Claiming Resources in CIV4

[johnwilliam]

I have noticed on a couple of occasions scarce resources being highlighted by a rival civ's colored borders, without actually being a city. During one game, an oil well was bordered and during another game, a group of horses was bordered. And they didn't get a border around them until I was approaching with my settler... Then they showed a small, four-tile border around the resource. A couple of turns later, it turns into a new city with a population of 1.

I read in the manual that resources can only be used if they are within your city's borders. But then it goes on to say that if a resource is not within your civ's borders, it must have a road or some way to transport the resource back to your city.

I have tried to claim resources outside of my civ, but have never been successful.

Can anyone clarify for me the way this works? Thank you.

 

[duckstab]

Remember you won't see the current state of a tile in most cases unless it's close enough to your borders or you have a unit nearby. It's likely that what happened is that the AI actually settled on or near the resource earlier, but you didn't discover that until your unit actually got close enough to observe the tile. They might even have settled two squares away and accumulated enough culture in that city for the borders to pop once -- that can happen very quickly, especially if your opponent is Creative.

 

[VirginiaRounder]

I read in the manual that resources can only be used if they are within your city's borders. But then it goes on to say that if a resource is not within your civ's borders, it must have a road or some way to transport the resource back to your city.

The resource has to be within your cultural borders, developed with the proper improvement (unless you settle right on it), AND a city has to be connected to it by waterways or roads in order to truly have access to it.

Grabbing control of resources is all about speed; you need to crank out your settlers and settle near them fast before your opponents can. Note though that it may not necessarily be worth it to settle too far away too quickly just to grab a resource, unless it's a really important one, like iron. Expanding far away too quickly can really drive up your maintenance costs.

 

[jacklours]

I would think it's because of the fog. You don't really know they've installed a cit there until you actually explore the tile again.

 

[duckduckswan]

I wish there was an "outpost" or some sort of improvement you could build outside of your cultural borders to capture a resource, there's always that source of silver or something you want far away in the tundra that's an absolute terrible spot for a city.

 

[Willem]

Then they showed a small, four-tile border around the resource. A couple of turns later, it turns into a new city with a population of 1.

It was the city's borders that you were seeing all along. You just hadn't explored that area well enough yet to reveal it.

 

[johnwilliam]

Thank you all for the input.