Oil should be enough to build railroads.

[randallman]

I guess someone didn't have readily available coal in a recent game?

Just more reason to put the smack down on someone (to grab a resource you want).

No, it's not like that - last game I played I had so much land that I had 4 coal resources. That being said, several other AI players obviously did not...

I'm pretty much saying that Coal exists in a minable quantity in most areas of the world...

Coal even exists in Colombia Estimates of reserves range from 16 to 40 billion tons...

24.2 million 'tonnes oil equivalent' in the Czech Republic mined in 2003.
54.1 toe in Germany,
70.8 in Poland,
17.2 in the UK,
172.2 in India...
115.9 in Indonesia... etc... etc...

 

[Kolyana]

I agree with Zhahz .. in a recent game I had a decent sized empire and was storming for the win. but I had no coal ... anywhere! It was part of the THRILL to try and cajole an AI into trading his surplus with me and a positive delight when he [eventually] agreed!

looking for resources, trading for them, declaring wars for them, is all part of the game ... like, a vital, interesting part.

 

[Neomega]

So sorry but as a railroad fanatic I must say you're really good at making our kind of people laugh. Here is a small history lesson for you.

what a worthless post, and the website was dumb and uninformative too.. and proved nothing...

...so sorry.

 

[Col.BBQ]

What are they making the battleships and aircraft carriers out of then?

Just plain iron or bronze, I guess.

 

[Luhh]

Yeah, the resource known as coal is a bit silly. Coal exists just about everywhere.

How do you blacksmith make swords without coal?

They should either make special resources pop up a more frequently, but only on used tiles (except for a few very specific ones.) Also, resources like sheep, horses, cow, pig, when they are traded, why couldn't they pop up in your own tiles etc.

Possibilities are endless. Also, it's a bit funny how they reason that some resources aren't required that they are suddenly considered commonplace. In all my games so far, the least common resource has been just coal. Uranium has been everywhere in comparison in all games. The same with wheat/corn on plains, and rice on grassland or whatever. They should explore these options I think.

The solution I like best? Make resources pop up more frequently in worked mines. Re-evaluate requirements. As someone said, use AND/OR more.

 

[Viperace]

I generally agree (i think most of the players agree too) that fighting for key strategic resource is a good aspect of the game. Fighting for iron/copper/horse/ivory/oil/uranium... Yes, it is better that way.

BUT , the coal resource does NOT work that way. For one, it is simply too rare.. Trading surplus with the AI ? What if it is so rare that every AI only get an average of 1 or no coal? Trade what ??

The other thing is, coal is mainly for railroad construction, not some uber combat unit... I would rather not start a major war to grab coal for railroad.

Eventually the rarity of coal will lead to a funny endgame result, an advance civilization with spaceship built but no railroad <-This fact alone bother me the most.

I can live with a rare uranium
I can live with a rare oil
I can live with a rare aluminium
But I cannot stand civ4 with rare coal

 

[glen55]

I've played at least a dozen games where I got to the railroad technology but I have only had coal about twice. That's ridiculous.

 

[m_dorian]

Maybe when discovering the advance of Electricity the importance of coal should be obsolete. This will solve most of the problems mentioned above.

 

[randallman]

Maybe when discovering the advance of Electricity the importance of coal should be obsolete. This will solve most of the problems mentioned above.

While true, the discovery of electricty comes APPROX. 50 years in 'real history' after the discovery of steam power... In game time this is what, 10 turns during that time 'span'?

Essentially this would give a country that 'has coal' a whopping 10 turn head start on building railroads?

The inclusion of coal, its time frame for usefulness, and the things that depend on it should be re-evaluated if not coal being entirely removed since a good 80% of the world (as we know it IRL) has coal resources vast enough to actually produce steel and railroads...

 

[Col.BBQ]

Maybe when discovering the advance of Electricity the importance of coal should be obsolete. This will solve most of the problems mentioned above.

Would make the Railroad technology useless since all you need to do is research:

Astronomy -> Scientific Method -> Physics -> Electricity

bypassing Steam Power, which is needed to discover coal. We just need a little adjustment to make coal more abundant.