These numbers are on turn 30. Trade routes value increases when the AI gets more ahead in tech, get more gold and you have more diversity and markets.
Salts are a trade between gold and more food/hammers. And the conversion is in salts favor. I'll work a 3F 2H (or 4F 1H) tile over a 1F 1H 4G tile without even thinking twice.
Finally trade posts can provide a 3 gold improvement at Guilds
I was thinking about this last night, lemme try to explain this a different way.
Just so we're clear, base game salt is +1 food, +1 gold on a tile. Acken Mod removes the +1 gold, making Salt simply +1 food.
Base game yields for resources -
Marble +2 gold
Gold/silver/copper +2 gold.
Gems +3 gold.
Silk/Cotton/Incense/Dyes +2 gold.
Ivory/Furs/Spices +2g
Cocoa/Citrus 1f 1g
So far, the outliers here are gems, and the cocoa/citrus.
Improvements -
Mine/quarry +1 hammer.
Camp +2 gold (modded).
Plantation +2 gold (modded). It is interesting to note that the 1f on the Cocoa and Citrus goes away here, since you have to chop the jungle/forest it's located in, effectively removing their +1 food a lot of the time (if it's not grassland underneath).
The ONLY improvement that is not +2 gold or +1 hammer is the salt mine - at +1 food +1 hammer.
Salt was overpowered, on that we agree, but the problem is not the gold on the tile. The problem is not the tile itself, the problem is the fact that it's the only lux that gets a +1 food +1 hammer improvement. If you cut the improvement down to a regular mine and give it just 1 hammer, the issue goes away. A grassland salt would be 3f 1 hammer 1 gold. A plains salt would be 2F2H 1 gold. Neither of those are overpowered tiles.
Your mod provides A LOT of gold to a lot of things now. Camps and fabric plantations being at 4g means they're actually workable. Gold/silver/copper/gems have always been workable. Sea luxes all have gold and are all workable tiles now without the lighthouse. The only lux without gold on the tile now is salt, and that makes a salt start a significant disadvantage. No gold on the tile means no golden age bonus. No gold on the tile means your markets don't multiply anything. Where are you going to get your gold? Trade routes? Caravansary? Trading posts? Okay, that's fine, but every other lux start can build those too. That's not a balance if you're still ahead with the other luxes.
We agree salt needed a fix. No one is arguing that it didn't, but the fix was wrong, and targeted the piece of the puzzle that wasn't the problem - the problem is that it's the only lux that gets a unique improvement, not the gold. Fix the improvement, put the gold back. I'm telling you, it's definitely broken now.