Newb question

[civtim]

Ok, so I did a custom huge world, Prince level. Made it all the way to 550 AD and still no copper or iron to be found anywhere and the other civs had none for trade. I had a scout that cleared about 25 squares up and to the west (since south and east were both ocean) with nothing but gold and gems to be found. My norther most town got slaughtered by barbarians (Axemen and archers) as a wave of 10 of them came out of the darkness to light up my life.

I've noticed in other games you get a message "Such and Such" resource is found near "where ever". Is there a way to "look" for copper and iron. I was stuck on archers, chariots and warrior before I got crushed by barbarian axeman and archers.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Morthrod]

did you research bronze working?

 

[kingnorxis]

unfortunately sometimes you just don't get metals, you do have horses so get HBR ASAP. you can also try the strategy of fog busting if barbs are a problem.

 

[the reverend]

I've noticed in other games you get a message "Such and Such" resource is found near "where ever". Is there a way to "look" for copper and iron.

This happened because you had a mine. Every mine has a small chance of discovering a resource, I believe it's every turn you work the mine. You can discover copper, iron, gold, silver, gems, aluminum, and probably uranium. But sometimes you'll just play a map without having any metal, typically the smaller the map the less likely you'll have one.

 

[f35acepilot]

This happened because you had a mine. Every mine has a small chance of discovering a resource, I believe it's every turn you work the mine. You can discover copper, iron, gold, silver, gems, aluminum, and probably uranium. But sometimes you'll just play a map without having any metal, typically the smaller the map the less likely you'll have one.

Also, if you discover a technology that reveals a resource and you have some in your borders, it will display this message.

 

[Izmir Stinger]

This happened because you had a mine. Every mine has a small chance of discovering a resource, I believe it's every turn you work the mine. You can discover copper, iron, gold, silver, gems, aluminum, and probably uranium. But sometimes you'll just play a map without having any metal, typically the smaller the map the less likely you'll have one.

Not uranium, coal, and you don't need to work the mine for it to happen. If you have any idle workers (I find that they have little to do between late Renaissance and inventing railroads) build mines on any tiles that are in your cultural borders but outside your cities' BFC, or just tiles you won't ever work (ice or desert hills) to increase the chance of this happening. If you get lucky you will get gold or silver or something. You can't depend on it for vital strategic resources; the chance is too low.

 

[JBossch]

Not uranium, coal, and you don't need to work the mine for it to happen. If you have any idle workers (I find that they have little to do between late Renaissance and inventing railroads) build mines on any tiles that are in your cultural borders but outside your cities' BFC, or just tiles you won't ever work (ice or desert hills) to increase the chance of this happening. If you get lucky you will get gold or silver or something. You can't depend on it for vital strategic resources; the chance is too low.

No, you have to work the mine.

@ the OP: You have lots of gold and gems? Who cares about metal if you have good city spots that can be peacefully settled. Chariots will do against the barbs, you dont even need HBR. Just wait til gunpowder units. They generally don't need any of those resources.

 

[wioneo]

Not uranium, coal, and you don't need to work the mine for it to happen. If you have any idle workers (I find that they have little to do between late Renaissance and inventing railroads) build mines on any tiles that are in your cultural borders but outside your cities' BFC, or just tiles you won't ever work (ice or desert hills) to increase the chance of this happening. If you get lucky you will get gold or silver or something. You can't depend on it for vital strategic resources; the chance is too low.

You actually do have to be working the tile, and yes uranium is a possibilty(or I got an extremely lucky glitch in tha one game). So building random mines throughout your empire is actually completely useless. That is, unless they have a resource under them.

 

[Izmir Stinger]

You actually do have to be working the tile, and yes uranium is a possibilty(or I got an extremely lucky glitch in tha one game). So building random mines throughout your empire is actually completely useless. That is, unless they have a resource under them.

I swear I've had gold pop up on unworkable tiles in the past.

 

[wioneo]

I swear I've had gold pop up on unworkable tiles in the past.

