Battlehelm043
Warlord
The issue with the Renaissance and Industrial Eras is that way too many units need niter. It’s too much of a bottle neck. It also feels silly, because we all know Niter is a fudge - it’s not a real strategic resource because you can make it fairly easily. We have to have Niter for gameplay reasons - but let’s keep it to a minimum. Niter really should only be required for Muskets and Heavy Cav. Everyone else should use some other resource (eg Iron for Frigates) or no resource.
Modern Era is a bit funny because of some unit gaps in the Industrial Era and the small number of units in the Modern Era itself. I really think the issue is that FXS should have split resources required to build a unit and maintenance. You should always be able to build Infantry - ie no upfront resource cost - but you should need oil to maintain them. So, if you’re short of oil, you can still have Infantry but they are weaker. (Infantry becomes their own “default” unit.) Tanks should require Iron to build (steel) and then oil to maintain. There would then be a clearer distinction between Melee and HC.
I think there is also maybe an argument for having late game buldings that can give you a tiny bit of oil and iron, to help mitigate some of the issues around lack of resources (so, you’ll still have to trade for resources etc., but it’s not so stark). Maybe Factories could produce one oil and one iron with a policy card or oil / iron per turn if they run a particular project (a bit like how logistics gives you power). Something like that.
It’s a good post @Sostratus. But I actually think FXS alread have the balance right subject to a bit of tweaking.
Part of the fun of Civ is serendipity. I think sometimes people are pushing for things for the sake of balance or flexibility or consistency that, if implemented, would really just undermine what little serendipity there is. Yeah, sometimes you get to the Modern Era and you have no Oil and it feels ... all for naught. But there’s fun and challenge in that too. I think you’d lose that if you can just go “oh well. Guess I’ll spam “Default No Resource” Unit. Maybe you get Oil some other way. Maybe you have to suddenly lean into the diplomatic game. Maybe you just get smashed, and next time you play you keep in mind that “no Oil” scenario - you maybe Warmonger less at the start, or settle more out of the way Cities or have more allies, because you know you can’t rely on finding Oil later.
Isn’t that a good thing? It’s a reason to settle that sort of territory and or settle cities late game. It also rewards colonial expansion earlier in the game - more chance you’re on a continent that has resources you’ll need in tha future.
That actually sounds kinda cool. I mean, isn’t that the point of a Civ like Mali? No resources. No production. So, you get all the gold and buy what you need?
(People keep asking for an Economic Victory and I just don’t get it. The game already has one - play Mali (Or Spain, or England etc) and buy your way to Victory.)
By the way, don’t the Balanced Start and Legendary Start mechanics already solve this problem? Don’t they basically guarantee there will be key resources near your cities?
I was referring to snow locations that have minimal tundra but 3 iron deposits and then oil. It has happened too frequently in Civ 5 and Civ 6, even past vanilla. I think it has something to do with the original script of the game requiring two of the same resources to build resource dependent units. Trust me I'm all for having to colonize and take land; but having disproportionate resources placed in snow areas is ridiculous. Its certainly not a matter of not wanting to invest in late game cities or colonies. I do think you have an excellent idea for infantry and tanks, but take that a step further and incorporate aluminium for jets and jet bombers.
That must have been at Civ5 launch. BNW was nowhere near as bad as Civ6 of any expansion, in terms of resources. Civ5 worst resource was coal. Everything else was so-so or decent. Every blue moon no oil in range. Uranium was pretty hit or miss, but hey by then, if you were not warmongering, who cared for it. The game might have been nearly over by then if doing a fast science victory.
I remember it took about a month after launch to re-balance the resources for BNW. They had fixed it but it temporarily broke. As for coal, yea I remember how no matter what there was never enough.
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