Never getting any strategic resources

[weeden]

I've played about 5 complete games now (to spaceship or conquest victory) and one theme that really pisses me off is that I have yet to have oil, rubber, or uranium on ANY of the land that I own. In each game, I have owned at least one complete continent giving me 1/3 or better of the world and yet none of these resources. Is it just me or is this happening to a lot of people?

Not only that, but my strategic resources run out on my all the time. The game I just finished tonight, I razed a Japanese city and put up my own nearby on top of oil - the only oil tile I had. The Japanese were quickly finished off by the Greeks and Egyptians. Two turns later, my oil runs out!! I now have to TAKE oil from either of those two civs, both equally powerful to me and running further chance of war upsetting my fragile democracy.

Brian

 

[ThingFromSpace]

There's always the option of trading for the resources you need if the other civs have extra of what you need.

 

[weeden]

Well yes that is one way but IMHO far from the best. At any time they want to the AI can turn on you and then you are SOL because now not only are you at war but you cannot make any units that require that resource. It is a far better option to build the units needed for war, then attack to get that resource, then sue for peace. That way your survivial does not hinge on the whim of another.

Brian

 

[shirleyrocks]

Originally posted by weeden
It is a far better option to build the units needed for war, then attack to get that resource, then sue for peace. That way your survivial does not hinge on the whim of another.

If you could 'build the units needed', then what would be the point of strategic resources at all?

 

[Loopy]

Are you playing with only a few other civs? Fewer civs means fewer resources. My current regent game is on a large map with the max number of civs. I've got a great starting position, wiped out the Babylonians and had a continent to essentially to myself. On it and under my control are all 6 resources that have been revealed so far. Only one type of luxury, but 6 or 7 of them. Needless to say I'm in the process of cruising to an easy victory.

Also, I think weeden meant that after you've traded for the resource, then build, attack, sue. Or he was talking about war elephants or something.

 

[Buecephalus]

It's not your imagination. I've been having the same trouble. I posted the same problem and received similiar advice. I had been playing with two or three other civs so the last two games I've played with 7 opponents with the EXACT same result.
I had no coal, no horses, no oil and when I finally found oil I spent dozens of turns building a road to it and three turns after that It RAN OUT.
What a bunch of garbage.
I read an interview where Sid Meier said that in "Chieftain" mode the computer cheats in favor of the human player...yeah right. If by that he meant the goodie huts are rockin' he can keep 'em and give me some resources.

 

[Zannhart]

aaaaa

 

[The_Newbie]

*cough*lucky ******* *cough*

 

[deanstow]

So what if you are at a disadvantage. If you want an easy game play on the easiest level and kill the rules you don't like. If you want to play CIVII then by all means --- play CIV II. However, if you want something new and challenging, play CIV III and don't whine. THINK!

When I first played this game, I thought I had been ripped off. After playing a while longer, I began to see the depth. After a bit longer, I began to see just how wonderful it is.

This game is about DIPLOMACY! The AI, while it has a few weaknesses, is pretty astute. The key to winning this game is diplomatic relations with the enemy.

 

[betheballdanny]

It's hard to get used to, but this game is much different from civ2. I rarely had any long lasting relationships with other civs in civ2. We'd always do the "hello, how are you, lets trade advances and be friends" thing. Then, the only other time I talked to another civ was to try to tick them off enough to declare war on my democracy. In civ3, you have to deal with the fact that you have to, well, deal with the other civs. You can't expect to have control of every type of strategic resource. It's just not going to happen every game.

If there's any reason to rant about strategic resources, it'd be if there aren't enough of a single type of resource for each civ. I.e. if there are 8 civs, there should be at least 8 oil tiles. Otherwise, one civ is completely screwed. I've never seen it happen, but I'd consider it a bug if did.

 

[Loopy]

Also to get all the strategic resources you pretty much need to have cities spread across all the tile types. Hard to do in most cases. Turns out I do have all 8 strat resource types on my continent, and at least two of each type with the exception of saltpeter.

You know if a strategic resource runs out you can do the reload-cheat to get it back pretty easily. Autosave rocks for this purpose. I'm not even sure you have to try to reset the random number generator since the AI has a bunch of turns before your turn starts.

 

[cort]

Originally posted by Buecephalus
I had no coal, no horses, no oil and when I finally found oil I spent dozens of turns building a road to it and three turns after that It RAN OUT.
What a bunch of garbage.
I read an interview where Sid Meier said that in "Chieftain" mode the computer cheats in favor of the human player...yeah right. If by that he meant the goodie huts are rockin' he can keep 'em and give me some resources. [/B]

well, if you are that much upset, here is a little advice; reload your autosave. resource depletion is a completely random issue.