Elhoim
Iron Tower Studio Dev
Yeah, I went over quite a bit about connections here, why they are not intuitive and actually a bit of a mess.
How City Connections Ought To Work
- Thread starter tman2000
- Start date
Yeah, I went over quite a bit about connections here, why they are not intuitive and actually a bit of a mess.
I just played Ming and the Mandarin unit is just awful.
Yeah, I went over quite a bit about connections here, why they are not intuitive and actually a bit of a mess.
I got the civic that gives you science in addition to the baseline gold for making a road connection. I had TWO roads I was able to make in my empire. Not that I didn't appreciate the slight discount on my mandarins only to get a timely, but limited science boost. What is the point of this unit? It screams minimum viable product. Not to mention they couldn't be bothered to make a rammed Earth wall for Han.
Elhoim
Iron Tower Studio Dev
Yeah, the whole system is a mess. From what I could figure out, there are 3 separate connection systems:
- Road connections.
- Settlement connections.
- Trade network.
And the rules for them are obscure and sometimes intertwined. So for example, if there's a road connection between two settlements but they are not "connected", you can't use the merchant to connect them. And then if you have coastal settlements they are all connected in the same continent no matter the distance. It's a mess, and I REALLY hope they fix it for the next update. It's one of the most basic mechanics of the game, and I cannot fathom how nobody made sure it worked correctly (and how is not in the interface anywhere).
- Road connections.
- Settlement connections.
- Trade network.
And the rules for them are obscure and sometimes intertwined. So for example, if there's a road connection between two settlements but they are not "connected", you can't use the merchant to connect them. And then if you have coastal settlements they are all connected in the same continent no matter the distance. It's a mess, and I REALLY hope they fix it for the next update. It's one of the most basic mechanics of the game, and I cannot fathom how nobody made sure it worked correctly (and how is not in the interface anywhere).
Yzman
Deity
Perfect example of the idiocy of city connections in this game. Can anyone explain why this city, which has a road connection to capital which is like 10 tiles away can't build a factory? It says it wasn't connected to capital. I had to build a port to get this city connected to capital. THAT MAKES NO SENSE.
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Yzman
Deity
Another city is straight up bugged in that game too. It is saying that the city is not connected so I can't add any resources to it or export...despite the fact it has a port, factory and was not given the option to build any roads. There is zero way to connect this city.
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stealth_nsk
Deity
Yeah, faced similar things myself, happened in modern era too. I hope it will be fixed in the next patch next week.
The rural tile in Ka-hului needs to be turned into an urban tile.
Other times, for inexplicable reasons, you can build roads in modern age but I don't know why and don't think it affects anything. For a while my problem is that you need a rail station in your capital for any of them to connect.
King Flevance
Deity
This one seems to be blocked by Tubman and Himiko's borders. I assume with them being upset with you that you do not have open borders. I would imagine that you need access to the ocean but it is blocked by Tubman.
Yzman
Deity
I was wondering that but also wasn't aware that borders had anything to do with trade connections.
Yzman
Deity
Which rural tile are we referring to? And also, why is there a factory there, which means I am connected to capital supposedly, if I am not connected?
Once I had roads going into a settlement but no connection and it couldn't road to. I overbuilt an urban tile on a rural tile adjacent to the road coming in and that made the connection.
Yzman
Deity
The fact we are having this discussion even and we still aren't sure shows this whole connection system needs a huge overhaul.
Don't bring up the third founder's belief
Yzman
Deity
I finally got that. It was nearly impossible and my reward was picking one of the other beliefs I had already passed up. Definitely not worth it.
I mean, seriously-- has anyone found out the exact rules of city connections? Please help.
I get that it goes to the nearest settlement, and if the number of tiles is a tie, it'll avoid navigable rivers and prefer cities. But what if the two settlements are both cities? What happens then??
I get that it goes to the nearest settlement, and if the number of tiles is a tie, it'll avoid navigable rivers and prefer cities. But what if the two settlements are both cities? What happens then??
Yzman
Deity
I don't know how many times I specialize a town only to see it isn't sending food to anything.
The problem is Civ is stuck between a deep, complex strategy game (not Paradox levels but that's perfectly fine) and the approach to open it up for a casual mobile / console audience to generate more revenue. Both audiences are detrimental to each other and while one wants control over the actions, the other wants most mechanics automated. That's the problem of the whole game.
Yes, they had the bird in hand but they wanted the one in the bush as well..
Canadian Bluebeer
Prince
Yesteday, the capital was the only city not in the trade network on transition to exploration age.
It used to be. Had to use a merchant, and IT built a road the the coast THROUGH a town to a second town.
(both had fishing quays btw)
Oh, there WAS a road in ant. The town in the middle, I put it there to connect the capital to the coast.
sigh.
It used to be. Had to use a merchant, and IT built a road the the coast THROUGH a town to a second town.
(both had fishing quays btw)
Oh, there WAS a road in ant. The town in the middle, I put it there to connect the capital to the coast.
sigh.
MutilationWave
Warlord
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2025
- Messages
- 127
I came to this thread looking for answers. I just finished Antiquity with Carthage and managed to have the city plus 11 towns. They were all basically connected the way I wanted them to be to change some into cities. I had the opposite happen to me.
Now my 31 pop capital that doesn't need any more food in exploration is connected to all but one of the towns, and the towns seem to be randomly connected to either only the capital, or the capital plus 1-3 random towns. Distance doesn't seem to matter much, it was all recalculated at the beginning of exploration age.
This is beyond frustrating. I was pumped to get through the happiness crisis with four settlements over the limit (12/8) without losing any. I was ready with gold to hit the ground running converting six or seven of them into cities. Now I have to research to get traders (again why?), build a ton of them in the capital, then pray that they make connections properly. Instead of hitting the ground running, I'm essentially wasting the first 20-30 turns with this nonsense. And even if I get them hooked up correctly, my capital is going to be bleeding off 1/4 to 1/2 of the town food that I needed to grow my new cities.
This has basically blown the whole playthrough for me. Settlement connections are a total mess! Not allowing us to handle them so idiots can be coddled is absurd, and whatever logic exists behind the automated system must have been coded by an alien being from another dimension. Out of all the crap we're paying to put up with I think this takes the cake.
