I hate it when this happens...

[GamezRule]

Please post a save! I want to see it.

 

[TobusRex]

That sounds like an interesting world you have there, to tell the truth.

I was wondering if it's even possible for there not to be coal on it.

There is probably an unclaimed 2 space volcanic island with coal in both spaces, lol.

 

[Bartleby]

What size map is it? I've heard tell once before of a map with no aluminium; that was a tiny map if I remember correctly.

I'm assuming you've checked with the clean map mode (ctrl-shift-M) to see if there's coal under any towns...


edit: to add:

The other thing that'd make a difference is how many civs are on the map...the fewer civs, the less coal.

 

[GamezRule]

I believe CAII will tell you if there is coal in any of your visible tiles.

 

[madviking]

madviking's general rule of thumb:

The greater the perceived chance having coal within your borders, the lower the probability there's coal within your borders.

That's happened to me all the time.

 

[TobusRex]

Please post a save! I want to see it.

It appears I'm in error. Maybe my map data was too old, but I went back and repurchased territory maps from every civilization. The French have coal deposits, but I have failed to find any other coal anywhere else in the world. As luck would have it the deposits in question are located well inside their sphere and I probably wouldn't be successful taking it. Plus I'm on another continent altogether.

Not sure how to go about posting saves. I looked in the Firaxis folder and couldn't find any files names "Save" or "*.sav".

Oh yeah, it's a "Large" continent world.

 

[GamezRule]

Look under compatibility files. (You can't do it from the upload screen, you will have to make a copy of the save in my documents or something like that.

 

[TobusRex]

Hopefully this works

 

[Lanzelot]

Hopefully this works

This shouldn't be too hard: China, France and Russia all have 2 coal in their territory. China and France even have theirs already connected by road.
Try whether China sells it for a reasonable price. (You can give them spices and some gpt, if your trade reputation is still intact.)

If they don't trade, just sell Steam Power to France for as much as they will pay, and then buy coal from them. (You can give them spices and silks, perhaps that's already enough?!)

If they don't trade it to you, you've probably busted your trade rep earlier. In that case you can go to war for coal. I recommend England as easiest target. They have 1 coal in their borders and seem to be the weakest nation. Also they are on a different continent, so they can't strike back at you that easily... (the AI is usually pretty bad at naval invasions...!) Taking coal from them in a short decisive strike and then making peace again as soon as they are willing to talk, should be possible.

Lanzelot

 

[el_griffador]

To update my game: The Mayans had 3 deposits in their mountainous and jungle-infested empire, I traded them up to steam power, they're now gracious, we're regularly trading tech and luxuries

 

[TobusRex]

Wow, thanks for the tips. I didn't see most of the stuff you saw on the map. Guess I need to train my eyes to see that stuff better.

I have an even worse game scenario I'm posting on another thread, hopefully you'll take a look at it.