[1.08]Iron way too rare?

You seem to forget that the iron resources that can be revealed by Adventuring techs.

No, one unit of Venturi iron resource can be spawned in the territory, which is very different.

Except Venturi has 3x the output of a single iron mine.

I actually have 2 iron mines going already and have spotted a 3rd.  That's as much as I had in 1.07.  This is my first 1.08 game though.  (I'm playing very slowly as I switch between Elemental on my gaming rig and this forum I have open on my browser to read what other gamers are finding as well as schpieling my own rambling thoughts).

Well, I don't find it very exciting that metal collection has become "everyone has to beeline to rare resource techs so they can spawn one venturi mine in their territory"; I don't think that's how the game should be at all. That this sort of tech works like this is already nonsense (they shouldn't *spawn* resources, especially not a fixed amount of predetermined resource and certainly not in the player's territory!), but even if it wasn't, as it is, almost all metal collection comes from this tech - what's the point of having iron resources in the first place? They've become a minor resource.

Edit: I can post a truckload of screenshots of ironless maps taken in the last 10 minutes.

Perhaps the OP should research the more advanced technologies and see if this is still a problem.

I honestly do believe that everyone should have SOME access to iron within 20 plots of their start. That wouldn't be to difficult to implement (mod idea). I agree, that we shouldn't have to research a technology just to obtain some iron.

except Iron isn't needed to Win, sure it helps, but just like in Civ 4 if you don't have bronze or Iron, well shit that sucks but gotta work with what you got.

That being said, there is something to be said for having a "balanced start" option like civ IV had for the players who can't handle having to think outside the box. 

1 more point I should let you in on. You seem to be under the misconception that you get 1 of a resource by researching the tech. This is incorrect the research lets you see All of that resource that is hidden in the world.

No it pretty much places the resources inside your territory.  Getting those techs is one of the first thing I do when I start a new game.  I always get at least 2 levels in adventuring for the gold mine and food resources before I make my first expansion city.  I do this so I can pimp my capital out with 2 or more gold mines and extra food resource to pump my economy with economy buildings.  They always, ALWAYS spawn randomly within your area of influence.

actually i disagree. it is impossible to train any units beyond basic equipment without iron. that can sort of clinch things to my mind. i had a game with three settlments and no iron (before i knew about resource revealing) and i ended up giving up in frustration after 2 hours play. not fun. at least the other resources have a spell that produces limited production. iron has only mines, and you may be 30 techs in befor you get the venturi mine (which is so powerful as to render any mines you may have had the foortune to start near almost redundant)

imo the purpose of the adventuring techs should be to allow you to survive in the midgame, or help you augment your resources slightly, not make the earlier struggle for resources redundant.

Hmm....imagine finding yourself in a game where you had no access to iron. That really would suck, wouldn't it?

Wish Stardock had provided us with some means to work around such a shortfall. Wouldn't it be cool, if we could trade commodities for instance? Or, yes, I have another idea. Its a game with magic. So perhaps if they made it possible for us to summon magical creatures, if we couldn't build good units ourselves. That would be a great addition.

Think outside the box

Asmodean a.k.a. Morten

Well I would like the following options to choose from when I start a game.

Pick from the following optiong:

 1) To have Balance starting resources (fertail land, gold mine, Iron mine, and Liberary) near starting area.

2) To have at least one fertail land and a random number of additional random resources within starting distance. Perhapes we can even pick a number.

3) Be totaly random. Which should include a chance that no resources can be in your area and you have to hunt for them. (I personally like this one. Makes the game more challanging and exiting.

First game with 1.08 last night the adv tech popped the resources outside my influence.  I do the same and pimp my capital early, and was going to do so with my first 2 cities up....then HAD to expand to take the new gold/food resources.  Less convenient, but better that way IMO.

Sounds like you not very good at adapting to the "hand" you were delt in the game. When you have this issue then you must change your stratagy to adjust to what you have. Which means you may have to research Diplomancy or magic to abtain units to use until you can conquer or find iron.  There are ways around this. I've played games where I never had an iron mine and still won.  For me this is more fun and challanging than being handed all the resources I need at the begining of the game.

Yop, I agree with the "think outside the box". It's a strategy game. For me, it's mean: do what you can with what you have. If you can't go warfare: go magic. If you can't go magic, go Diplomacy. If you can't, go questing. There is 4 way to win a game... that's not a coincidence .

In my game there was not a bit of iron on the entire map. There was a crap ton of gold though, so darklings ftw. Well... I would have used darklings, but I had a sovereign who could cast spells, so instead I just used darklings to defend.

The problem with the "adapt" strategy is that pretty much all routes require warfare anyway. You can't win a diplomacy setting without access to metal. Your units will be too weak, and then other factions will dislike you (pretty significantly...-5 is a huge hit to take). Magic, while somewhat of a work-around, still puts you at an extreme disadvantage. No summon will ever be powerful enough to take out a few well-armed troops, and there simply aren't enough summons to go around, so they need to be augmented with other good units.

Everything about this game ties in to getting better troops, and without metal, if you're playing against a halfway decent opponent, you simply can't get them.

Have you ever saved before finishing a research and loaded that save afterwards? Have you done so across multiple games?

I'm pretty sure the resource popping outside of territory is caused by a lack of available space. If you research adventure too much before expanding your city influence, the resource doesn't have enough space to spawn inside, so it does so outside. I've had this happen multiple times before, and now make sure to upgrade my capital to level 2 before even researching those exploration techs.

Note that I'm not saying YOU are the one doing this, this happens a lot to AI players as well.

I think they forgot to balance summons and monsters with the rest of the game.

And magic is an I-Win button.

But those are balance issues, like this iron problem.

20 ATK? Try 61 from Ice Lord. Forgot? Check.

Oh and if iron is harder to find, won't that make naturalist more valuable? Naturalist is the sovereign talent that makes an iron mine start near you at the beginning of the game. Wouldn't this be more OP than having to research for iron because it's available from the very beginning?

Do you guys ever research squad?

Summons are really weak; ATK of squad with mace is like 40+, and with better weapons it is over 100+. And this is for 4 men squad number.

There is no way summon can compete with any well-made non-summon unit.

Are you kidding? Squad power isn't additive: each member of the squad checks versus armor independently (which is a good thing!). Summons are much, much more powerful than even late game squads.

They SHOULD check individually, but I get the very distinct feeling that they don't.