UGH! You can't trade for resources until THEY can use them? Change it!

[SGB]

Just made a depressing discovery. Finally have a decent game going (still on Regent) and I have a nice tech lead. But I can't trade for resources I need until the other civ can use em!

For example, the Persians (who love me and we trade together a lot) have 6 coal fields--I need coal to build railroads. I am way ahead of them, but I cannot trade for some of their coal--it doesn't appear on their deal screen. SO I need to wait forever until they get steam power and now I get coal from them.

Same thing happening now with Ivory.

This is BS. I should be able to trade for their resources. In RL, this kind of trading happened ll the time. And it isn't good for the game. It basically forces you into a conquest strategy.

Anyone else have opinions?

[Stuie]

Originally posted by SGB
Just made a depressing discovery. Finally have a decent game going (still on Regent) and I have a nice tech lead. But I can't trade for resources I need until the other civ can use em!
...
Same thing happening now with Ivory.

Anyone else have opinions?

The ability to use is equated with the ability to extract resources in this game. It is an abstraction, and it is frustrating. It would be interesting if they could have programmed some sort of method of estrablishing a colony in the under-developed country (for a price, of course) to exploit... er, I mean extract the resource until said country catches up in the tech race.

The ability to trade/extract ivory is not dependant on a tech advance.

[challenge]

Give the Persians Steam Power and they will be able to trade you coal. Luxeries can only be traded if they have more than one of them.

[SGB]

Whoopsie, that was a typo there. Ivory = Rubber. I was thinking that I ended up trading Ivory for Coal there, doh.

There should be some way to recreate that, though. It should be possible to bribe or force another civ to give me access to their resources without me actually conquering them or giving them my advances.

[sachmo71]

I don't mind it so much...it made me go out and start a war to get what I needed, and plan ahead to strike quickly, take what I wanted, then defend what I had. It encourages Imperialism, and I believe that's a good thing.