OCC question

[donZappo]

While perusing the strategy guide included on the bonus cd, I came across this tid-bit for the One City Challenge:

"One City Challenge (OCC) – In this type of game, you only build one city, with the settler you started with. If you get a city from culture flipping, it must be rebuffed. The most common victory is culture (20,000 culture in one city). Your infrastructure will also consist of only 12 tiles until sanitation. It is possible for a conquest victory with an OCC, but it’s also quite difficult. If you have a strategic resource in your border, you can place several workers and a military unit over it to pillage at the end of every turn. At the start of the next turn, or when the unit/improvement you’re building is built, build the road again, and place another unit (i.e., a swordsman) in the queue. Then pillage again. This is tedious, but it’s one of many little strategies."

Now, what I don't understand is how pillaging and re-roading your strategic resources are beneficial to your empire. Never having tried a OCC I may be missing something here but I can't imagine what it is. The only thought that occured to me was that it stops the AI from demanding that resource from you and keeps you from becoming a valuable target to them. Any thoughts from somebody who has actually used this strategy?

[Snotty]

I guess it would stop it depleting. As you only have one city you can handle the micromanagement boredom.

[Brundlefly]

Originally posted by Snotty
I guess it would stop it depleting. As you only have one city you can handle the micromanagement boredom.

Hmm. If that's true then that sounds like an exploit.

[Snotty]

Hmm. If that's true then that sounds like an exploit.

In a normal game you are going to have a several cities trying to build off of the same resource. They are all going to build at different speeds and so need the resource at different times. When you have one city it is easy to reconnect it when that one city needs it.

[pvzh]

I do this in normal games to contrarary to OCC. You place 6 workers (100% woker speed non-industrious native) and one unit able to pillage on iron hill and produce Horsemen/Warriors. At the end of production turn you move units to city with barracks, connect Iron, do upgrades and disconnect the iron, so you again produce Horsemen/Warroirs. Having Leonardo (1/2 price upgrades) + Great Library (100% Tax) is a big help. However, in C3C it might be too expensive without Leo (upgrade cost is +100% or +50%? I do not have C3C yet).
I use this upto Cavalry (pre Factory/Power Plant completed) if I have Leo. When Factories are running shields are no longer a problem.

In OCC I do a different thing. I sell the only copy of my stratigic resource. If I need this or any resource I will by it from AI's. Value of resources depend upon number of cities in civ, so it is inexpensive "buy" (~100..150 gold for Iron to railroad your lands) and a good "sell": the bigger AI the better.
If you are affraid of resource jump, always buy the sold resource from another AI, so the deal would not be broken if resource is ran out.

[vmxa1]

This is not required for horses or rubber as they do not deplete.

[Fosse]

Wasn't it found out a long time ago that this does not actually reduce the chance of resources disappearing?

I recall reading that a resource risks disappearing AFTER it is hooked up to a road, not IF it is hooked up to a road at the moment.

[vmxa1]

It seems to me that depletion is not a large factor, since 1.29f or there abouts. When CivIII came out, I used to have iron disapprear, but it is not much of a problem.

[donZappo]

Thanks pvzh. That sounds like a pretty good alternative explanation to me! I wish the person who wrote the strategy guide had elaborated a bit more on this since it left an awful lot to the imagination.

[alva]

Originally posted by Snotty
I guess it would stop it depleting. As you only have one city you can handle the micromanagement boredom.

Hmm. If that's true then that sounds like an exploit.

It's not and thus it isn't. Depletion chance begins once it was roaded the first time around.

[Snotty]

Ah, I never knew that. It sounds a bit odd to have your unconnected iron deplete. Does it rust?