Civ 4 won't let me use Coal from another continent

[nanomatrix]

OK, I've run into a problem.
I've mined coal on another continent in Civ4. But the game isn't letting me build railroads on my original continent.

Why?

 

[Infantry#14]

1) Do you have a road (or a river) connecting the coal to your city in the other continent?
2) Do you have a harbor in the city in the new continent and a harbor in a city in the old continent?
3) If the 2 continents are separated by ocean (no connecting coast tiles), do you have the astronomy tech?

 

[Lone Wolf]

Do you have the Railroad tech?
Harbors, however, are unnecessary. That isn't Civ3.

 

[vincentz]

Harbors, however, are unnecessary. That isn't Civ3.

Wrong.
Harbors are essential. If the second continent is not connected to the first, then the problem that OP have arises.
But... you can also use Forts as they work as harbors too, and later Airports do the same.

To OP : Make sure your coal city is connected to a harbor city that again is connected to a harbor city on your first continent, and then you should be able to build RR (if you have the tech )

 

[Lone Wolf]

I mean, Harbors as in city building. What is what Infanty#14 meant, since he wrote "harbor in a city".

 

[Tatran]

... and later Airports do the same.

In what way?

 

[duckstab]

Harbors and airports both add trade routes, meaning they produce commerce commerce for your city. Harbors have no bearing, however, on whether two cities are connected for purposes of resource-sharing. I suspect airports do not either, but I'm not 100% sure.

However, you do need a coastal city on each continent, and also Astronomy if, as it seems in your case, all paths between the two landmasses cross ocean tiles.

The other thing to bear in mind is that resources can't be shared between two cities if all possible paths would have to cross the cultural borders of civs with whom you don't have open borders. That's rarely the case with intercontinental trade, but it's theoretically possible.

A posted save would resolve the question.

 

[vincentz]

In what way?

if u have a city that f.ex is surrounded by enemy culture and you build an airport, it will bring in resources that is connected to the capital if another city or the capital have an airport (right???? )

 

[Ghpstage]

if u have a city that f.ex is surrounded by enemy culture and you build an airport, it will bring in resources that is connected to the capital if another city or the capital have an airport (right???? )

No, contrary to popular belief airports do nothing to connect cities.

 

[vincentz]

No, contrary to popular belief airports do nothing to connect cities.

really? I could have sworn otherwise (digging in my pile of old BtS discs to reinstall civ as I have updated to win7 64bit)

 

[nanomatrix]

OK first off thanks to everbody for the responses.

Second a little more detail.

This was a Barbarian infested continent. The coal mine is connected by a road inside the city borders. There are a number of harbors on the old continent otherwise I couldn't have built a galleon to transport settlers and riflemen but the city with the coal mine did not have a harbor. It was one square off the ocean... so it's not coastal, which appears to be the problem. I wouldn't be trying to build railroads without the tech.

The bigger problem of course is that I have no access to coal and trying to aquire it is costing me the game because other civs already have it. It this a typical "Noble problem"?

 

[Quibblesome]

Trade routes are defined in the code as: A path of squares that link the two cities.

These squares must be:

* Explored by one or the other player (if its a foreign trade route).
* Have open borders or be neutral (barb or hostile nation culture can block coastal trade routes pre Astronomy)

Then on top of that you have the additional seafaring and continental logic that has already been mentioned (coastal cities required for sea routes, Astronomy required for deep sea tiles)

 

[lymond]

Harbors have absolutely nothing to do with connecting resources, unless folks are using in the term in the sense of "Port city".

Nano - If your city is not coastal you can either connect it by road to a coastal city, or simply build a fort on a tile next to the coast with a road too it. Forts serve as ports in BTS. (Good thing to note for OCC games when your city in not coastal but near enough to the coast that your culture touches coastal tiles)

The bigger problem of course is that I have no access to coal and trying to aquire it is costing me the game because other civs already have it. It this a typical "Noble problem"?

Access to coal is not/was not costing you the game, and no it is not typical.

 

[MilesBeyond]

If it's not coastal, then that's the issue. Another thing to look for in these circumstances is blockades from barbs/privateers.

 

[vincentz]

It was one square off the ocean... so it's not coastal

if you build a Fort on the coast and connect it to the city, it will be able to transport coal to "motherland"

Harbors have absolutely nothing to do with connecting resources, unless folks are using in the term in the sense of "Port city".

In danish Havneby means Harborcity which in english i guess is coastal city.

In fact Copenhagen which is the capital of Denmark is København (Køb-en-havn) in danish which means Buy-A-Harbor.

I sometimes wonder if some guy who "bought" copenhagen, in fact wanted to sell prime real estate, and put up tons of signs (The city was formerly known as just Havn), and when people came to the city they saw the sign "Køb en havn" and thought the name was København

 

[lymond]

Ha...that is pretty interesting vincentz. In English the word "haven" is another word for "harbor". Clearly, both words have roots in old German, as does Danish. In English though, a harbor would be part of a coastal city or town, not the city itself. A "port" would be part of a harbour and "port" is more directly related to actual trade - a place to load and unload ships.