Maybe I'm not understanding strategic resource trading?

[BlindWatchmaker]

Forgive me if this question's been asked.

At the top it shows I have 1 iron. Hovering over it reveals:

1 [Iron]. 4 total, 3 used.

However, I have just traded 4 Iron to another civ for 30 turns for a lump sum of gold. I also have 1 samurai (iron unit) on the board.

So if I only have 4 in "total," I'm trading 4 away, and using 1, how does that leave me 1?

Am I misunderstanding the meaning of the word "total" here?

Civopedia is no help, and I can't seem to pinpoint this issue in the forums or via Google. Any explanation would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[elthrasher]

The total doesn't include the four iron you've traded away. You likely have four iron gifted you to by a city-state, so that's the total. You have one samurai. Is it possible you have a couple of catapults? They require iron as well. You should have three iron-based units on the map somewhere.

Either that or you're getting some kind of bug.

 

[BlindWatchmaker]

Thanks for the reply.

You're right, I do have two catapults, so that's the "3 used."

So you're saying that the "4 total" does not include what I'm trading. So I have an additional 4 iron (from somewhere) that I'm trading to another civ.

I don't recall making deals for iron with any other civ or city state. Is it possible to gain strategic resources from city states without an implicit indication? Is there a comprehensive resource overview screen where I can see how much iron is coming in and going out in total?

Thanks again for the info.

 

[Drawmeus]

If you've allied a city-state, you get their resources, no dealing necessary.

EDIT: And on the Economy Overview, there's a resources tab.

 

[BlindWatchmaker]

Thanks, I will look for the economy overview (not sure how I missed this).

To clarify, if I was not trading away the iron I get from city states, those would appear in my "total" at the top of the screen?

Also, I'm sure I encountered city states with a "friendly" disposition toward me, but I have definitely not pursued any alliances toward city states (through missions or bribery). I would have to be formally allied with a CS to gain its resources, right?

I need to double check my relations when I get back to my computer.

 

[sharkles]

You can't trade the city-states' iron.
At least I don't think you can.
It sounds like you're trading away all of your domestic iron and living off the CS supply.

 

[Randall Turner]

Yep. If you're allies with a city-state that's supplying you with a particular resource, you can trade away all your resources of that type.

If you're not allied with a city-state, they aren't giving you resources. (If you are, hover your mouse over your relations bar and it'll tell you what resources, food, science, culture etc. they're sending to you.)

 

[elthrasher]

Just to clarify, you get all improved resources from your city-state allies. You don't have to specifically ask for them. It's automatic. You are not able to sell or trade these away, but you can unload your own resources and then live on the city-state ones. The best example of this is if you have a cotton resource and then ally a city-state that has cotton. You should sell your own cotton because having 2 cotton is useless. Just make sure you keep the city-state on your side.

 

[Bibor]

Civ5 always properly calculated resources for me, maybe its a bug bug I doubt it.
The interface won't let you trade away resources that you don't have within your borders.
You need to be allied with a city-state and it has to improve the specific tile (more an issue at later era resources) to gain their resources. You get full amounts listen on the city-state screen, the city-state does not use them up itself.

If you have 4 extra iron you could trade away that mean only three things:
- that there's iron somehwere directly below one or two of your cities and you missed it; hover over the city to see the tile info
- you have a city-state alliance you're unaware of
- you gained iron from a trade with a different civ

 

[BlindWatchmaker]

Thanks for all the info! Finally got back to the game and looked up the Economic Overview.

As I thought, I am not allied with any city states. However, I do have 8 sources of local iron available (who knew?).

8 - 4 (traded away) = 4. 4 total - 3 iron units = 1 iron available. Makes sense!

It might be nice for all of this info to display at the top, but I understand why it's reduced to only show resources you're 'working with.'

Thanks again for the tips on city states though. Will no doubt come in handy.