I mean no one thinks it takes as much iron to make a field gun as it does an entire cruiser or battleship. I think using real life gives us an initial guidepost
I think we are comparing those resources, to more or less reflect of real world balance..
Like for example, wood is a resource, but its not a strategic one, since its very common and abundant, and in case its lacking, you can just plant more trees and eventually get more..
Strategic resources are "strategic" because they are scarse and impossible to substitute, and the only means to get more is to find more..
I think we could use some "ratios" since there are ratios in real world, we cant deny that there is x amount of this, and y amount of that, but to calculate exact formulas, i think we would have to figure out,
how much this annual production translates to real life applications.. Cause you for sure need less Uranium to fuel Nuclear plant than Coal for coal plant.. And yet there are let say 1 Nuclear plant per few
Coal plans, which would suggest, that in game Uranium should be in less amounts than Coal..
But then again it also depends of how people sees those sources of energy, technologies and natural resources of specific countries.. Like for example, there was boom for Nuclear plant, then
it kinda stopped, and now we kinda go back.. So even real life proportions doesn't tell a full story..
I think best solution would be to assume some map, lets say 5 civilizations 10 cities each, how many Nuclear plants should be available?
Or even better, assume perfect map distribution, so 1 Civ 10 cities, how many Nuclear plants such civilisation should be able to afford, and how many Aluminium Jet fighters..
Assuming with airport, you can have 6 them, should we assume half of cities should have full set of Jet Fighters or maybe you shoud afford maximum 1 Jet per City, since
its a difference between 10 and 30.. but then again lets say we assume 20, so 100 per map, but then autocracy policy that gives you 100% more would be op..
But then again all is down to meaningful decisions, so taking Autocracy means not taking Freedom or Order
Maybe instead map scripts, its rather the units needs balance, like for example, if i recall correctly, Carriers require only 1 oil and zero Steel
I would say, they probably should use 2 or even 3
As for now, i still think Aluminium should be tuned down a little, and amount of Coal could be ok, but should be little bit more dispersed, with rare larger deposits.
This way most civilisations should have more reliable access to every resource, but still scarcity would be a problem, you would have to solve by trade and alliances or war..
Like i noticed usually Coal have in 2x or 4x amounts, so replacing those 4x with more 2x and 3x Should Do the job..
But aluminium very often have like 6x or 8x, so with autocracy you could get 16x for one mine.. This seems kinda ridiculous..
Such as stables or forged adding some more if you have at least one or two.
Make sense, especially for horses, since you can breed them, not that much with steel..
You kinda don't want to make this too common , since like in medieval era, if your supply limit is 20 and you have like 20 iron, there would be no
"meaningfulness" in your decisions.. Horses are definitely not as common as wood
But then again, its not impossible that some civ have aboundance and sell their superfluous resources, like Russia sells Oil..
But then again, they are bought by countries, that don't have them, so i guess some dose of "imbalance" exists in the real world..
That is why countries like to have energetic diversity, which is not guaranteed, and if you have abundance, you should consider yourselves lucky
and not expect to be given..
Just had idea, that maybe terrains that are considered to be "weaker" should have slightly greater chance to get strategic resources, this would kinda
balance out lack of yields by future trading.. But i think to some point it is true already i think Ice, Tundra or Desert have slightly better chance to get oil for example..
Honestly i don't remember if i ever saw Oil on grassland