Unable to buy/build field cannon after learning steel

[shiretrib]

Happened in 2 games now for sure as different rules, using Theodora right now. Why do field cannon go obsolete after steel but before machine guns?

[Evrach]

Field cannons become obsolete with telecommunications, much later than steel.
Are you running some mods ?

[jmerry82]

That's because it's not field cannons (the Industrial era ranged unit) that go obsolete with Steel and the new (oil required) siege unit Artillery; it's bombards, the (niter required) Renaissance-era siege unit. Full obsolescence; that's a MandatoryObsoleteTech in the unit definition, not a case where you can still build the older unit if you lack the resource for the newer unit. And since you can pick up Steel before you gain the ability to even see oil (Steel and Refining are at the same tech level, with the same prerequisite), it's very easy to get into a situation where you simply can't build siege-class units at all.

Still questionable design, but at least it's sense-adjacent.

[shiretrib]

Can I attach images here? It is field cannons. I do have mods, but they haven't changed in a long time. Not sure how long it has been occurring, just in my last 2 games it bit me in the ass. Most of my mods are just better reports for the game. I have images of all this. Just weird that you have a gap in which you can't buy any ranged units. I've seen several other threads on this, but no answer to the bug. Nor explanation on why it hasn't been fixed.

[shiretrib]

I added a comment with links to images, but seems it was rejected. :(

[Evrach]

Originally posted by shiretrib:

I added a comment with links to images, but seems it was rejected. :(

Did you use steam screenshots ?

[plaguepenguin]

Have you researched the tech that gives you crossbowmen? The easy way to tell if this is the problem is whether or not the game will let you produce or buy archers. If you have unlocked crossbowmen, you can never again build archers. If you haven't unlocked crossbowmen,you can't build either field cannon or machine guns,even if you have unlocked them, until and unless you unlock crossbowmen.

I can't open the tech tree right now, and it may be impossible to unlock field cannon without first unlocking crossbowmen,so perhaps all of the above is irrelevant.

[jmerry82]

While Ballistics (field cannons) doesn't require Machinery (crossbows) and Machinery doesn't require Archery (archers), Steel should require all of Ballistics, Machinery, and Archery. Unless you're playing with Tech Shuffle mode, in which case the prereqs are all randomized.

And none of the "ranged" units have a mandatory obsolescence tech at all. You can either build the unit, or you can build something it upgrades to.

This still feels like a case of mistaking the two cannon units for each other.

[shiretrib]

Originally posted by Evrach:

Originally posted by shiretrib:

I added a comment with links to images, but seems it was rejected. :(

Did you use steam screenshots ?

I have no idea what that is...

[shiretrib]

Originally posted by plaguepenguin:

Have you researched the tech that gives you crossbowmen? The easy way to tell if this is the problem is whether or not the game will let you produce or buy archers. If you have unlocked crossbowmen, you can never again build archers. If you haven't unlocked crossbowmen,you can't build either field cannon or machine guns,even if you have unlocked them, until and unless you unlock crossbowmen.

I can't open the tech tree right now, and it may be impossible to unlock field cannon without first unlocking crossbowmen,so perhaps all of the above is irrelevant.

I bought/built field cannons for about 15-20 turns and then lost the ability to build then after learning steel. In my screen shows you see that I own them and are defending cities with them. Several of them were upgraded from crossbowmen. And I had several cities that still had crossbowmen. *shrug* That game is over now. I tend to delay getting steel until forced too, advancing far past it on the top, due to this bug and to continue to build walls to maximize benefit of that legacy card.

[shiretrib]

I took normal windows screenshots, saved them to google drive and posted links to them.

[Evrach]

Originally posted by shiretrib:

Originally posted by Evrach:

Did you use steam screenshots ?

I have no idea what that is...

Don't use windows screenshots, use steam screenshots. F12 when you're ingame. It adds the picture to your steam profile. Make it public so we can see it and post it.
Here we can't see the picture, well maybe some can, but I can't. It needs some sort of google thing to see it.

Still sounds like a mod interaction. Try to play a game without mods. Start at a later era, online speed and quickly rush to steel to see if the bugs also occurs without mods.

[donald23]

Originally posted by shiretrib:

I took normal windows screenshots, saved them to google drive and posted links to them.

External links, especially multiple, are usually automatically blocked.
Aside from that, external links to file-sharing sites, such as google drive, are also used for phising and scamming, which is why I really recommend not using that.

Just use the built-in option of Steam to take and publish screenshots, like Evrach explained. You can easily link to those in a post after you have published the screenshots.