No iron, no niter, no horses

[Don Andre]

In my third game. Is it just bad luck? Civ6 feels so boring without a little fighting. It's just turn, turn, turn, hoping for something to happen. What can you do in such a case or does one just have to send settlers to crazy distant locations to get the resources? Or is there a strategy to win wars without these resources? The AI doesn't seem very sharp

 

[Vargas1]

If you want to fight but don't have resources, build an encampment/barracks to try to get Statue of Zeus and overwhelm your opponents with anti-cav.

 

[Victoria]

Bait n pillage I find a fun game even without these.

you get your archers and rush to Xbow and give your warriors a bit of tortoise training while fighting barbs. Bait them into attacking with a settlement into where they want to expand so they declare war on you (or join a war against an exhausted foe) and kill off their troops and pillage them to hell. The pillaging certainly can pay for the troops, there is no long term animosity with other civs and you are both better off and not bored.

There are things to encourage them like leaving your archers not upgraded to look weaker and leaving your city one turn from walls. You can even let them take the city for more grievances if you want to shave a couple of cities off them when with Xbow and a general you can do. Also the AI’s targeting is a little weird at times and taking a strength 40 city with Xbow and warriors is not as hard as you think. I mean a warrior will take a city as long as it reduces the city to 0 HP while it has 1 HP remaining itself, you can take a city with a scout. I played with a suze of Wolin the other day having chosen to be peaceful and found they were excellent for getting a GG in such cases.

I find this type of strategy feels more realistic than taking an entire civ, while not optimal gameplay it does make my game more fun for me, hell civ destruction is pretty boring also while this has inherent story telling of a slighted civ getting its own back.

Quick answer is a good player can use ranged against a bad AI and win. In these cases a couple of AC units can also be useful.

 

[MrRadar]

You could also try to shop around: look in the global resources tab if some AIs have surplus resources and can sell them to you, then upgrade your troops, preferably with Retinues card at least. Buy 1 more than needed so that your damaged units could heal.

If there’s Hattusa on the map, try to gain Suzerainty there, you’ll have at least a trickle of known strategics coming in.

 

[Socrates99]

Definitely check other ai for the resources. The price for enough to upgrade a few units isn't bad. Using the black market promotion on Magnus can really make that little bit you can buy stretch. Back them up with ranged units. Crossbows can still deal relatively decent damage if you rush machinery.

 

[Don Andre]

Thanks for the good suggestions. True I should have probably gone for Archers/Crossbows quickly.

I don't find the AI very convincing. I hardly ever use diplomacy except to ask for open borders.

 

[Socrates99]

Yeah, the AI is pretty blah. I have found trade to be better in VI than it was in V or even IV though. In V they were really unreasonable when you wanted to buy something. Now they generally offer you a price that's manageable most of the time.

 

[Don Andre]

In my case it was "no I can't agree to mutual open borders, except if you add 4 gold coins"

And I am like, yeah 4 gold coins make a total difference...

 

[MrRadar]

I hardly ever use diplomacy except to ask for open borders.

Then you're just limiting your options. What's not convincing about buying 51 niter for a few hundred gold single payment and having a couple of bombards and three line infantry as opposed to not having them?

Now they generally offer you a price that's manageable most of the time.

I would say that to call AI asking price "manageable" is some understatement. The trade is so heavily slanted to the benefit of the player, it is almost indecent. You can buy AI's stuff for peanuts:

Spoiler :

The only inconvenience is the awful trade screen and reports UI.

 

[Socrates99]

Then you're just limiting your options. What's not convincing about buying 51 niter for a few hundred gold single payment and having a couple of bombards and three line infantry as opposed to not having them?


I would say that to call AI asking price "manageable" is some understatement. The trade is so heavily slanted to the benefit of the player, it is almost indecent. You can buy AI's stuff for peanuts:

Spoiler :

The only inconvenience is the awful trade screen and reports UI.

