resources disappearing

[Amask]

In one of my games as Germans I founded a city with 4 iron tiles around it. I was already planning who to trade it to and how much to ask for it, when all my dreams were ruined. The four iron sources disappeared in four turns.
Maybe the mechanics should be changed. Instead of random, disappearing could depend on your science level (workers using the resource more efficiently), or at least show approximately how many turns there are till the resource disappeares.
Or if that turns out to be not so good an idea, then the resource shouldn't disappear in at least 10 turns after you find it, like with my only coal resource that disappeared one turn after I discovered steam power.
What do you think?

 

[Jimcat]

Wow. I've never seen four resources disappear in the space of four turns before.

Then again, I've never seen a city with four strategic resources within its radius (luxury resources like wine and silks are another story, they do tend to cluster).

What size map were you using?

 

[Amask]

the map is huge, and no, i do not have a screenshot or a saved game.

 

[Mad Bomber]

Think that's bad?

Try this out! As soon as I get done building the Manhattan Project, (same F***ing turn) I lose BOTH of my uranium resources. let me tell you I was :flamedevi

 

[Amask]

I had that happen once.
I think this kind of thing should be eliminated from the game.
I mean if a nation needs its uranium it doesn't just disappear, the people preserve it or something.

 

[HellboundHeathcliff]

In the GOTM, i found that iron would be tough to get to right away after ironworking. Just a couple turns later it pops up right next to one of my core cities. I wasn't complaining.

Uranium has the highest chance of disappearance i think. It also has the lowest abundance ratio. That same GOTM, i got tired of chasing urainium colonies around late in the game and gave up on them. I had plenty anyway. Presumably, if i waited long enough, all my uranium would have disappeared and popped up in neutral territory.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

I had a game where every iron i hooked up disappeared the very same turn (meaning i couldn't even do a quick upgrade of units). Every single one until everyone had Musketmen. Then, i conquered one, and suddenly three appeared within 20 turns in my territory.

Same game I lost 4 out of 5 coal, all uranium and was without Aluminum several times (it kept coming and going).......

I'd prefer sized resources that simply run out when used up.

 

[TubaGuy]

On this topic, what happens if you have 2 sources of a resource, lets say iron, and you are trading one with another civ. Would it hurt your reputation if one of them dissapeared and therefore you don't have enough to trade and thus ending the deal or would you continue trading that source and do with out it for the remainder of the 20 turns?

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

You have to fullfill your trading obligation, but the deal can then be ended after the 20 turns....

 

[TubaGuy]

Originally posted by Lt. 'Killer' M.
You have to fullfill your trading obligation, but the deal can then be ended after the 20 turns....

So you could hypotheticly have only 1 source of a resource and be trading that and not be able to use it? Maybe the game is coded to prevent that from happening.

 

[Jimcat]

Originally posted by TubaGuy
So you could hypotheticly have only 1 source of a resource and be trading that and not be able to use it? Maybe the game is coded to prevent that from happening.

Yes, you could be trading your only source of a startegic resource and not be able to use it yourself.

No, it's not coded to prevent that from happening. It's happened to me several times. What's nastiest is that it often happens during a war. I'll have one well-protected source of, say, Iron close to my core cities, and a new one on the frontier. I'll start trading when I get the second. Then I get into a war and the enemy cuts off my supply of the outlying source -- my trade deal is still active, so I can't access my own Iron without breaking the deal!

Usually I'll fortify a defensive unit over each of my startegic resources to prevent this from happening. Luxuries too, especially if I have only one of a given luxury.

 

[narmox]

No, it can happen. If you're trading one of your 2 sources of iron and one disappears, you're still trading one and can't use it yourself.

It happened to me once (in my "Rome Ascending" story in Stories & Tales forum). Took me a while to discover the iron I saw in my city radius wasn't a bug but was actually getting traded away

 

[rangers85]

Plus, you can trade away your only one as well. Every so often if I'm behind a bit and I can do without a resource for 20 turns, I'll trade away my only one to catch up in techs, etc. somewhat.

 

[Jerucondis]

Indeed you can trade away your only resource.

One interesting tactic depending on this ability is to trade away your only iron for large sums of money. During the next 20 turns, you will be able to build 30 shield horsemen instead of 70 shield knights. Then, when the twenty turns ends, use the money you have just traded for to upgrade all your horse men -- instant 30+ knight amy! The net effect is, by sacrificing some security for the next twenty turns, you are buying shields with your iron.

This can also be done by selling your iron and saltpeter, building horsemen and then upgrading to cavalry. Or for the warrior --> swordsmen upgrade if you are actually able to trade so early in the game. It is not usually worth it for other units, though.

 

[Octavian X]

I have to say, they really need to work on that random factor. I just completed a game where I never lost a single resource. Then again, there are many times I will fight for a single resource that a civ does not know of yet, only to lose it after I've captured the city it's located by.

 

[jpowers]

I recently played a game (won the space race) with the Germans. I controlled an entire continent (25% of the landmass of the Earth) on which there were no luxury resources for the entire game, and coal/iron were present maybe 75% of the time. I learned a lot about trading let me tell you...

 

[Admiral Rimmer]

Just while we're on the subject of resources and luxuries, I came across a problem recently playing a standard map with Babylon.
Russia had 2+ saltpeter and 3 silk and 1 coal in their territory - they were still in middle ages, and so couldn't use the resources, and seemed to have plenty silks available.

I asked Cathy for a deal, and in her trading box, nothing apart from a greyed out FURS appeared. No mention of the silks, coal or saltpeter. I thought it might be due to the fact that although I had roads to her suburbs, I had nothing to Moscow, so I built a road directly into Moscow, but still no dice.

Anyone know why...?

 

[jpowers]

A civ can't trade resources it doesn't have the techs for. France is a good example in real life, as there have been uranium desposits there since before humans, but they were not discovered until the 50's because no one though to look for them before that time. As for the sillks, make sure you don't already have one from another source, and the she isn't trading all her surplus to other civs.

 

[jpowers]

This brings up a really annoying 'feature' of the trading in Civ. Why can't I trade with a civ for more than one of a resource? If I think I can be the middleman between two civs that can't trade directly but can both trade with me, why can't I broker the deal? I don't think two silks should count as twice the happiness for me, that's unbalancing, but why not allow the middleman role in trade? How do you think all those countries the US has embargoed end up getting all those US-built weapons and resources anyway?

 

[Admiral Rimmer]

jpowers:

Yeah, that makes sense, thanks.

I agree with you about the multiple resource feature - you could use it to take advantage of contact with civs which others may not have because they don't explore/expand sufficiently.