zoomar
Junior Member
Posts: 60 
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Post by zoomar on Nov 18, 2020 16:04:20 GMT -6
I understand that in most ways, this is a game of alternate history, but I've always thought that having oil be discovered in places that never had oil deposits in reality is stretching things. Randomized politics, diplomacy, economics and so forth is one thing, but randomizing the earth to the extent that oil can occur in places that never had it is a stretch. Why couldn't the game AI limit oil to the places large deposits actually occurred, but randomize only the year it is discovered and available for use?
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Post by aiolife on Nov 19, 2020 4:09:29 GMT -6
I think this adds a bit of RP to the game itself. If it would be like you say, you can meta-game it and acquire places when you know there CAN be oil in advance, and just wait for it being discovered, which is not what happened in history... Well it's a different way of seeing it, the best thing could be adding an option that can switch it on/off, like "Random oil location"
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Post by oldpop2000 on Nov 19, 2020 8:34:40 GMT -6
I believe that the randomness of the game in discovering oil is probably accurate as history tells us. Oil records have been found in archeological records near Hit, in Iraq. There is an oil seep there and the asphalt was used as mortar almost 6000 years ago. The Babylonians caulked their ships with it. China discovered it about 2000 years ago and used it for heating and light. Pre-Colombian's used it for medicinal benefits. It wasn't until Drake drilled the first well for crude that engineering was applied to discover oil but it was always a random event. It was discovered in Borneo, Indonesia and all around the world randomly. I think the game has correctly addressed the issue. There are many spots where we know oil actually exists in some form or another, and could be used. It wasn't until the 1890's in California that petroleum engineering was developed when geologist began to correlate the structure of local stata and the possibility of oil in layers. The profession got started in 1914. It was after these events that a concerted effort to investigate areas of possible oil deposits was performed.
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Post by director on Nov 19, 2020 22:55:09 GMT -6
As one example, oil was actually discovered in Libya in the 1930s. If it had been exploitable the history of fuel-starved Axis Italy and Germany might have been very different.
Personally I like the somewhat random nature of oil discovery in the game but would not oppose having it be switchable on and off.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Nov 20, 2020 8:18:30 GMT -6
As one example, oil was actually discovered in Libya in the 1930s. If it had been exploitable the history of fuel-starved Axis Italy and Germany might have been very different. Personally I like the somewhat random nature of oil discovery in the game but would not oppose having it be switchable on and off. It was discovered by an Italian professor, from Milan University, who was leading a search for water but was keeping out a watch for petroleum. This was in 1935. The oil was not discovered until after the war, due to the lack of available equipment and the harsh conditions of the Saharan Desert. The war stopped all efforts. If the search had been executed with the proper equipment, it might have been available before 1940 but not likely. |
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Post by oldpop2000 on Nov 21, 2020 8:05:55 GMT -6
Instead of adding randomness, why not add in the research area of the game, possibly in machinery, petroleum engineering. This was allow a nation to develop Crude Oil processing plants to produce diesel fuel, avgas and many other vital oil products. It could be added as a separate research entity. Just a suggestion.
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Post by brygun on Nov 21, 2020 9:48:49 GMT -6
Im on the random is good side for oil discovery.
Its the not knowing and the suddenness of changing strategic directives that is part of being an Admiral. Though I don't use the random tech performance there is a need to simulate that the player, an admiral, doesn't have a crystal ball to the future.
I did save a game where I was playing Germany and a few years in oil was discovered... in Germany. ^_^
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It could be possible to have a game settings switch like "more historic oil" where there is a shorter list of possible oil locations. I don't see it as that vital to the game though but it would be doable.
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