Resources limited? And those city-states...

[Nog]

NOOB questions that the PDF instructions don't make clear (at least to me):
So it seems resources are limited, but I don't need to build roads to have access to them correct, just the necessary improvement?

In other words, if I have two cities and one has Iron in it's boundries, as long as I build a mine on that hex, that city can use it.

1) I don't need to build a road to it to have access, but I _do_ need to have a road or other trade route to connect my other city for it to have access to it, correct?

Then it also seems resources are limited in that it will say 6 Iron, 8 Total, 2 Used when I hover over it on the top of my screen. I didn't notice, but did I get 8 the second I built the improvement or does this regen over time?

2) In other words will that iron be gone once I build 6 more swordsman or will it come back slowly?

3) And as for city-states, is it correct that I need to have a land unit manually adjacent to it to conquer it?

I had horse archers attacking one from afar but it would get the health of the city to a few pixes but never kill it - no matter how many times I attacked it in a row. Not until I had a swordsman come up and attack it right next to it and not from ranged did I conquer it. Coincidence or you can't conquer a city from afar?

Thanks

 

[Nog]

BMUP for justeece.

Correct answers and I'll flash my tits.

 

[Pragmatic]

1) There is currently some doubt as to whether you need to build roads to luxury resources. In the case of Marble, for instance, several people have posted that building roads has activated a special/secret benefit: reduction of time in building wonders.

2) Strategic resources are a limiter. You're limited in how many you can use at one time. That iron, for instance, has two of eight going to support swordsman units. If one of the swordsman units dies, you've freed up one of your used iron. It's a way of preventing "spamming" of stronger units and certain buildings. You can have lots of run-of-the-mill defensive units (e.g., spearman units, but they're limiting the powerful ones (e.g., swordsman units) to prevent people from having entire armies consisting solely of the one unit type.

3) I think that ranged units can't capture cities. Haven't gotten that far in the game, so I can't be sure.

 

[chadsexington]

I had a single iron mine that produced two units of iron. One went to a swordsman, the other a catapult (I think).

Over the next 600 years, those two units consumed the entirety of my iron.

 

[Crezth]

I had a single iron mine that produced two units of iron. One went to a swordsman, the other a catapult (I think).

Over the next 600 years, those two units consumed the entirety of my iron.

Of course. Two huge battalions of sophisticated footmen and siege weapons need maintenance, after all, and a tiny iron mine can handle only so much.

If you want to complain about realism, then you should ask why you only play as one leader all game, or how come caravels can travel around the world without having to resupply at a friendly port?

 

[Nog]

I had a single iron mine that produced two units of iron. One went to a swordsman, the other a catapult (I think).

Over the next 600 years, those two units consumed the entirety of my iron.

That is what I seem to have experienced, or so I thought. I built two swordsman and then all 3 of my cities could do nothing that required iron yet I had the resource still showing on the map (didn't realize it showed status at the top of the screen).

But when I just reloaded the game, it shows I have 6 available so somehow it "refreshed" or something because I still only have the same three cities (still learning) and same two swordsman.

I did, at one point, build roads to the iron because I thought maybe it required it (though I didn't have it before) or maybe with roads, you can access more of it.

Bah! I'll need to play a game over again and pay attention this time.

I do like though how you are limited and can't have big stacks of units because it makes each unit that much more important and you don't just spam stuff.

Oh yeah, here you go:

 

[Thormodr]

I currently have 52 iron and 28 horses along with 21 coal in my Siam game.

I can't use them up fast enough.

City states donating their resources is really nice. ^^

 

[hecubus]

So it seems resources are limited, but I don't need to build roads to have access to them correct, just the necessary improvement?

In other words, if I have two cities and one has Iron in it's boundries, as long as I build a mine on that hex, that city can use it.

1) I don't need to build a road to it to have access, but I _do_ need to have a road or other trade route to connect my other city for it to have access to it, correct?

If you have the resource in your territory and have an improvement built on it, it is available to any city in your civilization. The road that creates a trade route is simply a gold boost.

Then it also seems resources are limited in that it will say 6 Iron, 8 Total, 2 Used when I hover over it on the top of my screen. I didn't notice, but did I get 8 the second I built the improvement or does this regen over time?

2) In other words will that iron be gone once I build 6 more swordsman or will it come back slowly?

8 total Iron will allow you to build 8 iron-worth of things that require it, like 8 swordsmen. Once you've built that many, you can't build any more things that require iron. Acquiring more sources of iron will let you have more things. You can go negative - If you acquire iron by trade, you can build any units up to the limit. When the deal expires, you won't lose the units built with the now-gone resource (but won't be able to build any new ones, of course).

3) And as for city-states, is it correct that I need to have a land unit manually adjacent to it to conquer it?

I had horse archers attacking one from afar but it would get the health of the city to a few pixes but never kill it - no matter how many times I attacked it in a row. Not until I had a swordsman come up and attack it right next to it and not from ranged did I conquer it. Coincidence or you can't conquer a city from afar?

Thanks

Correct, similar to how helicopters could not capture cities in Civ 4. You can reduce a city's defenses/hit points/whatever to next-to-nothing with ranged attacks but you will have to close in and finish it off with a "standard" unit.

 

[Gath]

I currently have 52 iron and 28 horses along with 21 coal in my Siam game.

I can't use them up fast enough.

City states donating their resources is really nice. ^^

Heh, especially if you're doing patronage.

 

[hecubus]

1) There is currently some doubt as to whether you need to build roads to luxury resources. In the case of Marble, for instance, several people have posted that building roads has activated a special/secret benefit: reduction of time in building wonders.

Marble improves production for wonders in the city that has it in its area, for all other cities it's just a luxury resource.

 

[Pragmatic]

You can go negative - If you acquire iron by trade, you can build any units up to the limit. When the deal expires, you won't lose the units built with the now-gone resource (but won't be able to build any new ones, of course).

And going negative is a BAD THING. If you have less of a strategic resource than you need, your units (the ones that use that resource) take a big hit to their combat power.

 

[hecubus]

And going negative is a BAD THING. If you have less of a strategic resource than you need, your units (the ones that use that resource) take a big hit to their combat power.

Now this I did not notice. Good to know!

I guess it makes sense, when there's no iron you're repairing your sword with bits of twine or something.

 

[Pragmatic]

I guess it makes sense, when there's no iron you're repairing your sword with bits of twine or something.

From what I understand, it's a default penalty. It doesn't matter if you have 2 iron for your 8 swordsmen, or 99 iron for your 100 swordsmen. You get the same penalty, no matter what.

I think I recall it's a -50% penalty...

 

[Shillen]

Correct, similar to how helicopters could not capture cities in Civ 4. You can reduce a city's defenses/hit points/whatever to next-to-nothing with ranged attacks but you will have to close in and finish it off with a "standard" unit.

I could have sworn I've captured a city with a ranged unit before by issuing a move command, but I could be mistaken.