Resources: any benefit to having 3 aluminum, etc?

[tour86rocker]

Howdy all,

I've played through Civ4 many times and there's something I'm not clear on (some things, rather). I just did want any forum poster did and read the manual first and consulted the Civilopedia, but I'm still fuzzy on it.

If it's fastest to simply refer me to a useful thread or webpage, feel free to do so.

Resources: is there a benefit to having (and keeping) more than one of the same resource (ex: oil)? I haven't observed consistency. I understand that for a city to benefit from a resource received by trade, it must be connected by road to the capital.

But the resources that you have, (after they're properly connected and mined/what-have-you) do they benefit each of your cities or just one?

Corporations: Do they provide benefits on how many relevant resources you have total, or how many different TYPES you have (for Std. Ethanol for example, is there any benefit to having two corn or is it better to have one corn and one sugar?) Can Aluminum Co provide more than one Aluminum and can Standard Ethanol provide more than one Oil?

Please let me know at the very least whether there is any benefit to keeping 3 dye or 3 aluminum or 3 oil or what-have-you. Thank you!

ps- I've never played Civ3...which might have been an important link in understanding resources for all I know

[Theben]

Re: Resources: any benefit to having 3 aluminum, etc?

Originally posted by tour86rocker
Resources: is there a benefit to having (and keeping) more than one of the same resource (ex: oil)? I haven't observed consistency. I understand that for a city to benefit from a resource received by trade, it must be connected by road to the capital.

But the resources that you have, (after they're properly connected and mined/what-have-you) do they benefit each of your cities or just one?

They benefit any city connected to them via trade network. Having more than one doesn't give you any extra benefit, aside from trading them away, using them in corporations, or extra security in case you lose one due to war or cultural boundary changes.

EDIT: Also to prevent the AI/another player from having them.

Corporations: Do they provide benefits on how many relevant resources you have total, or how many different TYPES you have (for Std. Ethanol for example, is there any benefit to having two corn or is it better to have one corn and one sugar?) Can Aluminum Co provide more than one Aluminum and can Standard Ethanol provide more than one Oil?

Corps do benefit from having more resources of both the same AND different types, but one type is not better than another, assuming the resources in question are utilized by the corp at all.

[tour86rocker]

Great! Thanks so much, Theben. I forgot to ask a few other things:

Does a corp make a resource unavailable for other benefits? Say, for example you have Standard Ethanol and only one corn: does that corn provide health benefits to cities anymore? I'm guessing it does not.

Do you need two branches of Aluminum Co to turn two coal into two aluminum, or does even just one branch of a corporation convert all of the resources that it can?

Aluminum gives a benefit to spaceship production (unless I'm mistaken) but does one need two aluminum to get production bonuses at two cities building parts at the same time?

How does coal work with coal plants? Do you have to have more than one coal to have more than one coal plant? And again, if you have one coal and it's being used by Aluminum Co, can it be used in coal plants?

[Jaybe]

If you need a resource for something (e.g., spaceship, modern armor, coal plant, etc.), then one is all you need for your entire civ. Any excess that you have will affect corporation benefits and costs if that corp. uses that resource type.

Corporation use of resources is in ADDITION to the normal resource's utilization. It does not deprive the resource from its normal use.

For Aluminum Co or Ethanol Corp, it just provides the resource so it is available to you. Their other benefits and costs will vary with the number of resources they are USING.

Try using it in the game and observe how things change when you have varying numbers of resources available to the corporation.

[tour86rocker]

Wow that was another quick response, thanks JB. I think I have the knowledge now to play a bit more effectively.

[Blaupanzer]

That corn question was a good one. In RL, the diversion of corn from food to fuel is exacerbating a worldwide food shortage (mainly due to drought and flooding -- an odd combination when you think about it; the drought is relative -- in SE Asia). In civ, one resource can carry the whole civ, no matter how many cities and corporate demands -- just a bit abstract.

[Supr49er]

Welcome to Apolyton tour86rocker.

[tour86rocker]

Thank you Supr49r and all who answered my many, many questions.

And Blaupanzer, I agree that it's really abstract, but if it was any more time consuming to play this game...well, let's just say I spend too much time with it already.

[rah]

Originally posted by Blaupanzer
That corn question was a good one. In RL, the diversion of corn from food to fuel is exacerbating a worldwide food shortage (mainly due to drought and flooding -- an odd combination when you think about it; the drought is relative -- in SE Asia). In civ, one resource can carry the whole civ, no matter how many cities and corporate demands -- just a bit abstract.

Maybe a bit abstract but you do have to consider that most of the squares you're working contribute food and at least some of them are farm specialized. The special squares are a super bonus of the commodity. (even if you have no specials you still have food)

[Ming]

Trading your extra resources can bring big advantages.
I never mind having duplicate resources.

[joncnunn]

I think BTS got it right on the Corn in corporations though. Start with Cerial Mills corporation and all those Corn and Wheat go into food.

Then replace it would Standard Ethanol and watch the food surplus vanish entirely.

[tour86rocker]

rah- yes, let's not forget the bonus in the square itself, I'm not neglecting that

joncnunn- I'm not sure what you mean by "replacing" Cereal Mills with Standard Ethanol. Is there really a way to kick a headquarters out of your empire? Color me confused.

I had thought of seeding a corporation into another empire to compete. Does that accomplish anything to disrupt their economy?

In SM Railroads! I would sometimes build a Power Plant in a rival's territory to tie up half of their coal and slow their steel production. In a similar way (in Civ4), would it accomplish anything to seed a rival empire with a corporation that competes with theirs?

[Jaybe]

Competing corporations in Civ4 BtS are ones that use ANY common resource. Cereal Mills & Standard Ethanol both use corn. If one of those corps were in a city and the other were to establish a branch there (there IS a chance of failure if there is ANY other corp in the city), then the former corp is removed from the city.

joncnunn's example was of Cereal Mills being in a city and Standard Ethanol ousting it. Potentially great loss of food in the city (but heh, you've got petrol to build ships, planes, tanks, and ... rapid transit).

[Unimatrix11]

In fact, there is always a chance of failure, when trying to settle a corp in a city.

If i am not mistaken, the competition between corps can most easily described as: When you need the same type of GP to start the two corps, they are competing ones, and cant both be settled in the same city at any given time. But i might be wrong with this. When in doubt, just check the civpedia under BTS-concepts-> corps - it says which corps compete each other there.

[Boracks]

Re: Resources: any benefit to having 3 aluminum, etc?

Originally posted by tour86rocker
Resources: is there a benefit to having (and keeping) more than one of the same resource (ex: oil)? I haven't observed consistency. I understand that for a city to benefit from a resource received by trade, it must be connected by road to the capital.
....
Please let me know at the very least whether there is any benefit to keeping 3 dye or 3 aluminum or 3 oil or what-have-you.

I always want at least a second type of any resource developed for one simple reason: Spies! I got tired of seeing a note about something being blown up and then "city x can no longer work on unit y". Trading is good but for things like oil, iron, aluminum, I want that backup resource. There are some nasty people out there, and they are not all on my side.

Originally posted by tour86rocker
well, let's just say I spend too much time with it already.

This is possible?