Resources problem with Coal

[Dimy]

Hi there,

I recently discovered Steam Power and according the civilopedia Coal is supposed to show up in Hill, Mountain or Jungle tiles... I've discovered about 90% of the total game map, but I can't find coal anywhere... Iron and Saltpeter were hard to find too, but eventually I found them... Is there a way to search for resources?

Dimy

 

[Origianl Anon]

You have to constantly update your map, especially when you have a research breakthrough that allows you to see a new resource (say coal, oil, rubber, uranium, or alumininum). Therefore, whenever you make this type of research breakthrough, I suggest that you "update" your map by trading maps with the other civilizations. Sometimes, they are @$$holes and you may have to give them money or tech to trade maps. Good luck.

 

[Peteus]

I don't think so, and it's too bad! You may eventually find the coal hiding under an AI mine!
Check the diplomacy screens and see if someone is able to trade it to you - that will help you narrow down your search.

 

[Origianl Anon]

IMHO, what you said would only works when the other civilizations have the technology to "see" the resource. For example, if I am the only civilization that has developed fission, I can't buy/trade for uranium from other civilizations because the other civilizations can't see the uranium and don't even know that it is in their territory. In that case, you'll have to (1) take over the territory with the uranium or (2) wait till the civilization with the uranium resource develops the technology to "see" the uranium.

 

[Civilizator]

No, it is not that way, at least in my games. I can see coal
in maps traded with civilizations which do not have steam
engine, not even many other previous tecs. The reason I
ignore.

In the same game there is only (presently) two squares
with coal in the world, which has almost been completely
occupied by all the civs. These two squares are in the
heartland of distant and powerful enemies, that means
even when they discover of get steam engine they will
not have surplus to trade, thus going on playing does not
make any sense, does it??

I think the resources need to be toned to avoid these
situations.

Any help welcome.

 

[bulletsponge]

Originally posted by dgerards
Hi there,

I recently discovered Steam Power and according the civilopedia Coal is supposed to show up in Hill, Mountain or Jungle tiles... I've discovered about 90% of the total game map, but I can't find coal anywhere... Iron and Saltpeter were hard to find too, but eventually I found them... Is there a way to search for resources?

Dimy

Try Ctrl+shift+M...that hides all terrain improvements and cities...its a lot easier to find resources this way...also try your trade advisor to see if you already have some availible but just dont see it...and if lucky, other civs might have extra availible to trade that you can see thru the trade advisor also...

 

[Northstar5757]

Maybe its just bad luck but in my game there was about only 5-7 units of coal all located right near each other on a "green plain".

 

[CornMaster]

I've had some funny resource problems too.

I started a 16 civ game on a small map. And right around where my civ is centered is 14 Ivory resources!!! But only 1 horse. I had to go to another island to find 3 Iron. Then I built a city RIGHT next to the Indian border and stold their Iron too!!! I love more civs!!!

 

[WarandPeace]

how about resource exhaustion, how often has that occurred to you guys?

 

[papajohns]

it happened to me so many times now......luckily i still have 1 of each of the essential resources..but i used to have tons of spares to sell em for money per turn...

i remember reading somewhere on firaxis website that they said in rare occurances resources does exhaust..but it was definitely not rare in my games..maybe they forgot to convert from english system to metrics again..

 

[catmandu]

It ain't very rare to me! Coal exhaustion is the one I seem to have a problem with. I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but trying to build railroads has been a big waste of time for me, simply because whenever I start to build one, my worker gets an average of 2 squares of railroad done, and then it tells me I've exhausted my coal resource! So I wind up with a little railroad spur that goes nowhere. Nice.

 

[Origianl Anon]

Originally posted by Civilizator
No, it is not that way, at least in my games. I can see coal
in maps traded with civilizations which do not have steam
engine, not even many other previous tecs. The reason I
ignore. /QUOTE]

Granted, you can see their coals, but you can't trade with them for coals unless they know that they have coals.

 

[LKendter]

So far I have been luckly with my game. I am Americans, and horses next to Washington

However, I have seen the clustering effect. After killing the Iroquis, I find TWO! horses next to each other. And a SECOND iron source.

I found two dye next to each other. I think all the grapes are by ONE french city. The resources to seem to very much cluster. And wars do occur over resources. After the Iroquis declared war because ONE city had weak defends, I refused peace when I saw their resources. A war I was HAPPY with!

This from a CivII peace junkie.

 

[Dyrlac]

1) There is certainly a bunching phenomenon with luxury resources. In my most recent game, I had blocks of 4 silks, 4 dyes and 3 gems.

2) I've noticed that coal is relatively quickly exhausted. It seriously sucks when your rail network building project stops halfway through when you run out.

3) The number of resources is keyed to the number of civs in the game. If you are claustrophobic and play on huge maps with only 4~6 civs, strategic resources seem awfully scarce.

4) You can of course alter the resource frequency and exhaustion seeds in the Editor.

Dyrlac

 

[Origianl Anon]

You wrote:
"4) You can of course alter the resource frequency and exhaustion seeds in the Editor. "

Can you please comment on how you go about doing this?

 

[Doomsday]

In my first game (that I lost). I ended up having all the coal on the enitre map within my little pathetic continent. (I had somethinglike 15 for my 6 cities).

I had no horses, no iron, only spice as a luxary, it sucked.

It is pure luck where or how much of a resource is on a map. ( in my humbling experience)

 

[Stuie]

Originally posted by lkendter
...........I refused peace when I saw their resources. A war I was HAPPY with!

This from a CivII peace junkie.

I've found the resource distribution has made me a bit more.... shall we say, MILITANT than I had planned on being. Sure, I could have traded with the Indians for the rubber and saltpeter right across my border, but the prices they were asking were outlandish, and it was right there next to me!

The game I'm currently playing was a picture of world piece (well, except when we all ganged up on the Japanese) until the Industrial Age. Then as I discovered tech after tech all the resources ended up outside my borders. I couldn't afford to trade for all of them! That led to my Indian entanglement, and that opened the flood gates for the entire world: every civ picked a side and we all had at it. Great stuff! Finally I found the all the world's uranium was controlled by me, and balance was restored to the world!

 

[Dyrlac]

Original Anon:


Re: "fixing" the resource seed.

I don't have it in front of me (cursed work) I believe it's under the Terrain tab in the Editor. Use the help file to figure out which way to adjust the numbers.

Dyr

 

[torero]

i think its great that the resources dont show up until you reach a particular era, although i wonder if the resources are placed at random at the beginning - and later show up; or whether the resources are assigned when the first civ reaches an accomplishment - meaning that the AI can adjust the game to give resources to the weaker ones. that way maybe those stupid greeks can do something for a chance and stop relying on me on saving them from the zulus.

this game rocks!

 

[Pike]

Coal shows up in grasslands instead of hills on my game. Some other resources show up in the wrong type of tile too. Anyone else have this problem?