How often to stone and/or marble appear?

[Priah]

If I get stone, I build the hanging gardens, if I get marble, I build the great library. Otherwise I dont really do much with either resource... there are usually better things to invest in.

 

[johnny_rico]

A better question... Has anyone ever gotten both marble and stone in there BFC? I'm positive I've never seen that.

Once for me. An inland sea game with Huayna Capac, not regenerated. The game was fun.

 

[Clam Spammer]

I get stone about half of the time, marble much less (about 20%). That said, I haven't played many games yet and I suspect these will even out over time. In my current game (Islands map) I have neither, even after taking out two civs.

Only once have I acquired both peacefully, but they were fairly distant from each other and my capital.

 

[obsolete]

Not finding builder resources is like not finding any metals. Sometimes you just get screwed, and you never forget it. Especially when starting next to Togu, etc.

One thing that annoys me the most about Romans, is lucky enough to get all the bronze you want, but NO iron.

Anyhow, lets assume the chances of getting stone within reach is less than half the time. Lets say 40%. Also, lets assume the chances of getting Marble was also similar, 40% as well.

Thus, the chances of getting BOTH within reach are .40 x .40 = 16%

A rare event, but still a little better than 1 and a half times in 10.

Conversely, the chances of not getting ANY resources, would be (1-.4) x (1-.4) = 36%

So that's basically a 2-to-1 against chance.

Of course, these numbers are just samples. I don't know the true algorithm on how the system CLUMPS resources, and size of maps could also have tremendous impact on the system. Not to mention, how far is the player willing to expand out to grab that resource(s).

I've noticed like others, that stone seems more common than marble, and that it is very popular with BtS. But I haven't played a thousand games yet for any empirical data on that. It could just be temporary fluctuation.

 

[Roland Johansen]

Anyhow, lets assume the chances of getting stone within reach is less than half the time. Lets say 40%. Also, lets assume the chances of getting Marble was also similar, 40% as well.

Thus, the chances of getting BOTH within reach are .40 x .40 = 16%

A rare event, but still a little better than 1 and a half times in 10.

Conversely, the chances of not getting ANY resources, would be (1-.4) x (1-.4) = 36%

So that's basically a 2-to-1 against chance.

Of course, these numbers are just samples. I don't know the true algorithm on how the system CLUMPS resources, and size of maps could also have tremendous impact on the system.

Like you already suggest in these last few sentences, I don't think you can use simple mathematics to calculate the odds of getting both or neither. One of the main reasons why this in unlikely to be an accurate approximation is that stone and marble are usually not found on the same terrain type and thus the geographical position on the map is likely to influence the probability of getting these resources. The presence of one of these resources near your starting position is not independent of the presence of the other resource.

Not to mention, how far is the player willing to expand out to grab that resource(s).

It's probably correct that people who value these resources higher and are willing to travel further to get them will also grab them more often within their first 5 cities.
It's probably also correct that someone who regenerates maps to get a better starting position regularly will also get certain resources more often.

Because of these 2 reasons and the actual inaccuracy in human pattern recognition, the human perception of the regularity of occurrence of these resources is likely to be pretty inaccurate.

But I haven't played a thousand games yet for any empirical data on that.

I guess that in the end, starting thousand of games and just counting the number of these resources within say 10 or 15 tiles distance is the only way that this question will be answered (and I don't think anyone is going to do that ).

It might also be interesting to take a look into a map generator to see which resources will appear on what terrain and with which likelihood. It could give a player more insight into the chances of getting certain resources just based on the immediate surroundings of his capital. Most players know that they won't get any fur when they start near the jungle or bananas when they start near tundra terrain, but not ever connection between terrain and resource is that clear.