The lamest resource

[6K Man]

I've only played Civ IV. Why was whale so good back in Civ II?

If I recall, Whales were 2 food, 2 shields (hammers) and 2 trade (commerce), and didn't need a tile improvement to use. So you could slap a city down and immediately work what was a pretty good tile. And food wasn't as crucial in CivII - at Deity level, there was a pretty strong case for keeping most cities at size 2-3, to avoid unhappiness.

Thus, your ideal start was coastal with whales (and a couple of other resources for use when growing to size 2 and 3). Work the whale and crank out a couple of Warriors for martial law, maybe a horseman for exploring (if you didn't grab any NON units from huts) and then spam 3-4 Settlers (who could improve tiles as well as building cities). Meantime, the extra commerce allows you to get to Monarchy quickly (a key early goal - adds to tile yields, making Whales even better).

 

[Bonescorpion]

After today realizing that camps don't remove junle and Ivory actually yeilds: 2/2/2
Comapred to Wines: 1/2/3, both are equally bad. I'm almost positive i got the wines value wrong and was doing plains wine vs. grass ivory, byt the difference is marginal. Whales and wine have to get my vote.

While wine's tile yield is crap it is normally worth something in trade since it gives +1 health and +1 happiness. Not many resources provide both happiness and health standard.

 

[bestbrian]

Oil doesn't do much? Apart from being used to build planes and tanks, and ships without uranium

Are you back from Scotland then bestbrian? If so, was it good?

Oil yields are weak when you consider that I usually have to tear up a full-grown Town to drill a well; let the well give 8 Commerce to compensate.

Yeah, Scotland was great, thanks for asking. Stayed mostly in Edinburgh and made a day trip to St Andrews (they did a great job with that town; Americans would have turned into Atlantic City years ago). I really liked Edinburgh alot. Must be a safe city, as I saw exactly three cops my whole week there (two of those were in one car), but don't even THINK of parking a car there (traffic agents all over the place).

 

[Lord Parkin]

I have to say that in the early game, unirrigated Rice always irritates me a bit. It's the only resource that only gives you one increment (in any combination of food/production/commerce) when you initially improve it, if I recall correctly. It's like: +1 food? Are you kidding me?

(Seriously, I think they just did it to differentiate Rice from Corn - otherwise they're effectively identical resources appearing in identical grassland-type locations.)

Of course, in reality there's no resource I will say no to. A resource is better than no resource, after all.

 

[dirtyparrot]

CIV II seems like such a long time ago, but I seem to recall that copper was pretty good too. Plus we could use workers to modify the terrain.

 

[6K Man]

I don't think copper was a Civ2 resource - although Bronze Working was a big tech, allowing Colossus and Phalanges and being on the path to Trade and Currency. Silk was a good tile - and you could plant a forest on Wheat to get Silk!

Ahh, premined hills, Xinning, the 3 arrows strategy... it all seems so long ago now.

 

[Tephros]

I have to say that in the early game, unirrigated Rice always irritates me a bit. It's the only resource that only gives you one increment (in any combination of food/production/commerce) when you initially improve it, if I recall correctly. It's like: +1 food? Are you kidding me?

(Seriously, I think they just did it to differentiate Rice from Corn - otherwise they're effectively identical resources appearing in identical grassland-type locations.)

Of course, in reality there's no resource I will say no to. A resource is better than no resource, after all.

Yeah I'm not sure why they make rice suck compared to the other grains, but what's nice about the grains is that their bonus is enhanced by granaries, which is a building that is granted by an early tech and should be built in every city anyway. Plus any resource you can use right away is also good.

 

[zyphyr]

If I recall, Whales were 2 food, 2 shields (hammers) and 2 trade (commerce), and didn't need a tile improvement to use.

2/2/3 actually. Wonderful tile.

 

[Arlborn]

Incense can be just disgusting, really. It seems to always be in the middle of a big part of desert, so no matter how I settle a city around it, it will always be a bad city. At least it gives some hapiness though.

I guess they all have some good things for them.

 

[JonathanStrange]

I still recall the great Incense War of 632 whose loss led to the unraveling of the Byzantine empire and forced the people of Constantinople to smoke their weed outside 'cause there was no longer anyway to disguise the smell in their rooms.

 

[Flying Pig]

Whales - by the time you've got your hands on them, they're obselete

 

[6K Man]

2/2/3 actually. Wonderful tile.

Not initially - recall Despotism gave a -1 to all tile yields above 2.

 

[GoodGame]

Probably whales. Obsoletes quickly, only +1 happiness, and usually have to settle crappy spots to get a shot at it to actually work it.

 

[Flying Pig]

Seems to be a consensus on this...

 

[Tephros]

Probably whales. Obsoletes quickly, only +1 happiness, and usually have to settle crappy spots to get a shot at it to actually work it.

Um, +2 with a market, which you're likely to have in most of your large cities by then anyway. I think whales would be more popular if they weren't usually off an arctic coastline.

 

[Razzlesnaff]

Hmmm. I think all resources are anywhere from ok to awesome. None are really horrible. In fact even the worst resource if abundant when I start up a game gets me so excited.

Whether it's Dye or Fur if theres 4-10 of them with in two steps of my settler I get a very big grin in my face.

However the Resource I don't have in possession very often are Whale as it's usually to far away from me, I have no coastal cities, or it becomes obsolete before I find it.

I love having Silver, makes me feel fancy. However I usually don't have at is it is virtually always in Tundra, and I try very hard to avoid building cities on Tundra and Desert.

I suppose it depends on how you play your game. If you're a Warmonger you may not get very excited when you find some Dye, but a Culture Junkie loves it.

My favorite is playing as Zealot Isabella and being surrounded by Incense. Mmmmmhhmm.

 

[6K Man]

Premise: The best resources are those that make a difference in your game - like Iron playing Rome, or Wheat running a GP farm. Take those away and your game suffers.

With that premise in mind, the worst resources are those that DON'T make a difference in your game(s). Incense, Whales, and Silver are three I almost never have, and have no impact on my games. I've never gone to war to get Silver, but I sure have gone to war for Gold, Uranium, Oil and Gems.

 

[Matthew5117]

Something that has yet to be realized. This is greatly depended on the map script. The other day I was playing on the Fantasy Map, silver was everywhere. It changed the game drastically. Another example would be the Arobia map where there's literally dozens of deer resources just on a standard map!

To relate:
Whales would be much better in Archipelago maps where other luxury resources are hard to come by.
Incense would prove useful in desert-type maps (I'm not sure if Oasis is a good example...) because again, other luxury resources are scarce.

 

[JustinianVII]

I have to say that in the early game, unirrigated Rice always irritates me a bit. It's the only resource that only gives you one increment (in any combination of food/production/commerce) when you initially improve it, if I recall correctly. It's like: +1 food? Are you kidding me?

(Seriously, I think they just did it to differentiate Rice from Corn - otherwise they're effectively identical resources appearing in identical grassland-type locations.)

Of course, in reality there's no resource I will say no to. A resource is better than no resource, after all.

Seconded, rice is pretty weak in its yield compared to other food resources. Ivory does not yield much for its improvement, either, but War Elephants more than make up for that deficiency

 

[troytheface]

According to Venn Diagram calculation the "weakest" resources are

Cow, Sheep, and Pig.


+1
+1 Pasture
+1 Supermarket

Supermarket? thats like at the end of the game.

More telling however is that the programmers have unconsciously created a bias against cattlemen, sheep herders, and swine lords, who you can beat in a war if you have Silver, Beaver, etc.

Whale , the resources revealed by Hunting and Mining and Wine are the superior.