I'm sure that someone will dig up some random peice of code from somehwere to settle that,(or maybe it's in the civilopedia...) until then we will just have to agree to agree that I'm right

 

[Izmir Stinger]

I'm sure that someone will dig up some random peice of code from somehwere to settle that,(or maybe it's in the civilopedia...) until then we will just have to agree to agree that I'm right

Ha!

Well, to answer the "newb question," I'm not sure, and several other people seem certain that you can't get mineral pops without working the mine tile, so they are probably right.

 

[Derek_Zoolander]

I'm sure that someone will dig up some random peice of code from somehwere to settle that,(or maybe it's in the civilopedia...) until then we will just have to agree to agree that I'm right

Putting random mines up IS beneficial. If you look at 'build mine' on workers, if says 'small chance of discovering gold, silver, etc'.

I've had it happen at least 5 times. It CAN happen.

 

[civtim]

Really appreciate all the insight on this. Really torqued me off when that one city (that I moved like 8 chariots into) got crushed so suddenly. They came out in waves. An axeman and an archer every turn for like 5 turns. On one turn it took me 3 chariots to kill 1 axeman (that was me attacking, not defending with chariots). Anyway, back to the drawing board.

 

[Birdman6]

Really appreciate all the insight on this. Really torqued me off when that one city (that I moved like 8 chariots into) got crushed so suddenly. They came out in waves. An axeman and an archer every turn for like 5 turns. On one turn it took me 3 chariots to kill 1 axeman (that was me attacking, not defending with chariots). Anyway, back to the drawing board.

Having a lot of gold and gems is great! Get mines on all of those and milk as much commerce out of them as you can!

Chariots can suffice against barbarian archers, but against axemen it gets dicey. Do you remember what terrain the barbs were standing on when you attacked? That can make all the difference. Be sure to check the odds before each battle.

Also, chariots are simply not good city defenders. You're better off using archers which can fortify and earn terrain bonuses.

 

[batavier]

Ha!

Well, to answer the "newb question," I'm not sure, and several other people seem certain that you can't get mineral pops without working the mine tile, so they are probably right.

I Just started a game on settler, disabled all victory conditions, built an inland capital, started wordbuilder, made the capital legendary and covered my entire territory outside of the BFC with hills with mines. I also gave myself all techs, then automated everything and pressed enter until 2050. No resources appeared outside of a BFC. 3 resources appeared on mines in the BFC.

What can happen is that you get the tin random event on a mine outside the BFC. This gives 2 extra hammers for a (probably random) mine. I think you can only get that once?.
Having a chance to get the event in a mine you can't work can't be a good thing.

 

[andersw]

I Just started a game on settler, disabled all victory conditions, built an inland capital, started wordbuilder, made the capital legendary and covered my entire territory outside of the BFC with hills with mines. I also gave myself all techs, then automated everything and pressed enter until 2050. No resources appeared outside of a BFC. 3 resources appeared on mines in the BFC.

What can happen is that you get the tin random event on a mine outside the BFC. This gives 2 extra hammers for a (probably random) mine. I think you can only get that once?.
Having a chance to get the event in a mine you can't work can't be a good thing.

Did you work the mines that popped?
If yes, could you try the same w/o working the mines in the BFC?

 

[Meatbuster]

No metal in the world?
I don't suppose it's time to rush the enemy with horse archers... or tech to gunpowder and maul them with muskets.
(Unless you're arabs, in which case beeline to guilds and Camel Archers will kill everyone who's not in a city.)

 

[W|M]

did you do raging barbs?

 

[JBossch]

Putting random mines up IS beneficial. If you look at 'build mine' on workers, if says 'small chance of discovering gold, silver, etc'.

I've had it happen at least 5 times. It CAN happen.

I dont know why people are still arguing about this. You have to work the mine.

Chariots can suffice against barbarian archers, but against axemen it gets dicey.

Very wrong. Chariots get a huge bonus when attacking axes (ONLY when attacking). They suffice just fine against barb axes which are, at any rate, rare. Spears are another story but if you are seeing a lot of either you really need to build more settlers.

 

[Fetch]

It's at times like this that I wonder where the barbs got all that metal for their shiny axes and spears. I also wonder what they make the barrels of those muskets out of when there is no metal around.