Cure for Resource Distribution?

[Gaerdraug]

Does anyone have a cure for poor resource distribution in CIV3?

I'm playing a great game on the monarch level on a huge archiplelago map (it has one huge snaky continent and several smaller continents). I'm just a step ahead of or dead even with most of the AI (I like to play with 8 or 9 AI civs). I reach Steam Power and am all set to criss-cross my territory with railroads when I discover . . . no coal! I search the neighboring civs . . . still no coal. I search the entire map and find one square with coal in a jungle on the other side of the world. ONE SQUARE!

Due to work and family obligations, I can play CIV3 only about an hour or hour-and-a-half each day. It's taken me nearly two weeks to get to Steam Power only to find out that the map generator screwed me. Is there any cure for that?

Thanks.

 

[thetrooper]

The best cure for resource distribution is to claim new land

 

[TheOverseer714]

Playing with less civs than normal makes resources scarce, but one Coal for a whole world is unusual. You want that Coal...go take it. In the future, you might want to play with the full contingent of civs per map to get normal resource amounts.

 

[thetrooper]

And there must be tiles for coal to appear: jungle, hills or mountains. You can, to some extent, set climate and age to get more of these. And of course what TheOverseer714 said about number of opponents.

 

[Turner]

Make your own maps....

 

[Padma]

And, of course, if you're playing Conquests/Complete, the new bonus resources take away from the Strategic resources. (They all use the same code when the map is generated, so more Bonus means fewer slots for Strategic Resources.)

 

[Boss Tweed]

I'm sure you can also toy with the appearance disappearance ratio, to stop some of them from disappearing (and I think it MIGHT make more appear too)

 

[Turner]

Disappearance probability doesn't affect where they're generated. There is a separate setting for that.

Appearance Ratio (Resource Properties)
Determines how many instances of the selected resource appear per player in the game. In an eight-player game, a value of 160 would mean 2 of each resource per player. Note that even if this number indicates that there are two resources per player in the game, this does not mean that each player will have access to those two resources. Setting this value to zero means the resource will be distributed at random.



Note that resource placement is also limited by which terrain types can support the given resource.

Disappearance Probability (Resource Properties)
Determines the frequency with which the selected resource can disappear from the map (simulating the effects of "using up" a resource), forcing players to find a new source of the resource. A value of 800 would mean that there is a 1 in 800 chance each turn to "lose" the resource. Setting this value to zero means the resource will never disappear.



Note that this value is not influenced by use; a resource can disappear even if a civilization has never used the resource.



Note 2: "Lost" resources will always re-appear somewhere else on the map, so the fundamental amount of resources in a game world will never drop below the amount set in the appearance ratio.

 

[ville-v]

Due to work and family obligations, I can play CIV3 only about an hour or hour-and-a-half each day. It's taken me nearly two weeks to get to Steam Power only to find out that the map generator screwed me. Is there any cure for that?

Thanks.

Go capture that coal and secure the city with lots of units in case somebody else wants it too. After you have railroaded your territory, you can lend coal to #1 civilization for big money.

 

[Von Naumann]

Yeah, I've had the experience of one iron resource "depleting"... not pleasant

What I'm curious about, though, is whether or not sources that did not become visible when the qualifying tech was achieved will show up at a later time. From what I've just read, I would think not. However, and this may just be my memory playin' tricks on me, it seems to me that I've managed to discover "new" sources. It's possible, I suppose, that the resource was there all along and I just failed to see it the first time.

 

[Boss Tweed]

Disappearance probability doesn't affect where they're generated. There is a separate setting for that.

I was close

Thanks! I'll have to mess around with that a little bit

 

[splunge the 2nd]

Silly thought-do any AI's have cities built on coal? There may be more out therer that you can't see. Also, I've seen postings here where a player didn't notice they had built a city on a resource and was hunting hard for a resource they already had!

 

[thetrooper]

Yeah - clean map to see what's hidden underneath enemy cities.

 

[TheOverseer714]

The AI loves to build on top of resources of all sorts, so it may be the case that a city is hiding another source. Definitely worth a look via the clean map command.

 

[Boss Tweed]

Silly thought-do any AI's have cities built on coal? There may be more out therer that you can't see. Also, I've seen postings here where a player didn't notice they had built a city on a resource and was hunting hard for a resource they already had!

that's one reason why I check the Trade Advisor to see what resources I have, and what city its located next too, or even if the AI has tradable resources for me

 

[Mathias]

What I'm curious about ... is whether or not sources ... will show up at a later time.

Number of sources is constant after the map is generated. Whenever a resource is depleted, a new one will appear somewhere on the map. It is even possible for the resource to reappear on the same tile.

 

[ville-v]

Yeah - clean map to see what's hidden underneath enemy cities.

That can be checked in the trade window. If AI could trade you "Coal (0 extra)", he has at least one, if he could trade you "Coal (1 extra)" he has at least two and so on.

 

[Padma]

That can be checked in the trade window. If AI could trade you "Coal (0 extra)", he has at least one, if he could trade you "Coal (1 extra)" he has at least two and so on.

IIRC, that only works if he knows Steam Power. If he doesn't know the requisite tech for a Resource, he can't trade it, because he doesn't *know* he has any.

 

[Boss Tweed]

IIRC, that only works if he knows Steam Power. If he doesn't know the requisite tech for a Resource, he can't trade it, because he doesn't *know* he has any.

that's true.

which leads me to wonder... how does the AI know where resources are before they exist, because they seem to have pretty good placement (at least finding the resources, that is)

 

[invector]

They shouldn't know it, but they do know where those strategic resources are. They know what city of yours is least defended don't they? Its like that.