Saltpeter is soooooooo very important!

[maas]

I have been playing a game and i hav just researched gunpowder i tryed to build musketeers and realised i had no saltpeter i looked and had no on the continent !( : the AI had lots of cites on hills and i was wondering does any1 no how to check if thealtpeter is under the cites . see i got maps of the other AI and havent got contact with them yet so i cant check by chatting to them!

[justjake73]

Game options -> Map -> Clean map

I exhausted my source of Saltpeter- can't build Cannon, Musketeers or Cavalry. All my pikemen were upgraded before it went poof, luckily. Brennus is siting on at least 3 saltpeters, but he hasn't got Gunpowder, but he may be close - should I just give it to him?

[Stuie]

Or the key combo is CTRL-SHIFT-M to clear cities/improvements/units from the map.

[vmxa1]

Yes salpetter is very important, but oil is crucial.

[Plotinus]

It would be nice if it were possible to buy resources from civs that haven't got the relevant techs. I once had a game where I needed rubber and someone had it, but they were desperately behind in tech. I tried *giving* them all the tech they needed to have it appear on their map, but still couldn't trade - I think they promptly sold it to someone else. The only option in such a case is to invade. It would be nice if you could say something like "I see you have this black sticky stuff oozing out of your country. Shall I take it off your hands?" - in other words, if you have the tech and you know it's on their territory, and they don't have the tech, you can buy it off them for a reduced price. This would remove a need for aggressive play.

[Kuciwalker]

I'd say Saltpeter is one of the LESS important strategic resources. Yes, it's necessary for Muskets and Cavs, but something like Iron or Oil has FAR more units that need it. Horses - meh. I'd say Uranium and maybe Aluminum are less important than it though.

[Sarxis]

Well, I say, it does depend on wether you are at war during the gunpowder era, and also what UUs you have. I played a game with the Ottoman's recently, and didn't have Saltpeter for a VERY long time in the Middle-ages.

I really could have used my Sipahi early, and might have won that game if I had that Saltpeter had I gotten some earlier than I did.

[chequita guevara]

If I don't have a resource I need I take it.

[sprudl]

Cavalry is good so I value saltpeter quite highly at that point. I don't really mind not having musketmen unless I'm involved in some very nasty wars.

In my current game I have no iron, no horses and no saltpeter in my original territory. I wiped 2 civs and reduced the Byzantines to 3 cities which solved my problem

I'm still in the middle ages, so I can only hope I have enough land for the other resources...

[Kuciwalker]

I can tell you, in my game as the Dutch I didn't mind not having Saltpeter all that much

[Chaos_BF1942]

Yeah Saltpeter is important, But I would have to say Oil is more. Oil is needed for alot of the units in the modern era.

One thing I hate is it seems that all my starting areas seems to be lacking resources like Saltpeter, Iron, oil, ect. And of corse the computer playes get all the good stuff.

One game I remembered this one game. The Russians had this island all to thems selfs and had pretty much all the resources I needed. So I made friends with them and traded some money and some Luxury Resource. I then build up this army and liberated island. It truned out that Island had oil and Uranium too. I never really saw something like that.

One question how do the resources disappear? Its very annoying.

[Cerbykins]

Some resources re-distribute, but never disappear. The editor gives this figure, be it 1 in 80 or whatever. While it's annoying the AI has so many advantages, I'm counter-annoying in how I can lock AI into war against buddies for 'all time' using resources to clinch the deal:

Me: "I'll give you iron if you ally with me!"
AI: "OK! "

8 turns later...

AI: "Bored of this...sign peace..."
AI: "Oh, no iron "

ME: "Get back in the war, and you can have your iron back!"
AI: "OK! "

A human would probably never let you get away with stunts like that, but the AI is unfortunate enough not ot have the depth to see that one coming
Another reason why I like resource scarcity
Losing the chance for cavs would peeve me - but then, I'd just attack the nearest city or two holding one
Planned, of course...not a hotch-potch job causing more trouble than it's worth

[Kuciwalker]

I like using Strategic resources to sue for peace with countries that annoy me while I'm off in builderland. Attack me, no oil.

[steven8r]

maas, you can right-click on an AI city and get the Terrain Info that way also.

Steven

[steven8r]

Oh, I almost forgot about KNO3.

I'm currently playing as the Japanese and have no saltpeter, I'm also currently behind in techs, AND enjoy beating-up on my neighbors). So far, my Samurai have staved-off several Cavalry invasions. I don't think that this can last too much longer, but I'm doing OK at the moment w/o Saltpeter.

Steven