No iron makes the game very very difficult

[imperialus]

I must say that playing with no iron is a chalange to say the least. For some reason I only had a single iron source anywhere near me (there were only 3 on the entire continant and the other two were in the middle of france). Going to war in the middle of the middle ages with horsemen, spearmen and archers is definatly not easy.

 

[Setsuna]

Judging from what I read in this thread it happens with more than Iron.

Later in the game you can expect to find absolutely crucial resources like Aluminum and Oil conveniently out of reach.

>_<

 

[JZ Temple]

I've been playing a game where I had no iron for my Romans, so no Legionaires. The English had iron to spare, but wanted an arm and a leg and one of my kidneys for it. I refused for quite a while, then finally relented and gave them what they wanted. I then spent the next twenty turns building Legionaires and Pikemen like crazy. Then I attacked and eventually beat the weak Greeks, who have (had ) lots of spices.

Now I've finished researching gunpowder, so I can build Musketmen and forget about iron, while achieving my Gunpower advance revealed three(!) previously unknown saltpeter resources in my empire. So now the other empires come crawling to me for my Gunpowder tech and my saltpeter

I was unhappy with Civ3 at first because of this resources situation, but now that I better understand the intricacies of trading, my option of the game has increased dramatically.

 

[Jay H]

You've got that right! Not only did I have to trade for iron, I've got no horses so I've got a bunch of swordsman and pikes running around in my silly game of civ 3. Sooner or later, I'll have to start a serious game as right now I'm digging in and hoping the French and Russians start going after each other...

Jay

 

[Johnny_Vegas]

Worse than not having Iron, is starting a war with Germany, and just as you've conquered half of their nation, your iron RUNS OUT and dissapears!!

Not to mention I was the Egyptians who couldn't build their special chariot unit because I had no freaking horses.

Saved my game last night with 2 swordsman, 1 pikeman and 4 catapults in a fortress next to Berlin bombarding it for all its worth.
Catapults take forever to do damage though, so its going to be a LONG road before Berlin is taken. He might be able to drive me out. Germany has horses and iron, from what I don't know, I can't see it anywhere. Perhaps he's traded for it from another nation? I should go take out his port cities!!

Anyway I find the new resource model in Civ 3 to be one of the best additions to the game. Gives you real reason to conquer other nations and/or trade.

thanks Jeff and Sid!

 

[MattB]

Absolutely - it makes the game so much better.

My first game was very peaceful until around 1700 with Russians on one side of me and Germans the other on a large continent.

I had done without coal for ages but soon realised that I should be able to build railroads an couldn't due to the lack of coal.

That's what a lot of wars have been fought about historically, not just cause people are blood thirsty. That extra realism just makes the game even better!!

Cheers

Matt

 

[xRamsesx]

In my current game I found myself stuck on an island with the persians (may they RIP - they met some of my bowmen+catapults ).

The island had plenty of wine and ivory but no iron. So I ended up exploriring and finding whcih civs I could trade with (all other areas on the map had no iron either - small map), built up my cities so that they could start pumping out units, and swallowed my pride and conceded to exhorbitant demands for 20 turns of iron.

I pumped out units like crazy, and once the 20 turns were over moved my troops over to an Iroquois coastal city that had iron in its area. I managed to take it easily after bombarding it back to the stone age. And with a newly aquired harbor i now have iron for the rest of the populace

I'm just bracing myself for the iroquois counter-attack since other than resistance in the city no other units came to help ... maybe the fact that i managed to get the other 4 civs to declare war at the same time helped

LOVE this game!!!

 

[PT4414]

I absolutely love the the resource system - it adds a ton more realism to the game. MattB was right on about a lot of the early wars being fought over resources. Resources also drive exploration as well, as I found out in my game. I'm playng the Germans (again - got creamed the first time) and I discovered that if you are near any other civilization it changes your colonization strategy. I used to branch out from my capital but now I need to found cities next to resources. The more land you see, the more resources available and if the damn Russians happen to have an iron resource then its off to war! On a side note, I'm currently sandwiched between the Russians and the English and the Romans are creeping up from the south. Go figure, two expansionist nations right next to me - I smell a war soon.

 

[mote]

The resource aspect is cool. I admit none of mine have run out yet, but the luxury issue is killing me. I only have wine and fur and have to trade an arm and a leg for anything else.

The trading diplomacy screen is cool. The rumors that they will not trade for cities is wrong tho'. If you're beating up a civ, but have to slow down to manage/defend your new cities, ask for another one when you offer a peace treaty. I've received two this way. The best thing is that they're automatically your nationality! No resistence/unhappiness to worry about.

