Dynamic resources

b.dorrell

Chieftain
Joined
Dec 19, 2010
Messages
14
I have been thinking about what part of civ 4 I like most, and decided it's the early game, exploring and finding important resources. This gives some realism to developing your civilization. In civ 5 limiting the impact of strategic resource I think is a good improvement, however reducing the impact of the other resources so the benefit is so small take the fun out of the exploration, land grab, and competing for resources.

However the luck of finding highly beneficial resources can make the game unbalanced. So how about dynamic resources! As time passes some mines become exhausted, fish stocks move on, new diamond mines are discovered. This wouldn't need happen too much, just now and again. Prompting new wars, alliances, trade agreements etc.

I think the chance of finding or losing resources throughout the game will keep it more fluid. It you don't like the idea add an option to switch it off. I really like this idea, the game can become to static at the end, just a race to build a spaceship or culture.

Just an idea!
 
I have been thinking about what part of civ 4 I like most, and decided it's the early game, exploring and finding important resources. This gives some realism to developing your civilization. In civ 5 limiting the impact of strategic resource I think is a good improvement, however reducing the impact of the other resources so the benefit is so small take the fun out of the exploration, land grab, and competing for resources.

However the luck of finding highly beneficial resources can make the game unbalanced. So how about dynamic resources! As time passes some mines become exhausted, fish stocks move on, new diamond mines are discovered. This wouldn't need happen too much, just now and again. Prompting new wars, alliances, trade agreements etc.

I think the chance of finding or losing resources throughout the game will keep it more fluid. It you don't like the idea add an option to switch it off. I really like this idea, the game can become to static at the end, just a race to build a spaceship or culture.

Just an idea!

Sounds great, until your rescource disappears making that city you founded to get the one of 4 diamonds on the map disappears,I remember this from civ 3 (though it had strategic rescources disappear instead of bonus/luxury) and I remember how much I hated it. This is a good idea in theory, but IMHO not a good one in practice, just frustrating, it needs to be an option if it happens at all
 
Moderator Action: Moved to Ideas and Suggestions
 
This is a version of an idea that comes up at a reasonable frequency here; that of quantifiable resources. And it's one of my favourites. The move towards quantifying resources was made with strategic resources, but not with others. And there's still an element completing missing; permanent exhaustion of resources. This is what the OP is essentially asking for. That over time, some resource tiles stop producing a resource. If you assign a value to a resource tile, and then use up a little every turn, the exhaustion will be totally predictable, and you'll have introduced a very cool new feature into the game.
 
Resource exhaustion is tough to handle. Do resources deplete as they are used, or over time? If the former, suddenly protecting your lonswordsman and being more efficient in your use of military power becomes much more important. If over time, when do resources deplete? When you reach a new age, or when someone else does? What about different mining technologies? Surface mining, traditional mining, deep mining, or core mining (future tech)? These are all some tough questions you have to answer if you want to add this as a feature.
 
If you were to have resource exhaustion, then you'd want to improve the whole research system, so that buildings and units and production of those things (and maybe improvements too) actually consumed some set amount of a resource each turn. That would mean that they'd deplete as they were used. I came up with this rough formula quite a while ago...

Time for some mathematics!

Resource depletion:
Every tile with a resource is assigned a value (v) of that resource, which is depleted by a certain amount (n) each turn it is used. 0≤v≤100. The cumulative number of turns it has been used will be t. This amount would be some function of t, multiplied by the number of population points connected to the resource (p), divided by the number of tiles that are producing that resource (m). So, n = pc/m, where c is some constant. 0≤pc/m≤0.008v, so that the resource would at least last 125 turns of use. So, the amount depleted would be ptc/m, whereby t≥125. Now, let y = the amount of resource left. So, y=v, when t=0. Then, after t turns, y=v-(ptc/m).

This would ensure that resource depletion takes into account the number of people using the resource, and the number of turns it is being used for. pc/m would be variable for the duration of the game, with the number of cities using the resource, and the number of resource tiles being worked, changing over time.
 
Agree about limited resources in mines and the possibility to discover new deposits.

Would be cool if the cows you pastured but didn't work grow their herd.

All crops and livestocks could grow over time, even if worked. Then we could divide them and export in another city or sell them to other civs (or exchange like wheat for cows, etc...). Corn was brought in Europe from America, when horses took the opposite path, etc...
Of course it could be tricky to implement and should be limited but it would be fun to trade them and it would reward early scouting: if you're the first one to meet many civs, or to build caravels, you can benefit from these trades.
 
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