How do roads/railroads affect trade routes (if at all)?

[pintocat]

Do roads/railroads affect trade route income/range etc?

 

[Miravlix]

They effect the range, you can make a road going nowhere towards your trade target city and the end point of the road will be from where the trade routes length is calculated.

 

[Cymsdale]

They effect the range, you can make a road going nowhere towards your trade target city and the end point of the road will be from where the trade routes length is calculated.

You can call it Ted Stevens Blvd.

 

[boghog]

They effect the range, you can make a road going nowhere towards your trade target city and the end point of the road will be from where the trade routes length is calculated.

What if you destroy it after establishing the trade route to save on maintenance ?

 

[Xichael]

What if you destroy it after establishing the trade route to save on maintenance ?

The trade route only lasts 30 turns.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

They effect the range, you can make a road going nowhere towards your trade target city and the end point of the road will be from where the trade routes length is calculated.

So caravans can be infinite range with a road?

 

[SamBC]

They effect the range, you can make a road going nowhere towards your trade target city and the end point of the road will be from where the trade routes length is calculated.

Not quite, road tiles don't count as nothing, they count for a reduced amount.

 

[Cymsdale]

I think there would be very little benefit to building roads explicitly to improve your trade range, it's more of a side benefit from the roads you build for different reasons.

 

[Securion]

Quests to build roads to City-states are now more meaningful I guess. Who knows, you might even keep the road...

 

[pilot00]

Wouldn't building roads reduce the benefit of the trade route due to the inherent maintenance costs?

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

Wouldn't building roads reduce the benefit of the trade route due to the inherent maintenance costs?

But if the road makes you able to have a trade route there at all, it could still be a gain.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Wouldn't building roads reduce the benefit of the trade route due to the inherent maintenance costs?

Yes. There are limits to the effectiveness of the concept.

 

[pilot00]

But if the road makes you able to have a trade route there at all, it could still be a gain.

How so? If you need 20 to 30 tiles of road for example? You would need also to pay the maintenance costs of each part of the road completed until the whole road is complete and thus establish trade. It seems you are loosing so much that it maybe not worth the effort. Add to this the fact that the worker wont be improving vital tiles.

 

[Cymsdale]

Wouldn't building roads reduce the benefit of the trade route due to the inherent maintenance costs?

Pretty much yes, which is why I think the whole discussion is more about academics than what is practical.

 

[Ulthwithian]

Well, except for the Inca.

Free Money indeed.... (thanks, princeofnigeria)

 

[AlazkanAssassin]

How so? If you need 20 to 30 tiles of road for example? You would need also to pay the maintenance costs of each part of the road completed until the whole road is complete and thus establish trade. It seems you are loosing so much that it maybe not worth the effort. Add to this the fact that the worker wont be improving vital tiles.

If you need 30 tiles of road it's not likely to be worth it.
But if you only need to add 2 tiles of road it is likely to be worth it.

 

[Deggial]

Why is this academic?

Example: The cities A and B are part of your empire and linked by a road. City C lays behind B (from A's perspective), belongs to another player and is too far away to be goal of a trade route with city A without a road.
But as you have the road (which generates money as usual by it's own), you may link city A and C with a higher benefit for the longer distance.

 

[pilot00]

If you need 30 tiles of road it's not likely to be worth it.
But if you only need to add 2 tiles of road it is likely to be worth it.

Yes that might indeed be the case.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Not quite, road tiles don't count as nothing, they count for a reduced amount.

do we know how much reduced (and are railroads a greater reduction?)

 

[Giskler]

Trade routes bring in so much money that the maintenance costs for linking up a whole continent with railroads is just a drop in the ocean. You won't even notice it.