Resource assignment mechanics and bonuses from buildings

[Vitruvian Guar]

In the previous civ games, some buildings, provide you extra bonuses and/or only allowed to be built, if a specific resource deposit is being exploited in the city.

This system is fine, but I've always felt a bit unsatisfied with it. Why do I have to build blacksmith specifically in the city with an iron deposit? Why can't I extract raw materials in one place and refine it in another, so that I could specialize my settlements better and the whole economy was more realistic? Same thing with corporations from Civ 6. Why does the corporate headquater supposed to be in the same city where the resources are extracted. That's not how it works in real life.

Civ 7 introduces the new mechanics where resources are allocated to settlemets. I'm very excited about it, because it allows to improve this system. Now such building bonuses can be given not based on which resources are extracted by a city, but based on which resources are assigned to it. Now I can build my blacksmith not where iron deposit randomly happened to be, but specifically in a settlement which I specialize for producing millitary units, based on the strategy I'm pursuing.

As of yet we haven't seen any examples of such bonuses from buildings. I really hope Firaxis didn't miss such great opportunity to improve the game economy.

 

[chaosprophet]

As of yet we haven't seen any examples of such bonuses from buildings. I really hope Firaxis didn't miss such great opportunity to improve the game economy.

At least on the resource screen we have been shown there is a "show factories" toggle, which implies that the resources mechanics at some point (probably modern age, maybe late exploration) has some important interaction with factories. We don't have any idea how that will work so far, but may be indication of a mechanic like the one you hoping for.

 

[Vitruvian Guar]

At least on the resource screen we have been shown there is a "show factories" toggle, which implies that the resources mechanics at some point (probably modern age, maybe late exploration) has some important interaction with factories. We don't have any idea how that will work so far, but may be indication of a mechanic like the one you hoping for.

Yes, I'm hopeful for something good there.

But frankly, if you are going to use this mechanics at all, there is no need to wait till late exploration.

I wish in antiquity there is simple system to make the players familiar with the idea: assign a resource to a settlement with a particular building - get extra production/culture/science/happiness/food in this settlement.
In explaration there are added one step resource chains: assign a resource to a settlement with a particular building, get the extra bonus like in antiquity, and this resource is transformed into an advanced resource that can also be assigned to a different settlement.
And in modernity the resource chains become more complex and nuanced, where you need multiple steps/multiple resources per step.

I'm curious whether and how much will Firaxis deliver on this wish of mine. At least I hope modding capabilities of the game will allow to implement such system.

 

[chaosprophet]

Yes, I'm hopeful for something good there.

But frankly, if you are going to use this mechanics at all, there is no need to wait till late exploration.

I wish in antiquity there is simple system to make the players familiar with the idea: assign a resource to a settlement with a particular building - get extra production/culture/science/happiness/food in this settlement.
In explaration there are added one step resource chains: assign a resource to a settlement with a particular building, get the extra bonus like in antiquity, and this resource is transformed into an advanced resource that can also be assigned to a different settlement.
And in modernity the resource chains become more complex and nuanced, where you need multiple steps/multiple resources per step.

I'm curious whether and how much will Firaxis deliver on this wish of mine. At least I hope modding capabilities of the game will allow to implement such system.

While games with resources chains can be interesting (I enjoyed it in Anno 1800), in a game that has a lot more to it and is in a global scale, it can easily get too cumbersome if they make the resources system bee too complicated. Maybe in an expansion that change things a lot about it, but considering the game still has the usual way how resources are on the map and all, what you suggest may put the game in the opposite direction than what they seems to be going (seems like this time units don't need resources but instead those helps in production of units and etc). If resources becomes too essential, then it would be better to have a system where it is much easier to get/accumulate them, than the current system of lots of different resources sporadically in tiles.

 

[Siptah]

Yes, I'm hopeful for something good there.

But frankly, if you are going to use this mechanics at all, there is no need to wait till late exploration.

