Halfway through with no iron

[Quasimodo]

I'm playing on a huge map as the Zulus. Its the year 1250 and I still have no iron resources. I'm doing pretty good tech wise and tops on the Histrograph. The Mayans are a close second because of their large culture.

I've taken out the French except for one small city that I cannot get to. I've done this all with archers and Longbowmen. I'm blocked off from the rest of the continet by the Vikings, and I don't see an iron resource in nearby sight.

Any suggestions?

I have saltpeter and one resource of horses and 17 turns away from Mil. Tradition.

 

[Jason Fliegel]

I just posted about a similar situation in the C3C forum. Fortunately, I was able to go to war and secure a source of iron.

I assume trade for iron is not an option? In that case, I'd see what I could do about getting everyone to gang up on the Vikings, then carving your own piece of their empire with a combination of longbows, trebuchets/cannons, musketmen, and knights/cavalry. Alternately, you could secure your cities and gear up for a peaceful victory (culture, space race, or U.N.).

 

[DragonRunner]

Be careful of the Vikings. Even if they do have Iron, they won't need it to make Beserks. I'd just start pumping out cav once you get it. Can you trade for iron?

 

[mbrown]

Iron is required for two purposes:
- in the ancient & middle ages to build military units such as swordsman, pikes, knights, etc
- in the industrial age to build railroads & factories (along with coal)

You are close to getting cavalry, thus have no military need for iron. You will however, need iron for the industrial age.

You have two choices:
- use your cavalry to take an iron source by force or
- trade for it with the Mayans

Without further details I can't say which is the better alternative.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Since you have a tech lead, I'd say get that Cavalry/Musketman army and Expand your Territory (choosing easiest possible target)...

However, you should then put your Research to Navigation and Printing Press so as to locate Iron. (Allowing you to figure out who the best target is)


If you don't have it by the Industrial Age, then Research Steam Power/Industrialization AFTER you get Hospitals, Riflemen and Advanced Governments.

 

[Quasimodo]

I also have a GL sitting around doing nothing. Didn't feel like building an army of Archers or Longbowmen at the time.

My initial plan is to build an army of Cavalry and then hopefully blast through the Vikings before they can get a sizable force of Berzerkers going.

The Mayans keep demanding techs and luxuries from me. I keep telling them to take their demands and......you know. I think I got a big enough military force that it's keeping them from declaring war. I'm trying to hold them off until I can get a decent offensive force to work with.

Oh, and thanks for the tips people!

 

[Lord Parkin]

Iron is important in the ancient era, but essential in the industrial and beyond. It'd be wise to check in the diplomacy screen first whether the Vikings actually have Iron before going to war with them. And if they do have Iron, take the time to check out their territory for exactly where each source is (don't forget to check city squares), and concentrate on the nearest source when going to war. Definately drag as many civs into war with the Vikings as possible, but make sure that you ONLY take the cities you need to get to the Iron resource, and defend them well - if you concentrate too much on expanding, your forces will be spread out and you may end up losing the city with Iron, which was the whole point of going to war.

BTW, I hope you at least have Coal, as taking TWO resources (probably from two different civs) will be a real hassle.

 

[Tomoyo]

About the GL sitting around doing nothing: Make an empty army.

I'm playing an AW game where I had no iron the entire game. As Japan

 

[Tatran]

Originally posted by Tomoyo
About the GL sitting around doing nothing: Make an empty army.

That's a good point.Now you can go for another MGL.
The Zulus are militaristic,why not use it?The expansionist
trait is probably useless by now.So save indeed your MGL
until you got cavalry and finish the Vikings off.Much better
get rid of them all with your cavalry armies.

 

[PersiaPower]

I'd suggest that you just get that army of Cavalry together and take iron by force. From my experience, you can't really mount much of an industrial age military without railroads, and they need iron...

 

[Quasimodo]

I've got about a dozen cavalry units and am upgrading my horsemen.

I've taken a couple of the cities so far and the Vikings have tried to counter attack with Berzerkers a couple of times but to no avail.

I figure if I can attack the Berzerkers before they attack me, I should do okay.

 

[The Last Conformist]

The Berserkers have a paltry movement of one, so on land they shouldn't be that much of a threat. Certainly no match fo Cav.

 

[Chieftess]

Even if the Vikings do have a large beserker army (troops), build artillery, and bombard them as they come into your territory. Then mop up their cities.

 

[nullspace]

Even if the Vikings do have a large beserker army (troops), build artillery, and bombard them as they come into your territory. Then mop up their cities.

Unfortunately, until he gets to replaceable parts, the best artillery that he can build are trebuchets, since cannons require iron. Other things that require iron: Frigates, privateers, ironclads, coastal fortesses, factories, and railroads. So use those cavalries to get some iron, or you won't have an industrial revolution!