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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.