[quote=@Wernher]
I personally dont care, I'll join a discord if there is one but I think we are perfectly good with just this thread.

And [@Theyra] please define 'pulling resources out of nowhere' because what I had in mind was say, I can manage to find mineral deposits etc with the excuse of 'by modern day it was exhausted' so I dont need to pull a geological survey to justify a copper mine, but I can't pull elephants, lions or silk worms out of nowhere since those were indeed from only a certain corner of the world?
[/quote]

I mean like, mining or getting tin while in Madagascar, where there was no tin there, even historically. Like, look at the economy section of a nation in wikipedia, and if it says there that there is copper or iron in the nation, then it will be allowed to say set up a copper or iron mine if you start in that nation. If you say you are mining, let's say gold in a place that does not have gold deposits, even historically listed on wikipedia. Then no, that is not an option. But if the culture you start with, or you found that there are other resources like copper in Italy. Then just show me, and it will be allowed. You do not have to do heavy research for this, and just do some checking, and it will be fine.    

Sure, you can get stuff through trade once that is set up, or if it is already set up, depending on the culture you start with. More so if the culture you start with has access to copper or bronze stuff. Either by mining or trade. 

But, unless there is a good reason why you have something like elephants in the UK. Then no elephants in the UK since they were not there historically. So, for the last part of your question. The answer is yes, you cannot pull elephants, lions or silk worms out of nowhere since those were indeed from only a certain corner of the world.   

Does this answer your questions?