One thing puzzles me on the world map. I have horses in north and south america, but they were not introduced to the americas until the spanish in the 16th century. The native americans took to them like wildfire, but horses are not native to this continent.

 

[JBearIt]

Originally posted by JZ Temple


Now I've finished researching gunpowder, so I can build Musketmen and forget about iron, while achieving my Gunpower advance revealed three(!) previously unknown saltpeter resources in my empire. So now the other empires come crawling to me for my Gunpowder tech and my saltpeter

You can't quite give up on iron even after gunpowder because you need iron if you want to make railroads, cannons, frigates, and ironclads. I got stuck on two islands and didn't have iron or horses (as Chinese so no special unit for me w/out horses). The Romans had both but I could only afford to trade for one. I chose horses, especially after I discovered gunpowder. But decided to pay the extra price for iron when I got steam power so I could build the railroads.

 

[ChrTh]

Originally posted by JBearIt


You can't quite give up on iron even after gunpowder because you need iron if you want to make railroads, cannons, frigates, and ironclads. I got stuck on two islands and didn't have iron or horses (as Chinese so no special unit for me w/out horses). The Romans had both but I could only afford to trade for one. I chose horses, especially after I discovered gunpowder. But decided to pay the extra price for iron when I got steam power so I could build the railroads.

Is there ever a point in the game when you no longer need Iron to build Railroad (that you're aware of)?

 

[Red October]

In my game, I've found some iron. The only problem is that the Indians are making it very difficult for me to get a road there. They have guys patrolling everywhere around the city it seems!

 

[CoolLizy]

Now I know how the South Amercains felt... I had NO horses and NO iron! I finally took the horses from the germans after they double crossed me.
Also, let the computer choose what it wants for a resource - But don't trust it's first offer! They'll want more than it's worth. Take it down some before accepting.
And keep that culture rating up.

 

[-proletarian-]

First off, Civ III -IS- a great game, I don't care what the malcontents on this board would have us believe. I went out and got it the afternoon after it had shipped (I was one of the lucky ones! ) and have been playing it almost non-stop for the past three days. Alas, today I have work at 5pm, but the past 72 hours have been a blast! The initial problems I had with the game running slow on my system have been largely, if not completely, remedied by ALT-CTRL-DELETING all unecessary programs running in the background, as well as un-installing The Sims and Sim City 3000 to free up some disk space on my puny 4 gig hard drive. I'm really loving the updated graphics, the vastly improved warfare, trading and diplomacy systems, as well as the whole thing with resources, this point especially broadens the game, and adds a whole new level of depth and stratergy. (who here who has played the game DOESN'T love the feeling when you discover gunpowder and instantly find out that you've been sitting on a huge pile of saltpeter? )

In closing, I love this game, and for you who are still a bit unsure, just shut up whining and PLAY!

 

[Dell19]

Wow the need to trade resources sounds really cool.


Now I just have to get Civ 3...My only problem is that I think you should be able to build your special unit always as long as you have researched it. Its seems a waste to me if you end up never being able to build it.

 

[kevini100]

I have the same problem of being on a portion of a continent with not even one iron. I'm really having a tuff time:crazyeyes dealing with tribes that have access to iron themselves.

Kev

 

[imperialus]

I'm not saying that it is something I don't like, just that it makes life very very difficult for a napolionic style meglomaniac like myself. Then, I was struck with an epifany. Ok as we all know it is almost impossible for a country not to be able to get it's hands on oil. If nothing else it will be imported for commercal products at least, or second rate iron deposets like those that exsist on japan. Why not make it so that if you don't possess a resource you are still capable of building units dependant on said resource, you are just limited to a dozen or so, total, like if you didn't have say Oil, you would have to choose a maximum of a dozen units at a time that require oil, so for example, you could have 4 modern armour, 1 transport, 1 fighter, 3 mech infantry, and 2 battle ships. Not a bad army, at least not for homeland defence in a reasonably peaceful game, but not one that you would want to go trying to take over the world with.

 

[Craterus22]

Supply is problematic no doubt. One strategy that is working for me is makeing friends early in the game and trying to keep them gracious by paying them off on a per turn basis. So that if they luck out and get something - it should be easier to get it from them

Too much luck is still required though... you have to hope that your enemies don't end up with a monopoly of a resourse.

 

[MattB]

Having played a few games now and feeling the effects with tiredness(!), you can guarantee that of the real key resources - coal, iron and oil (and later aluminium and uranium) the chances of you having more than one on your standard land is highly unlikely. However it does force you into either some aggressive expansion or a lot of trade.
Either way it's far more realistic than previous Civs and much more challenging!

Cheers

MattB

 

[JBearIt]

I agree that expansion is key. The more land you have, the more likely you'll have access to resources.