Railroads

[anteos]

Hi

What does everyone think about the need to have coal to build railroads. In most games I play, even though I have a large empire, predictably I don't have coal as a resource and have to go to war to obtain it.

Also, you can progress onto the the modern age without being able to build railroads? I find this quite limiting.

What does everyone think?

Cheers

Jason

[KenderBane]

The designers inclusion of coal as a need for rails was probably a reflection of the fact that early rail engines were steam-based and burned coal ... lots of coal ... lots and lots of coal ...

Since running an efficient rail system does include fueling the engines, it did make since to me to include coal as a need for building rails.

The other possible reason is that rails require a special quality of steel that can take the weight of the cars. Since steel is made from iron and coal derivitives, it also makes since this way.


Just my humble opinion, but, if you are entering the early Industrial Era and are having problems winning a 'resource-war', then you may be experiencing other problems. Usually by then, my cavalry are running rough-shod all over my opponents and winning a short sharp war for limited objectives (a single coal icon) is no more than a two or three turn affair (sometimes less).

[CerberusIV]

In a recent game (archipelago, standard map) I crushed 2 civs early and controlled about 20-25% of the land area by the industrial. I got no coal and had to buy it from the Babs. I managed to renew the deal twice so I had it for 60 turns by which time I had RR'd almost all my tiles, completed building factories and some coal plants in my core cities and my bombers and tanks were ready to roll.

Yes, coal is a rightly a crucial resource but not getting it in your territory isn't the end of the world. If you can't buy it at a reasonable price then you just have to take it. Going without is possible but not good. It pays to ensure your empire contains likely terrain for particular resources long before they actually appear.
Oil is the crucial resource for late game military units and I will go to a lot of effort to ensure my territory includes a reasonable amount of tundra and/or desert long before getting anywhere near the industrial era.

[realpolitic]

I think coal is worth paying a fairly high price. With skillful techtrading, I can usually get the money easily enough.