If a genie were willing to concede you a wish, would you chose 1 food, 1 hammer or 1 gold for your current Civ IV game?


**Introduction.

In the old Civ1 days, I realised that the game was about accumulating as much assets (in the form of food, production and commerce) as possible in the shortest time possible.

My first thought then was that every asset was equally valuable. This proved to be false in previous versions of Civ, since there were easy methods of transforming food into production (Civ3 pop-rush) or production into money (Civ1 building selling) but no good and easy ways of transforming anything into food. So generally Civ3 players agreed that "food is power" and that 1 food was sligtly better than 1 shield that that in turn was sligtly better than 1 gold.

I have the feeling that the value of commerce (in the form of beakers) has been increased in Civ IV. I would like to share ideas about the relative value of assets in Civ IV.


**Transforming methods.

I have made a clasification of transforming methods, here it is (it should be considered uncomplete till proved otherwise):

f->p
Method Intrincacy Rate Limitations
Pop-rush Direct 30p/1pop Civic Slavery. Unhappiness.
Building Se/Wo Direct 1p/1f Producing Settlers or Workers
Ing (Pri) spe Direct 2p/1unworked tile Specialist availability (buildings)

p->f
Method Intrincacy Rate Limitations
Granary Indirect +50%fpt/60p Pottery
Lighthouse Indirect +1f in water/60p Coastal city, sailing

c->f
Method Intrincacy Rate Limitations
New Techs (like biology) Indirect -

f->c
Method Intrincacy Rate Limitations
Mer (Eng) spe Direct 3g or 3b/1unworked tile Specialist availability

c->p
Method Intrincacy Rate Limitations
Money-rush Direct ?? Civic Univ Suff
Unit upgrades Indirect - Inside cultural borders

p->c
Method Intrincacy Rate Limitations
Multiplier buildings (like libr.) Indirect X%/Yp

Note: all data refers to normal speed.


**Everlasting deals.

The most important consideration IMHO is that there are "one-time deals" and "everlasting deals". If you pop-rush a unit, you lose 1 pop (and some temporary happiness) and you win 30 hammers. That's all about it, there are no future implications. On the other hand, if you invert 90 hammers now in a library, you will win a 25% increase in beakers for the rest of the game.

Assuming that your game is not already at 2049A.D. an everlasting deal is much more interesting. It is in fact so interesting that even if you don't want to transform food into hammers, you could consider pop-rushing a granary in order to get an increased rate of fpt.


**The definitive answer.

After careful consideration of every detail around this subject I have come to the conclusion that... I dunno.

I think that different circumstances can affect the relative value of assets, so there would be different answers in different situations. Two examples: in the beginning of a Settler game you will probably be better off if you concentrate on food; on the other hand, in a luxury-scarce Deity game you will probably pop-rush a lot.

I would be really grateful if you shared your ideas on the subject.

If a genie were willing to concede you a wish, would you chose 1 food, 1 hammer or 1 gold for your current Civ IV game?

1 food is better than 1 hammer, which is better than 1 gold.

By what amount, varies over the course of the game. As a (very) general rule of thumb, I'd value 1 food at 3 gold and 1 hammer at 2 gold.

The Kremlin is huge because it lets you convert gold to hammers at 1.5:1 and you get to do it in an extremely flexible way (i.e., you can produce gold everywhere and then use it all where you need it).

-- David desJardins

well i would choose production all the time, since the pop-rush cost discontent and some penalties, somemore high production per turn means that you can produce more building or unit that can boost up food, commerce, and sciences

1 food is better than 1 hammer, which is better than 1 gold.

By what amount, varies over the course of the game. As a (very) general rule of thumb, I'd value 1 food at 3 gold and 1 hammer at 2 gold.

The Kremlin is huge because it lets you convert gold to hammers at 1.5:1 and you get to do it in an extremely flexible way (i.e., you can produce gold everywhere and then use it all where you need it).

-- David desJardins

I agree with this, but i would say it's more like 1 food = 2 hammers = 4 commerce. Maybe even 1 food = 3 hammers = 6 commerce.

But like you said, the exact ratio depends on circumstances.

There's no doubt that food is more valuable than either because adding 1 food gives you access to one more tile to work, which can easily produce 3 hammers (mined grassland hill) or 1 hammer and 4+ commerce (plains with a town).

My problem with placing food at the top is that it's usefulness is dictated by the health and happiness in a city. When a city has a lot of room to grow, food is obviously the most important. But when they're limited, you're trying to research calender to get those luxuries, or trying to build aqueducts, and food is only good for sustaining your current population.

So, it depends. *sigh*