Trade Route Rules of Thumb
- Thread starter Cornhog
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reddishrecue
Some dude on civfans
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Some bozos keep hidden trade routes so plundering bozos trade routes by placing units in other possible areas where bozos trade routes could pass could weaken bozos economy military and eventually defenses.
I HATE sending internal trade routes; especially to my capital which already has good food and hammers. I don't understand why people do it.
I always try to get cargo ships and send it externally to the city with the highest gold OR a quest for a city state. It was my view that the science return really is pennies on the dollar, and trade is for gold.
I always try to get cargo ships and send it externally to the city with the highest gold OR a quest for a city state. It was my view that the science return really is pennies on the dollar, and trade is for gold.
Because when going Tradition you'll often greatly speed up victory by sending food cargo ships to your capital.
Starts with 8 food per turn and only increases as each era advances.
Massive food surplus to the capital from 3 cargo ships and it's population will grow every 3 turns or less. More population within the city with the most science improvements = more science. Monarchy within tradition cuts pop unhappiness in half in the capital and so this city can't possibly get too big.
Sending Hammer cargo ships to the capital within Tradition: This is for if the capital is already working all tiles + all science and guild specialists and in addition still has a 20+ food surplus. (Some natural heavy food starts are lower than you'd like for natural hammers)
_Dachannien
Chieftain
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Especially in the semi-early game, this is HUGE. In the early game, your capital will likely be struggling to have more than 3 or 4 food surplus (unless you're surrounded by salt). Imagine adding 6 food to that amount PER BOAT. In other words, per cargo ship, it's like working three farmed grassland tiles (that's 3 per tile minus the one for the person who would be working it). And it's even more in subsequent eras.
There is a reason you might not do this, and that's if you're playing really wide and don't want population unhappiness dragging you down, because this will make cities big FAST.
adcarrymaokai
Emperor
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Yes, master.
reddishrecue
Some dude on civfans
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That's why there are coliseums, circuses, stoneworks, circus maximus and zoos for happiness. If there are good hills around your cities that allow you to produce then you could produce an entertainment system for your cities to make them happy without having to work your farms for growth. You could eventually make great works which provide more social policies that sometimes also come with happiness.
I don't even think it has to be really wide. Just 4 cities can leave me happiness-limited from time to time. But yes, semi-early game is the sweet spot. That's where monarchy really kicks in and eases the pain. After a point, though, it takes too much food to grow a pop, and all the juicy tiles are already worked, anyway. I'm willing to pay half a happiness, half a gpt, and half a bpt (from NC) to get a 3-hammer tile elsewhere (and faster). I'm also picking up some maritime friends, so my capital doesn't really need the food as much anymore. Meanwhile my second city might have settled something like Mt. Sinai. Which is awesome, but that city needs food badly.
Um, when the increase in food cap is needed, that's actually when food cargo ships go into overdrive providing extra food as it goes up by 1 by route per era.
Have 3 food cargo ships running 9 or 10 food each and your capital will still grow every 2 or 3 turns for quite some time.
Have 3 food cargo ships running 9 or 10 food each and your capital will still grow every 2 or 3 turns for quite some time.
stormtrooper412
Peacemongering Turtlesaur
It kind of depends. If you're going for Culture/Diplo you'd want to send it out for more gold and early beakers, so that you can at least try and be competitive with cultural wonders and/or city states. Same can be applied if you're going full warmonger, but not as much because once you finish Might, you gain gold for every kill.
If you're going for a peaceful SV, you'd want growth and more growth, if you can get to Universities reasonably fast, and remain on pace to get Porcelain Tower and later on, schools and stuff, all you basically need is enough pop so you can keep growing while slotting specialists in all cities and working on GSs. A slower start here is not as important because you will overtake everyone before Modern Era and nobody can catch up you anymore
If you're going for a peaceful SV, you'd want growth and more growth, if you can get to Universities reasonably fast, and remain on pace to get Porcelain Tower and later on, schools and stuff, all you basically need is enough pop so you can keep growing while slotting specialists in all cities and working on GSs. A slower start here is not as important because you will overtake everyone before Modern Era and nobody can catch up you anymore
I dunno science is still king for culture victories because you still need to be able to build some Culture Wonders. A bigger capital not only gets you more science but lets you build wonders faster to.
External trade routes I think are more viable for culture victories in the late game when your tourism is high enough that the modifier bonus from the trade route beats growing the capital faster.
Bleidraner
King
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- May 23, 2014
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3 internal sea internal trade routes = growth 1 pop every 3 turns = 10 pop growth in the 30 turns which with building and policies multipliers is more science than what you could get from the 3 routes going to other civs. And lasts forever. And that's not factoring in more food, gold and hammers from the growth itself. I don't think there is much of a discussion here. Exception I agree maybe a really early trade route to a science runaway.
So your OC is always on the coast and has 3 settleable locations that are also on the coast and within (earlyish) cargo ship range. I find that hard to achieve.
sometimes i wonder if i shall laugh or cry. i thought sheldon cooper is a fictive character but now im not sure anymore.
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this, or if u play
liberty its also only useful if u have enough cities that there is no room to settle more and u gor more then 6 sattelites around your cap (check rueles for internal trade from roads)
