no coal...anywhere in the world???

[JBW]

I think this is a bug, but maybe I'm missing something...

I discovered steampower,but no coal became visible anywhere on the map. I then traded maps with everyone on the planet (the whole world is visible), but still no coal. So I gave everyone steampower and waited ten turns or so, and, looking at the trade screens, it seems like nobody can find any coal. I've also completed industrialization, if that's relevant, and I have access to iron. I think I've scrolled over all the hills, mountains, and swamps on the map, and there's nothing there.

There just doesn't seem to be any coal on this planet. Has anyone seen anything like this? Any ideas on solving the problem, or what might have caused it? I'd hate to play another map and run into this again.

[quinalla]

Hmm, that's an odd one, did you try clearing the map and looking (though it sounds like there really may not be any coal if you checked all the resource offerings of the other civs). You press ctrl-shift-M to clear the map. Hopefully someone else has some better advice.

-quinalla

[The Viceroy]

I had something similar, on a huge map , only 1 iron ... I checked the whole thing, nothing else .. and its all mine ha ha ha ..

but I have plenty of coal .. want to trade ?

It seems some random games have very very few resources and from what your saying, none at all in some...

What age of planet did you select ??

[DeadDireWolf]

A buddy of mined played a game and claimed there wasn't any OIL anywhere on the map. So I believe it's plausible..... if uncommon.

[heretk]

Ah, strategic resources. I think it is one of the most interesting, and frustrating, aspects of the game.

In one game (I was Persian) the whole world went to war over the only two squares on the map that had rubber. Everyone invaded Russia in a land-grab frenzy.

Once, when I was playing the Iriquois, I was the dominant civ until the modern age, when I discovered my continent had no aluminium, rubber, oil or uranium!

[JBW]

Thanks for the control - shift - M tip. Did another scan, and, lo and behold, there seems to be a single square of coal in the world, in some grassland, under an indian city (interesting, that it appears strategic resources, or coal at least, are determined by a tile's original, unmodified state). I can't imagine how I missed it the first time around .

Can't figure out why India isn't showing "coal (0 available)" in the trade screen,though. Perhaps this is related to the reported bug (which I haven't personally encountered) in which resources appearing on a square with a road don't become available until the road is destroyed and rebuilt. I'll have to go capture that city and experiment.

Oh, the map is large, 10 civilizations, continent map, all settings in the middle, difficulty emporer.

[smellymummy]

if it's the *only* coal available, then more than likely the indians are using it, so they can't trade any.

You will have to conquer that city. Or trade that city. Coal is essential, because you ahve to admit it, railroads are a must.

[Merlijn]

When I was playing the Egyptians I didn't have any coal. All the other civ's weren't willing to trade it either.

So my strategy was, simply put: duck and cover. You can come through the industrial age without coal as long as you don't wage any war. After that, when oil came available, I was the only one with oil and lo and behold, the other civ's did want to trade.

[JBW]

Agreed on the proper response (I kind-of lost interest in the map, as a world where only one civ can industrialize doesn't seem like it's going to have a particularly interesting endgame).

However, when a civilization has a strategic resource, but doesn't haven't any to trade, the resource appears in the trade screen, marked "0 available". That didn't happen here, which is strange.

[cmatt]

One problem with coal !!!!

It seems to run out after a certain amount of time. Then you have to find another from someone else or you're screwed.

I think this happens if you are espiecally on a 5 billions years old map because of the way geology works.

[DiB]

I'm on a 5 billion year old map and I'm having trouble finding coal at the moment. Civlopedia says to look in hills and jungles for coal and while there aren't many hills there is a jungle I'm in the process of taking over in hopes of finding coal. Is this considered a bug or is it just the bane of having a world that old? Kind of sucks when you have a lot of units moving around at once and have to wait and wait; then wait some more...

[barefootbadass]

Coal more often appears on grasslands and plains. Compared to other resources like saltpeter it is very common for me. Sometimes it is a little hard to see, though.

Oh, it might be jungle that I cleared, earlier in the games.

[Mokael]

never run out of coal. Iron - all the time. I think it's just random. just as allocation. There was one game where I had abundance of all resources. And then there was a game where I controlled half of the only continent in the world, but all I had was horses, iron, salpeter, and coal. crap full of ivory though ...

[wisecat]

Yes, resources do run out sometimes... for example I had 2 irons run out in one game within 300 years...

[DATarbell]

It has been my experience that the "disappearance" of strategic resources is one of the few random-generated events that can be altered via a save-and-restore style of gameplay. Specifically, go back two moves prior to the "disappearance", play forward and, more often than not, that resource will not disappear! Voila!