Does the game revolve around a few squares of oil?

[raindog]

I've played every version of Civ since the first one. Just got around to Civ4 and so far have played two games.

In each, I was cruising along and had identified a civilization that was clearly In The Way. However, it was not practical to attack them because while I had superior tech, I couldn't make use of it because the only oil on the continent was deep in their territory. They didn't offer it for trade (perhaps hadn't discovered the necessary techs yet) and the only other oil was out on platforms (which require plastics...hundreds of turns of research away).

A lot of the tech tree requires oil to unlock, yet it does not seem particularly abundant (in the two games I've played, granted not much of a statistical sample). Looks to me like the entire game would revolve around a few squares of oil.

Without it, you're stuck, as to me it doesn't seem like you can get enough of a tech edge in the pre-industrial techs to make assaults on well-defended cities worthwhile. More to the point, I've always found in Civ (going back to the first one), that any large war requires Railroad, otherwise you get bogged down in logistics.

 

[omnimutant]

I'd say Iron is even more impactfull then Oil. That said if you don't have oil thats what diplomacy is for. You can always trade for it.

It's pretty random on placement though, I've had maps with almost no Oil and others where it was everywhere.

 

[lampshade]

the rarity of oil is one of things that makes the late game interesting.

but if you're playing a sufficiently aggressive game you should be able to win before oil quite often. catapults, trebuchets, cannon, and artillery are quite sufficient in each era to make warring successful.

railroad is useful to speed up long wars, but i try and plan wars and win them in 4 or 5 turns, blitzkrieg style.

 

[kooboo]

A lot of the tech tree requires oil to unlock, yet it does not seem particularly abundant (in the two games I've played, granted not much of a statistical sample).

Huh? You don't need anything but to discover technologies.

Looks to me like the entire game would revolve around a few squares of oil.
Without it, you're stuck, as to me it doesn't seem like you can get enough of a tech edge in the pre-industrial techs to make assaults on well-defended cities worthwhile.

You'd be amazed how many games are finished before oil sources are even discovered
You don't need technological edge to make assaults on well-defended cities. Just more siege engines

More to the point, I've always found in Civ (going back to the first one), that any large war requires Railroad, otherwise you get bogged down in logistics.

Isn't that realistic?
Try moving troops from US to Afghanistan without proper logistics

any large war

Anyway, small wars are also the way to go. Capturing one, two or three border cities and taking some cash / technology for peace is very good way of taking edge over opponents.

 

[Rusty Edge]

The cool thing about BTS is that if you get locked out of oil, you can go for the ethanol corp.

 

[The_Dwarf]

You definately play alot to passive if oil is that important to you.

 

[Ghpstage]

An infantry and artillery stack (and anti tanks if BTS) is usually sufficient to destroy AIs, or at least take the oil from them!
If your playing the BTS expansion, tanks aren't hugely important (and are easy to counter) and if you want oil you can found a coorperation for it. While the lack of Fighters is a big issue, all modern ships can be built with Uranium instead, after Fission, even erm... Carriers.
No idea who'd want Carriers when you can't have Fighters though!

Just find out the tech level of the guy who has all the oil, then go pound him into the ground

 

[Blaarg]

No idea who'd want Carriers when you can't have Fighters though!

Lots of reasons to build carriers on uranium:

-You already have a fleet of fighters from when you used to have oil.
-You anticipate having oil in the near future, at which point you can build the fighters.
-You built the standard ethanol corporation, but rather than paying for it's maintenance in a bunch of cities, you would rather just have one city build your fighters and another city, without ethanol, build your carriers.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Lacking just oil or just uranium has workarounds, lacking both is trouble on maps where navies matter.

Marines, anti-tanks, infantry, arty, are all resource-less and viable attackers (so are mech infantry if you let it drag out). I prefer infantry/arty to almost any attack stack in the game.

But on water maps you do want the metal navy. If you have uranium, playing for nukes might not be a bad idea - utter eradication of the AI stack is fun, and if you have a huge production advantage and an AI target or two that are not liked by anyone who matters, you can reduce them to rubble before they react: nuke any uranium they have (if they have it) to soak it in fallout, then irradiate everything they have and march through. You'll probably get your oil, but more importantly you'll probably win.

 

[Shackel]

Take their oil city.

*cocking of a gun*

 

[TheMeInTeam]

True. Sci meth is a long time before combustion. If you don't have oil, your rifles and cavalry might have something to say about that fact.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I'd say Iron is even more impactfull then Oil. That said if you don't have oil thats what diplomacy is for. You can always trade for it.

What? With whom? Are you playing BTS?

The cool thing about BTS is that if you get locked out of oil, you can go for the ethanol corp.

Or if you get locked out of oil, you can go for the nearest oil city.

And then the nearby aluminum city, and then the uranium city, and then the holy city, and...

 

[Rusty Edge]

What? With whom? Are you playing BTS?

Or if you get locked out of oil, you can go for the nearest oil city.

I've been there. ( You fly to Pittsburgh and rent a car , follow the Allegheny north, and eventually you come to Oil City )

 

[dirtyparrot]

If you have a tech advantage, I suggest that you take someone's oil by force. No need to let an advantage to go waste.

 

[cardgame]

This is why I play huge maps and conquer neighbors as early as it is feasible. No oil shortage for my massive amt of land.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

What? With whom? Are you playing BTS?

It's quite expensive to trade for powerful strategic resources, but a lot of AIs will do it @ friendly if they have 2 oils, actually.

 

[Shurdus]

Never had problems with oil really. I have taken enough land by the time oil is discovered that I will usually have oil.

If you have such a huge tech lead but no oil you can always opt to go space instead.

 

[Negator_UK]

No, it revolves around a few squares of food.

 

[Camikaze]

Does the game revolve around a few squares of oil?

In answer to that question; no. A lot of players finish the game before oil is revealed on the map. I'd think that if you didn't have yourself in a dominant position by the time oil is around, say, dominant enough to be guaranteed oil, or guaranteed victory over someone that has oil, then you are pretty screwed as it is, oil or not.

 

[6K Man]

If you don't have any oil, you haven't been attacking enough in the early game, in my experience.