mines to discover resources?

[beefsteak]

In the civilopedia it says building a mine would yield a "small chance" to discover mining-resources, such as gold, iron, coal etc.

Has anyone ever seen that happening? In my games it never did, so far.

I wonder if I keep building mines, pillage, build again... could I possibly dig up resources that way?

 

[Kylearan]

Hi,

In the civilopedia it says building a mine would yield a "small chance" to discover mining-resources, such as gold, iron, coal etc.

Has anyone ever seen that happening?

Yes, several times. Nearly every game I played so far saw a mine discovering a resource, gems in my last game. In fact, I had the feeling that it happens too often...

I wonder if I keep building mines, pillage, build again... could I possibly dig up resources that way?

No, it doesn't work that way. Your mined tile will have a chance of discovering a resource every turn, not just on the turn it gets built. Just leave the mine as it is, and it might come up with something later in the game.

-Kylearan

 

[Harald]

I think it has for me. I don't think that the resource have to appear when you build the mine but that there is a small chance of finding something every turn. I'm pretty sure I have gotten gold and iron this way.

 

[roidesfoux]

I don't think that you have a chance when you build the mine, I think it's a continuous thing (I'm not sure if you have to work the mine or not).
I say this because I've never had a resource appear from making a mine, but in one game, I had three resources pop up over the course of the game. One city had 5-6 mines in its production radius. Some time in the Classical period, I got a popup that a new source of gold had been found near that city. During the Medieval or Renaissance period, some gems appeared, followed by some more gold in the Industrial age. All at the same city!

-RdF

 

[UKScud]

So it is definately worth covering every non-city cross tile with mines in order to 'perhaps' get something later on in the game?

 

[MrCynical]

I once got gold from a mine but not on the turn I dug it, instead about 50 turns later. I think that each mine has some fraction of a percent chance each turn of discovering a resource, but it must be very low. I also think there are some restrictions due to resources on nearby tiles. As in civ 3, I think you still can't get different types of resources on adjacent tiles.

 

[beefsteak]

Thank you for the replies. Everyone seems to agree it's a chance-per-turn, good to know that.
I'll just keep watching out for uncovered resources then, guess I was unlucky in my first games in that regard

 

[Kazper]

It is very rare. In three full games (and some unfinished games) I've had it happen once. But it does happen, and it is definitely a check each turn.

 

[Arkalius]

A tile with a mine that is being worked (and doesn't already have a resource on it of course), has a 1 in 10,000 chance (0.01%) per turn of discovering a particular resource. Since there are 8 resources requiring mines, there is a 1 in 1,250 chance of discovering any resource per turn. This adds up to a 10% chance of a mine uncovering a resource in about 132 turns of being worked.

This chance is per mine, but the mine must be worked (ie a citizen from a city is assigned to the square it's on), so it's pointless to go around building mines on unused squares in the hope of finding a resource.

 

[Zhahz]

I tend to build a lot of mines and have long running games. I don't think it's a per-turn chance. I've definitely, on rare occasions, found a resource upon building a mine. I don't recall ever having a mine develop a resource randomly over time unless it was luck when a new resource is uncovered by tech.