +1 from working the tile.

That would make sense, yeah. If so, it would be better for larger civilizations. Civilizations like India would probably always want to build farms on them still.

 

[bjbrains]

My guess is that they leave out that they give a bonus before they have an improvement build upon them: So a sheep tile will have 3 food, and 4 food once you build a pasture? It doesn't make sense any other way.

 

[SirTurtle]

The manual says this on page 36:

"To utilize a resource, it must be within your civilization’s borders and you must construct the appropriate “improvement” in that hex. (For example, you must construct the “plantation” improvement to get the benefit from a “banana” resource.)"

On the same page it says that Bananas give +1 Food.

So if the text is correct and that also applies to Cattle and Sheep then these bonus resources become worth less than just building a farm (exception for Sheep on hills where you can't build a farm).

However, I think it's far more likely that the manual is poorly worded or just wrong, and there will still be a reason to build pastures on these resources.

 

[PawelS]

Seems like the information about yields of bonus resources with improvements is missing in the manual.

 

[Palance]

However, I think it's far more likely that the manual is poorly worded or just wrong, and there will still be a reason to build pastures on these resources.

This, or something else we are missing. Do different techs improve yields? SPs?

 

[SirTurtle]

This, or something else we are missing. Do different techs improve yields? SPs?

Nothing I can find for bonus resources.

Farms get +1 food with tech (Civil Service + Fertilizer), for +2 overall food.

 

[Shafi-is-back]

Generally, farms can be constructed in any tile that doesn’t contain a resource. If the tile
does contain a resource, only the appropriate improvement can be constructed.

Page 87 of the manual.

 

[aajiix]

The manual says this on page 36:

"To utilize a resource, it must be within your civilization’s borders and you must construct the appropriate “improvement” in that hex. (For example, you must construct the “plantation” improvement to get the benefit from a “banana” resource.)"

On the same page it says that Bananas give +1 Food.

So if the text is correct and that also applies to Cattle and Sheep then these bonus resources become worth less than just building a farm (exception for Sheep on hills where you can't build a farm).

However, I think it's far more likely that the manual is poorly worded or just wrong, and there will still be a reason to build pastures on these resources.

Well, warpstorm already pointed this out but I'll quote the manual from page 87:

"Generally, farms can be constructed in any tile that doesn’t contain a resource. If the tile does contain a resource, only the appropriate improvement can be constructed."

So according to this, you can't just build a farm on a cattle or sheep resource. Instead you must build a pasture. Of course to make matters a little more confusing, it says on page 88:

"Farm improvements can be constructed in most tiles, and atop a number of resources."