Civilization V: Tips & Tricks #1 - Caravan's Secret Trick

The fact that you send free food or production has always amazed me. It is good to of you to point this out as not everyone knows this.
 
I don't really understand how the food or production from internal trade routes being 'free' is surprising. The gold (or faith or science) from the trade routes is also 'free', i.e. not subtracted by the other city's outcome, right?
 
The fact that you send free food or production has always amazed me. It is good to of you to point this out as not everyone knows this.

Thank you!

It doesn't... really make sense, but damn is it useful in certain situations.

I'll be putting out more tips and tricks for Civ in the future as well, so I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
 
Doesn't this kinda qualify as clickbait to get views for your youtube channel?
 
Yeah and on top of it he labels it as a 'Secret' technique and says that it is amazing that the resources are 'free' even though it obviously isn't a 'Secret' and all gains from trade routes are really 'free'. Either way, we should probably just stop posting in this thread so that it doesn't get bumped to the top.
 
Yeah and on top of it he labels it as a 'Secret' technique and says that it is amazing that the resources are 'free' even though it obviously isn't a 'Secret' and all gains from trade routes are really 'free'. Either way, we should probably just stop posting in this thread so that it doesn't get bumped to the top.

Apologies, it's really not intended to be spam! Honestly, quite a lot of Civ players really don't know this trick whatsoever, as the information isn't exactly readily available. I'd say it qualifies as a trick, considering it's something most players don't know.

I'll agree, the title is rather clickbait-y but... Well, yes, I made this on my YouTube channel with the intention of people watching it! Sadly, that's how videos have to be made... I promise no "30 tricks Sid Meier DOESN'T want you to know" titles though!
 
Especially since he doesn't even describe the "trick" in his post - this really is just spam.

Do I not? If it's unclear I apologise, this is my first of this kind of video so I want to be clear! My main focus was meant to be that you can get these free hammers and food through using internal trade routes, rather than the International trade routes most players would expect to use their caravans for.
 
the information isn't exactly readily available

Weeell -- except if you take the trouble to read the articles in the War Academy -- like this one, for instance:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=438745

(This article in particular does not seem to deal with the subject you mention, i.e. food caravans -- but the articles in the War Academy are stuffed with information.)

I suppose the War Academy could be a little more prominent on the forum page, but if you want to learn, it is a good place to look.

The truth is, the Strategy and Tips forum seems to be mostly frequented by Deity players (don't know why) and they know every single detail of the game. It is a pity that less experienced players do not seem to read the posts here -- but I guess the discussions are mostly about things that make most sense to those who play at the highest levels.
 
Weeell -- except if you take the trouble to read the articles in the War Academy -- like this one, for instance:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=438745

(This article in particular does not seem to deal with the subject you mention, i.e. food caravans -- but the articles in the War Academy are stuffed with information.)

I suppose the War Academy could be a little more prominent on the forum page, but if you want to learn, it is a good place to look.

The truth is, the Strategy and Tips forum seems to be mostly frequented by Deity players (don't know why) and they know every single detail of the game. It is a pity that less experienced players do not seem to read the posts here -- but I guess the discussions are mostly about things that make most sense to those who play at the highest levels.

Problem is, War Academy articles are very information heavy and are difficult to parse through as a newer player. This video was designed to give a simple bit of information in an easy to understand format. I hope it achieved that!

I will agree, this forum is more dedicated for more experienced players. This video is very much geared at newer (or lower difficulty level) players. Perhaps this type of video is best posted in the general forum? Or do you think it might be considered too much of strategy, and thus be moved anyway? :p
 
Folks need to calm down. I also thought it was pretty basic information, but I did not say anything because I have been playing this game for 3 years, and most of the things seem basic to me. It is not spam, and, frankly, I don't see any harm in re-iterating small things for newer players... this forum is already super elitist.
 
Do I not? If it's unclear I apologise, this is my first of this kind of video so I want to be clear! My main focus was meant to be that you can get these free hammers and food through using internal trade routes, rather than the International trade routes most players would expect to use their caravans for.

I don't know if you explained the "trick" in your video, I meant that you didn't explain it in your *post*. I browse from work a lot and I will not be watching youtube videos.

What I would appreciate if you present all the facts that are relevant to a discussion on these forums in your post. Of course you can link a video to make a point or explain something, but I feel that a post with only a link to a youtube doesn't belong to the S&T forum.

Join Date: May 2003
And now get off my lawn ;-)
 
Honestly, quite a lot of Civ players really don't know this trick whatsoever, as the information isn't exactly readily available. I'd say it qualifies as a trick, considering it's something most players don't know.
Dude, I'll give a pass to trying to increase traffic to your Youtube channel; I have no qualms with that. If you feel that you're sharing a tactic that most people don't know about, I'll give you a pass on that even if you're wrong in the assumption that it's unknown; that certainly wouldn't qualify as spam.