Yeah, that's true. It definitely could use fine tuning. I've found if you have a neutral relationship the prices seem right but friendly or unfriendly modifiers swing it pretty far either way.

The other thing is allies are more likely to sell strategics than non allies. It's a good reason to try and maintain a couple friends even while being a massive warmongering heel. It might not help with horses or iron but definitely when you move to niter.

 

[Don Andre]

Then you're just limiting your options. What's not convincing about buying 51 niter for a few hundred gold single payment and having a couple of bombards and three line infantry as opposed to not having them?

I'm playing vanilla, I think the consumable resources were introduced in a later expansion (I need only 2 niter respectively 1 with encampment). But yes, of course it's possible to use diplomacy to a higher degree.
Btw, so far I didn't find it possible to trade techs. Is there something that I am missing?

The only inconvenience is the awful trade screen and reports UI.

The user interface is in my opinion annoyingly implemented in the PS4 (which I use). Trying out multiple options is just cumbersome. You have to press L1 / R1 to open the table with options (mine / theirs). And you have to press "O" and then again L1 / R1 to change the options for the table and then again move all the way up down. I suppose this is much easier in the PC version with a mouse. At least when I view others on Twitch it seems much easier and quicker.

 

[MrRadar]

Btw, so far I didn't find it possible to trade techs. Is there something that I am missing?

No, no tech trading, tech trading stops at Civ 4.
You can only steal eurekas via spies or get them from an advanced research alliance, great scientists or some scored competitions, although I can't remember which choices were available in vanilla. But plain tech trading is out.

The user interface is in my opinion annoyingly implemented in the PS4 (which I use). Trying out multiple options is just cumbersome. You have to press L1 / R1 to open the table with options (mine / theirs). And you have to press "O" and then again L1 / R1 to change the options for the table and then again move all the way up down. I suppose this is much easier in the PC version with a mouse. At least when I view others on Twitch it seems much easier and quicker.

Yeah, I know, besides the PC version, I have a PS4 version as well. The flaws of the UI lie in the original version though, the console port actually has a very good adaption of the controls to the controller, in the circumstances. Aspyr did a good job in this respect, having in mind the original stuff they had to work with. It is just that with such types of games mouse and keyboard can offer you more freedom, precision and speed. But it is manageable with the controller too.

 

[Don Andre]

No, no tech trading, tech trading stops at Civ 4.
You can only steal eurekas via spies or get them from an advanced research alliance, great scientists or some scored competitions, although I can't remember which choices were available in vanilla. But plain tech trading is out.

Okay, quite some time since I played Civ5 obviously...

Yeah, I know, besides the PC version, I have a PS4 version as well. The flaws of the UI lie in the original version though, the console port actually has a very good adaption of the controls to the controller, in the circumstances. Aspyr did a good job in this respect, having in mind the original stuff they had to work with. It is just that with such types of games mouse and keyboard can offer you more freedom, precision and speed. But it is manageable with the controller too.

Yes it's better than I expected. But some things are very quirky.
Is there any good way of identifying the location of strategic resources when you have discovered the respective tech? I have to look around zoomed all in.

 

[MrRadar]

Is there any good way of identifying the location of strategic resources when you have discovered the respective tech?

Your eyes and a lot of looking around the map
Sadly, the Map Search function which is a real life saver introduced on the PC version still has not been ported to the consoles, and nobody knows if it ever will be. A real shame.
Console version sets you up for a really relaxed and unhurried game where you can afford to take your time... or just neglect half of its functionalities.

 

[CivChimp]

Is there any good way of identifying the location of strategic resources when you have discovered the respective tech?

No direct methods I know of aside from events which identify them in your territory.
There some indirect methods you can try:

• Checking Global Resources to see who has them (assuming that the respective AI has the tech. and has improved the corresponding tile). This won't help you if you're looking for some free land to settle on but is useful if you're willing to go to war for the resource
• Strategic View might make it easier although I can't remember if it's enabled on consoles