any good way to make $$$?

[Alex Johnson]

In CivDOS, is there any good way to make lots of income per turn? In later Civ games one could trade and sell things to the AI. In CivDOS it seems the only way is from 1) tribute (and they never cave in to my threats, even when I've taken 90% of their cities), 2) goody huts (which are not something that can be done every turn), and 3) tax+marketplace+bank+roads. Even with 100% tax, marketplace, and bank, my income is very low (250-300 gold per turn in my largest empire with the best bonus squares like gems, gold, fish). In a typical game it probably isn't very high at all.

Is there any way to make a huge amount of money quickly, if your goal is just to make money?

 

[Irish Caesar]

Well, if you're a large democratic nation with banks, roads, a high tax rate, and little else, it should pour in.

I've reached the $32,000 limit at least once before.

 

[trada]

250-300 per turn is pretty good in civdos.

 

[Ifrit9]

1) Switch to democracy;
2) Use fully developed cities to build useless buildings and sell them afterwards.

 

[Alex Johnson]

Except for Democracy, I've done all that and the best game I've had is 250-300/turn plus selling barracks as they complete. I'm not in democracy since the only reason I need money is to buy off the cities I'm at war with. But I guess I didn't think that through. If I am buying them off I don't need lots of military units and I can be a democracy without trouble. I've never played democracy in CivDOS because I'm a warmonger. I just had the alternate idea to conquer my enemies through diplomacy, which requires huge pools of money (around $1000 per city, plus rushing happiness improvements afterwards to keep the city productive).

 

[Tenochtitlan]

1) Democracy
2) Caravan trade route with far away cities
3) Banks + Marketplaces
4) Rails and roads

 

[Alex Johnson]

Do caravans really work? I've noticed when I create trade routes, even all the way across the world on other continents, that they aren't worth much per turn and they diminish or vanish after some unknown amount of time. For example, London might create a trade route with Washington. It would give 4gpt at first, I'd come back to London many turns later and see 1gpt with Washington or maybe even no trade route.

 

[Tenochtitlan]

I usually try to trade with large cities on other continents from my large cities. In addition to the on the spot revenue ( which can reach over 100) , it can add up to 7 or 8 trades per turn, even more.

 

[GoldBerg]

Do caravans really work? I've noticed when I create trade routes, even all the way across the world on other continents, that they aren't worth much per turn and they diminish or vanish after some unknown amount of time. For example, London might create a trade route with Washington. It would give 4gpt at first, I'd come back to London many turns later and see 1gpt with Washington or maybe even no trade route.

don't switch to much the goverment:
generally all those goverment changes (dispite the ones you 'GO HiGHER')
are bad 'times' -
STAY with republic or democracy when you did reach it (if necessary in times of war with up to 3-4 entertainers at big cities and 10-20% luxuries)
markets, banks, colloseums maybe temples and courts(if just republic) are absolutely 'MUST HAVEs' at a certain stage of cities developement,
at least ONE wonder like BACH, CURE or WOMEN's Suffr. MUST be 'yours' additional (at best ALL of them)
(try to buy or raid AI cities with BACH, CURE or WOMEN's Suffr. first if reachable)
and 'you can do what you want' with your people and resources at democracy.

with ~10 cities at "10" and even just that caravan generated 3 trade routes 3-4gpt (between YOUR cities) income per city you'll be at ~400gpt up to ~700gpt income per turn.
even at ~1000AD - 1500AD at PRiNCE/KiNG you should be able to buy/bribe enemies' cites (not the biggest) all few turns and so on...

in a later (tech. developed) stage equipped with armors and transport ships i wouldn't buy cities anymore - then it's raiding time (cheaper) -
in most cases (except for a city with BACH, CURE or WOMEN's Suffr.)
it makes no sense to buy an AI city for ~3000 - 4000gold.

 

[trada]

The question that's always in the back of my mind is: Is the trade you get from caravans actually worth the 50 shields it takes to build them?

 

[Alex Johnson]

Goldberg mentions capturing cities with wonders to help out. My experience in his GOTQ map is that one does not gain any benefit from wonders in captured cities. The Americans on my map had 1-4 wonders per city! I took them all over and did not gain any of the benefits. The Happiness view did not account for any of the wonders. The amount of trade and science was not affected by any wonders. I play v.01. Was this a bug fixed later?

 

[conquer_dude]

I dont like democracy as much as republic for some reason, Ive played about three or four games through now and I usually change to Democracy and dont like it because of the dissorders. I usually stick with monarchy or republic.

 

[Tenochtitlan]

The question that's always in the back of my mind is: Is the trade you get from caravans actually worth the 50 shields it takes to build them?

Ok, say you have a high production city. Now, it takes a few turns to create it, a few others to reach the destination. But after it is reached you will generate 2 to 9 trades each turn. In 100 turns that adds up to 200 to 900 trades!

 

[trada]

Yeah. That's something Tenochtitlan, good point.


I'm pretty sure captured Wonders work in other civ versions.

 

[Pikachu]

In CivDOS, is there any good way to make lots of income per turn?

Being democracy is the most efficient way to make money. Huge trade bonus and no corruption make all the difference in the world.

Caravans make a huge difference too. It takes lots of resources to build them and get them to the distant foreign cities, but if you need lots of cash it is worth it.

Do caravans really work? I've noticed when I create trade routes, even all the way across the world on other continents, that they aren't worth much per turn and they diminish or vanish after some unknown amount of time.

I have never had problems with trade routes diminishing or disappearing without reason. I usually get about 5 trade per turn from each trade route when I establish them, and that number is steadily growing as my cities, and the cities I trade with grow. In the end of the game I can make 10-15 trade from each trade route. With 3 trade routes per city that makes about 40 trade per city from trade routes alone. That is a nice contribution to the budget

 

[covok48]

Even if you have a high production city, you're only allowed 3 trade routes per city (however you can change the unit's home city and bend around that rule) but generall I'm always thinking "If I build these caravans, I could have thrown up a city improvement or two."

 

[Alex Johnson]

Even if you have a high production city, you're only allowed 3 trade routes per city (however you can change the unit's home city and bend around that rule) but generall I'm always thinking "If I build these caravans, I could have thrown up a city improvement or two."

But if you have a true high production city, then you probably already built all the city improvements you can by the time you start thinking about these things. My high production cities are usually busy building troops, but if they aren't, they are building colesseums and selling them for coin. Instead of selling colesseums I could establish trade routes by building tons of caravans and Home-ing them to other cities before establishing trade routes.... Unless the game is smart enough to prevent Home-ing caravans, which is obviously an exploit!

 

[nova10]

If I remember correctly, Caravans also speed up Wonders don't they?

 

[Irish Caesar]

That they do.

 

[Pikachu]

But if you have a true high production city, then you probably already built all the city improvements you can by the time you start thinking about these things.

I sometimes establish trade routes before I build city improvements. City improvements cost upkeep. If they are built too early they will only be a drain on the economy. It is more profitable to build caravans until the cities are large enough to make city improvements profitable. But of course building caravans should not be a substitute for city improvements. Why not build both?

Unless the game is smart enough to prevent Home-ing caravans, which is obviously an exploit!

Why is that an exploit? Caravans appear to be meant as a way to transfer resources between your cities. I don’t see why homing caravans would be any more of an exploit than homing other units?