In the period in which the game is played was coal one of the most strategic raw materials. Let’s look at this in this article, where you can find information on where to mine coal and how to make your economy more efficient through it.
Where is the coal located?
Coal deposits are known in advance and are not discovered during the game, unlike gold or oil. In total, coal is found in 204 states and practically every country should have some access to it, as shows in the picture below.
Where can you build the most coal mines?
Interestingly, the most coal mines you can build in one state are 140. In total, there are two such coal-rich states in the game, Kentucky and West Galicia.
But don’t worry, there will be plenty of coal in other locations as well. As I wrote above, coal can be found in 204 states in total. Below I have selected states (and listed them alphabetically) by where you can build more than 100 coal mines.
| State | Max. coal mines |
|---|---|
| 🔝 Kentucky | 140 |
| Lancashire | 100 |
| Pennsylvania | 120 |
| Picardy | 100 |
| Rhone | 100 |
| Shanxi | 116 |
| Silesia | 120 |
| Transvaal | 104 |
| 🔝 West Galicia | 140 |
| Yorkshire | 100 |
If you want to know how many coal mines you can build in a given state, open the state detail and look in the “Information” tab.
How to find out in which country the raw materials are located?
How to mine coal?
Coal can only be obtained by mining through Coal Mines, which you have to build in the place where the coal deposits are located. The building is a classic mining building, so there are 4 mining equipment production methods.
I recommend that you update these methods because it will increase the efficiency of your coal mines without having to build and wait for your construction sector to build more mines.
In case of a really big need, coal can be mined with explosives, however, I would not recommend this way. According to that you will simply have fewer workers because of your increase in the mortality rate of your people working in this industry. Theoretically, you can afford it in case you have an overpopulated state, but even then I only use this when I really don’t have enough coal.
How to use coal well?
Coal is one of the drivers of your economy in Victoria 3 and it makes sense to have a sufficient supply of coal from the start. You can easily increase your efficiency with it and get more of other resources. That’s why you should include coal in your strategy. Below can be seen specific examples of where such opportunities.
Use of coal in mines
What makes the most sense to me is to use coal in the mines. You can use it in a “Condensing Engine Pump” where it can greatly increase the efficiency of mining and also change the mix of workers you can employ in a given building. However, coal can also be used in “Steam Automation” which frees up 1k Laborers to work in another building (/or another level).
Use of coal on farms
Although it does not seem so, coal can also be used on farms. Here, however, the use is not directly in production, but rather in the automation of harvesting processes. Specifically, you can use it for “Steam-Powered Thresher Machines” or for “Tractors”.
This optimization of farms leads to the fact that you can employ fewer Laborers in the first case and there will be an optimization of -1k per level, and in the second an improvement of another -1,5k per level. It means that you can have more farms with the same number of people.
Use of coal in factories
Coal is used in factories as input for Steel Mills where you will need 30 coal per level. And in exchange for coal and Iron, you get Steel. Coal is needed here for each production method, but it seems to me that the need is fixed and no matter what production method you choose the coal consumption does not change.
However, the above-mentioned Steel Mills are not the only places where you can use coal in factories. Another place is automation, which opens up once you have explored the Water-Tube Boiler research. It can push your economy forward by using coal.
Here again, automation means that you can employ fewer people in exchange for Coal and Tools and it leads to more workers.
Coal for your pops
Coal is also a raw material that your residents need, as they use it to provide warmth. This increases their standard of living, and coal is overall more calorific than fabric or wood. It means that over time your pops will want it too.
Coal from the perspective of strategy
As you could see above, coal helps to produce steel, which is needed in the more advanced stages of the game. Moreover, coal is there to make your economy more efficient. Because of that, you want to have enough coal and mine it. And if you plan to produce it, you want to keep its price as low as possible.
Why keep the price of coal low? Simply put, it will make the inputs to all the buildings cheaper, and they will then generate profits more easily. Then it should translate into higher wages, which will make your states more attractive for migration and you will have more people.
Coal is the cornerstone of a good economy. You want to have enough of it and you don’t want to rely on someone else to supply it from abroad. I suppose maybe some pollution will come into play in the future, but obviously, there is time for that yet.
Coal is the way to win (in the early phases) and so you should have a lot of it.
