Hi Keldath,
after trying OL 2.1.8 a bit I was thinking about your ressources. What do they accomplish that other ressources do not?
I'll go through all new ressources and ask for their game enhancing value, maybe this could help you decide which resources you realy need?
Amber: Gems, thats all they are. Does it do anything else? Why does it get an health bonus with a grocer? Why do you need a shaft mine? They are collected by hand at the baltic sea, someimes digged by (quarry?) at certain places. I do see only two reasons to include them: 1) to allow cities to grow bigger (increasing the happy limit), 2) if you included the Amber chamber (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room) as a wonder you'd have to use amber as a required resource. Even both together doesn't make amber a usefull resource I think. My suggestion: axe it.
Cloth: is not a resource per se. I suppose its a replacement for the proper resource: fibers (which are used to make cloth) which is ok. Its an important resource as it jump started the industrial revolution. PLUS: it makes workshops worth considering. BUT: till now its very much stand alone.
My suggestion: include a production building line, from a small weavery over a textile manufactury up to modern textile industry plants. They would require fibre and/or sheep and turn it into cloth, which would give happyness. Oh, and they would increase income of course.
Coffee: Basically a spice, but with happyness instead of health. Why not instead make a building (the typical Viennease Kaffeehaus) which requires spices, and gives happyness? Also a corporation might use spices to boil stupid old ladies and dish out insane amounts of money for doing so?
IMO you can easily replace coffee with spices. Alternatively subsume it together with tea and tobacco to luxury food/stimulant, which do have a similar, but more happyness related then health related line of usage. Sugar could be included in this line as well. Actually you might consider to let that resource add happyness, but substract health.
Diamond: gems as well. BUT: certain gems do have significant industrial uses. Like diamonds in saws and rubies in lasers. So my suggestion would be to axe diamonds, and instead give gems a (hammer) bonus in certain buildings or with certain technolgies.
Natural Gas: Coal, Oil, Natural Gas. The three mainstays of carbon based energy sources. I think it does make sense to keep Natural Gas as the third one, but it should be possible to change them into each other. Coal can be gasified and liquified, oil can be gasified and gas can be liquified. Building(s) that can accomplish this would make sense.
Oat: Oat, Barley, Wheat, Corn, Rice ... it all comes down to one thing: grain. Corn can be considered different due to its different form and due to the fact that it is a new world cereal. Same can be said about rice, representing the eastern variant. BUT: how many different carbohydrate plants do you need? Are they different enough to require resource slots? Instead of half a douzen different things that basically do the same (bringing calories into the food) I'd suggest to think about buildings that grant additional health bonuses. You can axe both potatoes and oat if their only reason to be there is a +1 health from the granary (and +5% income from ranch. I'd suggest to include the milld buildings (basically a "ranch" for the vegetables) which gives +5% food and an upgraded/modern mill which also gives +1 health each.
Pearls: gems, but in the water. Being a water resource, which are rather rare, it makes sense to keep them. But please include a jewelry, which gives +1 happyness from gems, pearls, gold and silver ... and take that bonus away from the forge. Forges are valuable enough as they are.
Potatoes: See oat, but being a significantly different plant from the grains, this should stay in. This way you'd have 1 plant each for both americas (corn and potatoes), 1 each for Europe (wheat, maybe better rename in grain) and Asia (rice) ... You might consider using soja as the plant for Africa if you do want 5 plants. Oh, and did I mention a brewery? Wodka from potatoes, sake from rice, beer from grain... Major happyness on the price of health.
Rubber: strategic resources. They do come in 2 kinds: the metals and the driving forces. Metals: Copper, Iron, Steel, Aluminum, Titanium. Driving: Feet, Horses, (Sulphur), Rubber and Oil, Natural Gas. With the metals its clear (consider getting steel in, as it is a major step up from iron). But the driving forces? For most of history it was the horse that carried the warrior. Sulphur did carry the war to the enemy further then an arrow could, so it should be in. But only with WW1 did we see a significant move away from horsepower. But is rubber realy needed if the units do need oil or natural gas already? I would suggest requiring all (combat) units to have two required resources: a metal and a driver. Ancient infantry will have no driver, as the infantriests had to carry themself. But movement shouldn't be higher then one for units without at least horses. I'd suggest axing rubber if you do not find important civilian uses (read buildings). If something needs rubber wheels, it also needs oil. One of them is enough.
Salt: I'd replace salt with the similar looking mineral resource. This resource could be extremely useful in all parts of the game. Mostly it should be a major health supporter, needing building (chemical plant?) to come to full power. Salt alone isn't that important, but chemical minerals are. Btw: a salt refinery doesn't give energy, it requires a lot of energy. SUlphur could be subsumed here.
Shrimp: crabs. No need to duplicate that resource. varech/kelp was different enough. Maybe instead of adding new resources here, you could consider the building "sea farm" giving +1 food, +1 hammer +1 money and thereby reflecting the multitude of uses from sea farming.
Sulphur: sea rubber and salt.
Timber: Do we need it? Wouldn't it make more sense, to make the lumbermill and forest preserve more worth it?
Titanium: definitely. The next step after Aluminum.
Tobacco: see Coffee.
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