Province with zero resources?

JR77 · #1 September 18th, 2009, 08:39 AM

I have encountered a province with _zero_ resources. Unfortunately, I found out after building a lab to recruit a nice indy mage. There is zero unrest, so that is not the reason, but I am not able to recruit anybody - not even a 1 resource mage

Is this a bug or can this happen by chance (I have not seen it in any game before) and are there any sites (like mines) which requires e.g. earth search and could increase the resource above zero? There are some mines in other provinces, but they did not require me to search for them and they were (as this one) next to a prefixed starting position on the map.

I would appreciate any input, but think I just might have wasted the money on the lab (and the first mage, who will forever be queued)...

Sombre · #2 September 18th, 2009, 08:45 AM

Wouldn't happen to have a fort or two next door would it?

Calahan · #3 September 18th, 2009, 09:06 AM

Forts reduce the available resources in neighbouring non-forted provinces.

To get resources back into a province with zero resources, then you either need to demolish neighbouring fort(s), or build a fort in the province itself (as that will stop the neighbouring forts from taking the resources away). But also remember that a province with no population will have zero resources. So check that there is population there before doing anything else

quantum_mechani · #4 September 18th, 2009, 09:33 AM

Also note that, regardless what else you do, you can always cancel the mage you ordered and get the money back.

chrispedersen · #5 September 18th, 2009, 10:50 AM

if the resources are zero because of dead seas, or 0 pop, you could wish for population.

vfb · #6 September 18th, 2009, 11:31 AM

Zero pop provinces (without castle neighbors) have 2 resources, usually enough to pop out a mage.

archaeolept · #7 September 18th, 2009, 12:29 PM

yeah, a situation like this is usually due to one having built two high admin castles in neighbouring provinces. tear one down, or build a new one.

I've discovered lore masters before in such a situation. it sucks

JR77 · #8 September 18th, 2009, 01:00 PM

Thanks for all the info. I always thought that a neighboring fort took a (relatively small) percentage of the resources and one fort could thus never reduce a province to zero resources (there is only one fort - the starting one - next to the province).

I think I will build a fort in the province if that helps. Does that just require a neighbor province with, e.g. 10+ resources and no fort in it? A bit expensive, but with the investment of the lab and the cool indy that would be available...

thejeff · #9 September 18th, 2009, 01:09 PM

A fort should only take it's admin percentage of resources from the neighbors. If you've only got one fort next to this province it shouldn't be at zero.

Micah · #10 September 18th, 2009, 01:21 PM

Yeah, that's really weird, sounds like it might be bugged if you don't have another fort nearby. What terrain type and population is the province in question? A fort in that prov with some admin should be able to pull in resources from a neighboring province to be able to make the mages at least...keep us posted.