Too much oil

[Simplicity]

Is it just me or is the oil resource just too prevalent?
By the time you actually get to the modern age, it always seems like you're almost certain to have some oil if you've been doing any expanding at all.

I've never even had to bother building an offshore platform. I typically have 2 or three oil resources within my land borders...

What's the point of strategic resources if everybody has them?

I understand that it's pretty difficult to compete without oil, as it is required for many modern units... But oil shouldn't be spread out around the map. It should come in very few clusters. Thus, the best way to get the oil would be to either be very lucky (~ 2 civs get clusters in their territories).... or to establish trade relationships.

[Kaze2564]

I have had the other end of the spectrum. So far I have never had oil pop in my teritory in any of my games. I think its mostly random.

[Cordelayne]

Oh no! Half my games have involved a need to grab AI territory to secure oil resources. I wish there was MORE oil in the game.

[Mandla]

I think this might be related to the size of the map you play on. I've only played on large or huge maps so far and I've always had an abundance of oil. Or maybe I've just been lucky.

[Aro]

You're a lucky guy.

[Shogun Gunner]

I just enable the republican civic and i get an automatic invasion of an oil producing nation and oil drilling in my arctic zone. no problems

[Proteus_MST]

I´m always lucky on oil, often having several resoource tiles with it, but in my games I often have the problem to find coal.
Even if I own a large continent [as in my current game] the coal always seems to be somewhere else

[Addled Platypus]

try finding aluminum

after 5 games on large maps, got my first !

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
I just enable the republican civic and i get an automatic invasion of an oil producing nation and oil drilling in my arctic zone. no problems

Oh just stop it Shogun!


but I must admit your post gave me a chuckle.

[Jonah5]

I have only played on Huge maps and all most all of the civs have oil in their territory. I usually end up with about 6 to 10 sources of oil.

[xalien]

I only play large archipelago maps and oils is allways abundant at the poles, all you need to do is bring a settler there.

[Shogun Gunner]

Originally posted by Wittlich


Oh just stop it Shogun!


but I must admit your post gave me a chuckle.

It's all Oerdin's fault for posting an off-topic thread in the civ4 general section.

I don't really mean that about the republican civic -- I mean I can also take the other side and make a democratic party civic joke by saying they already have that in the game, but it's just called the Bureaucracy civic.

[mgdpublic]

The game really needs an option for choosing average resource availability like in Rise of Nations. I agree that there is too much oil.

[Tattila the Hun]

In my last game, Mansa Musa had 5 oils. I had none. And he asked 300+ gold/turn for it...

I had oil, but concuered city flipped... To Mansa.

[Sleestax]

I think they finally got the Strat resources right in this game with the possible exception of coal (one of the planets most abundant resources).

There were games in Civ III where I played maps that had either 1 oil resource for the entire world and/or none at all! I think it's more realistic to have more strat resources spread around and larger civs having access to them. Let's look at oil in real life, it is or has been fairly abundant in:

1. North America - Pennsylvania, Texas, Alaska, Mexico, California, Kansas
2. South America - Venazuela, Argentina, etc.
3. Mid-East - Duh
4. Eastern Europe
5. Asia has some of the largest oil fields
6. Ocean resources

etc...

You're just going to have to learn how to fight battles with modern units against modern units instead of the old way of sending B-2's to wipe out their riflemen.