I wish in antiquity there is simple system to make the players familiar with the idea: assign a resource to a settlement with a particular building - get extra production/culture/science/happiness/food in this settlement.
In explaration there are added one step resource chains: assign a resource to a settlement with a particular building, get the extra bonus like in antiquity, and this resource is transformed into an advanced resource that can also be assigned to a different settlement.
And in modernity the resource chains become more complex and nuanced, where you need multiple steps/multiple resources per step.

I'm curious whether and how much will Firaxis deliver on this wish of mine. At least I hope modding capabilities of the game will allow to implement such system.

Maybe you are not familiar with Millennia or Ara, two recent games that have many similarities with civ that focus much more on resources and production chains. You‘ll see that your idea is actually in Millennia and you can try it out and see whether you think that a game of such a scope benefits on decisions where to produce and ship bread to. I personally enjoy this in the early game and with 1-3 cities, but I find it tiresome after some point.

 

[Vitruvian Guar]

Maybe you are not familiar with Millennia or Ara, two recent games that have many similarities with civ that focus much more on resources and production chains. You‘ll see that your idea is actually in Millennia and you can try it out and see whether you think that a game of such a scope benefits on decisions where to produce and ship bread to. I personally enjoy this in the early game and with 1-3 cities, but I find it tiresome after some point.

From what I've heard both go too much into details for the games of this scale. Additionally Millenia suffers from the classical paradox problem of having a lot of idividual mechanics with their own currencies which are poorly connected to each other and, therefore, do not create a sense of a coherent game. But yes, I'm going to try them sooner or later anyway.

I feel that one or two steps resource chains should be fine as long as they are not mandatory. When your population is starving if you didn't provide bread in every city - this quickly becomes cumbersome. When you just get a bigger growth bonus, this is an activity for peacefull players to do, while warmongers are doing their thing.

But yes, developping such system right is a delicate thing.

 

[Josephias]

But frankly, if you are going to use this mechanics at all, there is no need to wait till late exploration..

I’m with others here in that they probably don’t want to make this too cumbersome. Also, they have stated resource usage will be one of the things that differentiate the eras.

I agree with you resource assignation in antiquity is the vanilla version for you to learn. You will also will have your time locating your nearby resources and building towards them.

My (reasonable-but-unrealiable) prediction is Exploration will focus on trade somehow: extending your trade route chains to make exotic resources from the other side of the world reach your metropoly (and, of course, discovering these far away luxurues and finding ways to get a share of them).

Maybe a little manufacturing is involved, but I don’t think they will focus on that. Indeed, if it is there, it would be as a training for…

Modern age were (again probable-but-in-no-way-reliable idea) manufacturing will be at the center of “industrial revolution” theme. Factories will get more interesting than being just production generators and some resources hinted in VI like toys, cosmetics and blue jeans will indeed part of the economic (and maybe other) victories. Still, I don’t think we will have multi-step chains, but more something akin to Civ IV corporations were you now want multiple copies of the same resource to increase your factory production/value.

 

[Boris Gudenuf]

Purely speculation at the moment, but my take on the Resources/Age equation:

Antiquity: acquire Resources by controlling the tiles they are on, trade them to other Civs and provide them to your own cities for Bonuses.

Exploration: great expansion of Map available upon which to find Resources. A new mechanic for building Towns or some 'Town-Like' settlement far away to extract resources (Let's call it a Colony!) . Also, ability to trade a Resource you got from a third party to another party - Instant Triangle Trade, so to speak.

Modern: Requirements for resources to build Units and other stuff go up dramatically. May change from Nice to Have to Required for some Units and structures. Call it the Factories Must Be Fed mechanic. On the other hand, increasingly raw materials can be replaced by manufactured 'resources' for many purposes: plastics can replace Ivory, wool, cotton for many applications, but massively great quantities will be required for those Resources that cannot be replaced - like Oil and Iron and Coal initially.

They have said and implied that the trade/resource game will change with every Age. so these are just my reaction to that . . .