Winning with no resources

What's a good general strategy for winning an emperor level game with no strategic resources? I just entered the industrial age with no iron, no horses, no saltpeter, and now after researching steam power, no coal. There isn't (and never has been) any extra resources to trade for.

Going to war would be very difficult as I need to go halfway across the map for coal and iron and getting enough cannons and longbows there to take and hold a city would be quite an undertaking as I would need to build a huge navy and go through war weariness problems (I'm democracy).

I thought if I could just get coal I could maybe win a space race, but with the low shield output from no railroads that doesn't seem likely. I only have 16% of the world's land so a diplomatic victory isn't possible without war. Anyone got any tips or ideas?

 

It's called, "The Poor Man's War". Build lots of Trebuchets (or catapults if you have C3C), and Longbows (or Guerillas if you can - if not, then rifles). Take along some rifles for defense, and aim for the closest city. You'll need a LOT in the way of bombardment. Aim for Replacable Parts so that you can get Artillery. Sirian has a rifle/artillery (or was it muskets?) variant succession game thread that's about 2 years back. Take a look at that.

If you can get to Replacable Parts, and mass produce Artillery and Guerrilas, you can then aim for the closest resource (rubber would be a good bet, and hopefully you have some...).

Since you have no coal and iron (can't build factories), you're gonna need to build tightly and have each city produce as much production as possible.

Guerillas cost 90 shields. So, try to get a city with 10spt, 15spt, or 30spt to build them. (If you have surplus food in your cities, build forests on tiles with no shields, or 1 with a mine). A city with lots of food (cattle, wheat) can easily make it to 30spt, sometimes 40spt if you're lucky.

Artillery costs 80spt. Build these in cities with 10spt, 20spt, and 40spt. If you have a lot of gold, rush build them if you can (and after they have a shield towards them).

Guerilla's have a defensive bombard in C3C, so it's pretty good to use.

Also, could you upload a save?

 

Or go for a win where you don't need any resources: the diplomatic victory. Not the most impressive win, but hey - from an hopeless position a win is a win