How does Gold work

[interlider]

Ok, don't get me wrong, but I am confused in here. Here's the question I can't answer myself: when do you begin losing a Unit in field if you've got a negative gold input?

This may be answered pretty easily by saying "if you've got (minus)5 GPT, it happens". The thing is, I've been at less than negative 5 and still not lost, and in other situations I do lose.

I also notice that the AI always has a massive army, and when I talk to them their GPT is at about 100 or more NEGATIVE per turn. I am aware that the AI has certain benefits, so I won't use this as the core of my question.

But then again, I've been at -30 GPT and didn't lose a unit every turn, and then sometimes I was at exact -5 and started losing units.

Thx for your replies and if I didn't make myself clear enough, care to ask.

~IntEr

 

[King_Course]

Ok, don't get me wrong, but I am confused in here. Here's the question I can't answer myself: when do you begin losing a Unit in field if you've got a negative gold input?

This may be answered pretty easily by saying "if you've got (minus)5 GPT, it happens". The thing is, I've been at less than negative 5 and still not lost, and in other situations I do lose.

I also notice that the AI always has a massive army, and when I talk to them their GPT is at about 100 or more NEGATIVE per turn. I am aware that the AI has certain benefits, so I won't use this as the core of my question.

But then again, I've been at -30 GPT and didn't lose a unit every turn, and then sometimes I was at exact -5 and started losing units.

Thx for your replies and if I didn't make myself clear enough, care to ask.

~IntEr

Regarding the AI the devs kling to their story: It is playing by the rules.

And go on to explain that losing units is a slow process maybe taking one unit a turn, for player and AI alike. So the AI wont have it's whole army taken away just like that, yet it is still losing units to the deficit. It just had alot to start with.

 

[lschnarch]

Regarding the AI the devs kling to their story: It is playing by the rules..

The developers also told us that there would be a capable AI.

Regarding the state in which this game is, I wouldn't take anything as granted.

 

[Venereus]

I think there's no strike mechanic in Civ V like there was in Civ IV. Negative budget just means slower research.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Well first of all your Treasury would have to be 0.... there are no negative effects to negative gpt (except a shringking treasury), until your treasury is 0.

 

[interlider]

Well, let's see: if I have a negative gold output, and ofcourse my current treasury shows zero, I'll lose a unit per turn. Thus, if I have a large army and many towns, I can potentially have a negative gold output for my empire for several turns while I keep producing more.

This still doesn't explain how I sometimes have negative gpt (lower than 5,sometimes as low as -30) and still not lose units.

I'm definitely puzzled here, because for starters I have no clue of how much gold upkeep I pay per unit, and if it varies from unit to unit; I also don't know how sometimes the enemy has armies of 5 times or more compared to mine, and I'm already running on a tight/negative budget (of course with some gold in my treasury to back it up).

I just want to have control over my economy, but it seems like I can't micromanage certain things because of limitations on the UI.

~IntEr

 

[Louis XXIV]

There's a thread in the strategy section that is figuring out the formula for unit upkeep. Long story short, it doesn't vary by unit type, but units do get more expensive to maintain as time goes on (for example, if every unit cost one gold per turn on turn 100, it'll cost 2 gold per turn on turn 200).

You have to go below zero before you lose units. Then it's one unit per turn as long as you have negative gold. The developers claim the AI is following the same rules here. I tend to believe them because this can be confirmed when you use tuner or after they release the code. So they would know they'll get caught if they were lying. The AI can't get mad, though, so they'll just factor losing units into their calculation (with higher production, it's probably worthwhile to just lose obsolete units). Humans, of course, generally go out of their way to fix the problem.