While the strategic resource distribution could probably stand to be improved, isn't scarcity the whole point of bothering with strategic resources at all?
If in 90% of games you were guaranteed to have all the strategic resources within your natural boundaries, there would be no incentive to make an effort to acquire them.
I get more frustrated in the late game when I have an entire continent to myself and have only 1 uranium. There is a 2nd but it is held by my city state and not improved. Early game going to war is easy. Killing a city state you have had for centuries just to get a uranium and lose all the benefits for your empire is an insanely high price to pay.
I agree, resources need to be better balanced on map, or conversely there needs to be secondary ways of achieving them. Almost all my games so far have been either zero iron or zero niter, and both are completely crippling (in fact, Niter is worse, because it blocks both melee AND mounted AND siege path, which basically means you can do zero and just hope to survive until modern era).
What?! But you can use the vaunted Anti Cavalry units! Like the Pike&Shot: you gets slaughtered by field cannons, muskets, and struggle against Cuirassiers, sure, but - he nets out to +3 against Cavalry. I mean, talk about power!Niter is worse, because it blocks both melee AND mounted AND siege path,
I'm kind of surprised they don't have some method to synthetically generate a little oil. Given how absurdly crucial it is, yet it is most common on the water as far as I've seen.or conversely there needs to be secondary ways of achieving them.
While you do have to discount the player frustration of things like going into a game wanting to build swords and having no iron, there is a potentially legit discussion around the map distribution. If an entire continent is devoid of iron, for example, that might be a bit extreme. I wonder what the placement algorithm is and how variable it can be... especially if you turn on strategic balance. Has it changed at all since R&F? Questions, questions...On the whole no iron, horses, oil thingy. Honestly, just buy it from someone or get it from a City State.
While the strategic resource distribution could probably stand to be improved, isn't scarcity the whole point of bothering with strategic resources at all?
If in 90% of games you were guaranteed to have all the strategic resources within your natural boundaries, there would be no incentive to make an effort to acquire them.
Just send a builder to the city state and improve it for them. You'll accumulate it that way and can still stay as their suzerain.
I know you can improve tiles in city states but can you also remove improvements? Some resources can pop up under tiles that already have a farm for instance or some unique improvement.