You do realize that having more strategic resources lets you build...  more things, right? For example, having more Horses lets you build more cavalry units. Giving you a cost reduction for having more than one unit is very generous and probably not a good idea.

Still, I do agree that it would be better to have strategic resources have a function even in later eras. My own idea for this is to have Manufactories that produce commodities, for example perhaps Electronics factories would require Copper as an input. And if there is a "claim" system for this manufacturing process in order to construct the building- just as for Wonders now- then different nations will claim and produce different commodities and then need to trade with one another.

ledarsi wrote:

You do realize that having more strategic resources lets you build...  more things, right? For example, having more Horses lets you build more cavalry units. Giving you a cost reduction for having more than one unit is very generous and probably not a good idea.

Still, I do agree that it would be better to have strategic resources have a function even in later eras. My own idea for this is to have Manufactories that produce commodities, for example perhaps Electronics factories would require Copper as an input. And if there is a "claim" system for this manufacturing process in order to construct the building- just as for Wonders now- then different nations will claim and produce different commodities and then need to trade with one another.

Not sure what you mean.

I've only had 2 horses ever, and have never been not able to make cavalry. Is there something I'm missing?

ledarsi wrote:

A single Horse tile can let you build multiple cavalry units, but there is a limit. Once you reach that limit you will need another Horses to keep building more until you use all the Horse resource you have, and so on. This limit is the maximum you can have at one time- so if one dies you can build another. Although for early game strategics it isn't surprising you didn't hit that limit with two Horses tiles' worth of horsies.

In that case, I'd say to remove that mechanic entirely. The cap is so high you'll almost never see it. Later era's require 2, even 3 horses, upping the cap even more.

I'd say my suggestion is better, but that is purely opinion.

ledarsi wrote:

I think the way the mechanic is implemented for quantities of strategics is fine- but the numbers need fine-tuning. Especially in the later eras the numbers are way off. Some people are reporting entire maps with only two oil on them, but you need at least 3 for the Mars mission to be physically possible. Likewise resources like Aluminum and Uranium are so rare, and yet modern units require SO MANY OF THEM, often 3+ of one type, in some cases 7+ total strategics all told for a single unit. In principle this could work but these resources are so impossibly rare and low in quantity that you just cannot construct them, or maybe you put one on the field and your resources are just exhausted. The numbers need a massive fine-tuning, especially in the later eras. But the concept is sound.

Endless Space 2 did strategic resources REALLY well, especially with how valuable and powerful even a single deposit felt, and very useful either economically or militarily, with some interesting decisions about what to do with the resources you have. I'm hoping for a similarly deep and interesting system here.

Resource hunger is one of the most important things in strategy games, and to be honest, I don't feel it at all in this game yet. Every game I'm an industrial juggernaut and I can build anything I want, including economic, scientific, and military power, and I do not feel like I need to take extraordinary efforts to seize land or resources, or even invest in ways that feel harmful in the short term. Lots of numbers are going to need to change to make this work the way it should, where you REALLY WANT to go get that oil, so the benefit it provides you is very great, and you want MOAR.

The way I think this should work is that substantial effort and investment is needed to scale up your strategic and luxury resourcing and production. With obvious benefits for doing so. For example, rather than having a single Main Battle Tank unit consume so many damn strategic resources, you lower the strategics needed for just one, but it should be expected you will want a high number, and having a greater quantity of strategics lets you build more. This drives you to acquire that strategic if you don't have it. And also if you have deposits, drives you to invest in increasing their output or somehow acquiring new deposits.

That's just falling into the same problem my post is trying to fix. It's a 2 pronged problem.

On one hand you have a limited number of resources in most cases.

on the other hand, they become useless pretty quickly and nobody cares about them.

Just increasing the resources (which I do believe is needed) will only compound the second problem of everyone having what they need and nobody ever trading them.

My suggestion is to fix problem #2 and make it so trading strategic resources is something worth considering even after the resource isn't useful for units anymore.

I like the general direction of your idea, but with the very low limit of available strategics i find, that the amount required to build something should at best be 1 at all times and more of the same gives you a production bonus, a higher cap or something like that. 

Right now i had way too many multiplayer games where no one could build anything tank like cause oil was missing and when it was not missing the requirements for building advanced units are unreal. 1 player can usually fulfill them maybe 2 but in a round of 6 players most are not capable of gaining access cause the map generator is a little bit trashy when it comes to "sort of balanced" spread of resources

In my opinion they should adopt the resource model from Endless Legend, also for luxuries. So stockpiling resources and even activating their effect in the case of luxuries, which will balance somewhat the total non-issue stability becomes in late game because you have access to plenty of luxuries.

Are you aware that horses and the other strategic resources do keep being relevant through Animal Barns and equivalent? If you have access to four horses that's 20 food in every city that builds a barn. Worth trading for even in the late game.

Yes, there are infrastructures that give bonuses per resource, and coal/aluminum give a lot of yields with electricity and power lines.

dongliz wrote:

Are you aware that horses and the other strategic resources do keep being relevant through Animal Barns and equivalent? If you have access to four horses that's 20 food in every city that builds a barn. Worth trading for even in the late game.

This, and copper gives production with the forge.  I always buy every horse and copper I can get my grubby paws on.  Unfortunately, there's no such benefit for iron or saltpeter, so 1-2 is enough for those.

drocco wrote:

This, and copper gives production with the forge.  I always buy every horse and copper I can get my grubby paws on.  Unfortunately, there's no such benefit for iron or saltpeter, so 1-2 is enough for those.

The "Inventor's Workshop" infrastructure give a scaling +2% science bonus per saltpeter (in addition to a base 10%). Having more iron means that the "Armory" building grants more xp to your units.

But Horses and Copper are the most important one for raw resource yields, I agree. Well, until Coal and Electricity I suppose.

There are infrastructure bonuses and they are pretty powerful. Access to 2 horses gives you 10 food and 2 food per farm district. So are later resources like iron, coal, and so on.