BUT...

the assumption that most people don't know about this, as well as the statement that the information isn't readily available, is ludicrous. Whether or not it is in the War Academy is irrelevant to the point, the fact is that when you click on any trade route, caravans and cargoships alike, it lists the internal trade routes BEFORE listing the external trade routes--- meaning that you need to intentionally scroll past the internals to see the externals; it's impossible to see external TR options without first noting the internal ones. As such, your post would make more sense if you mentioned the complete opposite as a "trick"; there's an infinitesimal possibility that someone doesn't know about external TRs generating gold and beakers because they never actually scrolled past the food and hammer options.

As a civ5 veteran, I found the thread a little annoying, as I thought there might be some new tactic that I haven't already folded into my strategy. Instead, it was akin to someone patenting common sense.

Still, I'll give you props for coming up with the idea of generating traffic to your Youtube channel; it's original. This may or may not be because it's in violation of forum rules, kind if a gray area and not for me to decide. It does come off as extremely underhanded that the tactic referred to cannot be obtained without following the link. By saying it here and showing it there instead of giving nothing here and forcing the reader to follow the link, you'd probably generate slightly less traffic but would seem much less deceitful in doing so. More importantly, you need to do the work to earn that paycheck- spend some time in the game and try different, unconventional things and find something that actually isn't common knowledge and works well. That way you'd actually have your own "trick" instead of stamping your personal trademark on the obvious.
 
Dude, I'll give a pass to trying to increase traffic to your Youtube channel; I have no qualms with that. If you feel that you're sharing a tactic that most people don't know about, I'll give you a pass on that even if you're wrong in the assumption that it's unknown; that certainly wouldn't qualify as spam.

BUT...

the assumption that most people don't know about this, as well as the statement that the information isn't readily available, is ludicrous. Whether or not it is in the War Academy is irrelevant to the point, the fact is that when you click on any trade route, caravans and cargoships alike, it lists the internal trade routes BEFORE listing the external trade routes--- meaning that you need to intentionally scroll past the internals to see the externals; it's impossible to see external TR options without first noting the internal ones. As such, your post would make more sense if you mentioned the complete opposite as a "trick"; there's an infinitesimal possibility that someone doesn't know about external TRs generating gold and beakers because they never actually scrolled past the food and hammer options.

As a civ5 veteran, I found the thread a little annoying, as I thought there might be some new tactic that I haven't already folded into my strategy. Instead, it was akin to someone patenting common sense.

Still, I'll give you props for coming up with the idea of generating traffic to your Youtube channel; it's original. This may or may not be because it's in violation of forum rules, kind if a gray area and not for me to decide. It does come off as extremely underhanded that the tactic referred to cannot be obtained without following the link. By saying it here and showing it there instead of giving nothing here and forcing the reader to follow the link, you'd probably generate slightly less traffic but would seem much less deceitful in doing so. More importantly, you need to do the work to earn that paycheck- spend some time in the game and try different, unconventional things and find something that actually isn't common knowledge and works well. That way you'd actually have your own "trick" instead of stamping your personal trademark on the obvious.

While you're correct that internal trade routes are very obvious and everyone knows they exist, my point is that the resources are completely free and not taken from the city of origin. So far, everyone I've spoken to outside of this forum had absolutely no idea that you could do this; it was just always assumed the resources were taken from one city and given to another, rendering it either incredibly situational or downright useless.

I can see my posting this has drawn some ire, and I really do apologise if people consider it not worth posting. I don't use this forum a huge amount (though I have played Civ for a damn long time) so I don't think I realized how much this community considers itself... well, a bit above such advice!

Understandable, but my intention when creating this video (besides obviously just because I had the idea and wanted to make a video of it!) was to instruct those who didn't know about this. Like I said, outside of this forum (and one YouTube comment) every person I've interacted with about it has had the same reaction of "Wait... really, I didn't know this at all!"
 
I don't know if you explained the "trick" in your video, I meant that you didn't explain it in your *post*. I browse from work a lot and I will not be watching youtube videos.

What I would appreciate if you present all the facts that are relevant to a discussion on these forums in your post. Of course you can link a video to make a point or explain something, but I feel that a post with only a link to a youtube doesn't belong to the S&T forum.


And now get off my lawn ;-)

In future, if I post anything like this to this forum I'll be sure to explain it in the post and use the video to support it; I can see this forum is more dedicated to the discussion elements of strategy, but in other places it's considered more okay to just post the video :p Apologies if I annoyed!
 
Folks need to calm down. I also thought it was pretty basic information, but I did not say anything because I have been playing this game for 3 years, and most of the things seem basic to me. It is not spam, and, frankly, I don't see any harm in re-iterating small things for newer players... this forum is already super elitist.

Yeah, this has drawn a fair amount of ire! My intention was truly just to educate those who didn't know about it, as pretty much everyone outside of this forum has had the same reaction, that of completely not knowing about it!

I can understand if people here believe this forum to be a place of more high-level discussion, rather than the more basic-level tip I've given here. Problem is, there isn't a lot of places to post this or share it within the Civ community; it's a good tip to know about caravans, but before learning about it myself I can safely say there's pretty much nowhere on the internet or Civipedia or anywhere that actually SAYS that you can do this. How are people supposed to know? :p
 
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