How to get more Gold

[Joe the Greek]

I always seem to be broke...my land never seems to have much gold and my Adversaries never seem to have much gold to trade.

So how do I keep that message that I'm running low on gold from popping up every 90 seconds?

 

[Norton II]

That message pops up whenever you have 10 gold or less in your treasury and are running a deficit (I think it can show up if you have more than 10 gold but are running a large deficit). To stop it from popping up, adjust the science and lux sliders downward until you're at least breaking even.

Now as to the larger problem: First, in order to get gold, you need roads. You need them on every tile your citizens are working, and you need them to connect cities to your trade network so as to lower corruption. To build enough roads, you need enough workers. 2 per city (or 1.5 for an industrious civ) is a good rule of thumb, but make sure that worked tiles are improved quickly. If you can do that with 1 worker per city, then that's all you would need, but you'll probably need more than that. Also, you should avoid building unnecessary city improvements. These include, but are not limited to: granaries in low-food cities, barracks in cities that won't be producing units, markets and libraries in cities that aren't producing much commerce, banks and stock exchanges when you're putting most of your gold into science, courthouses in cities that aren't corrupt or are so corrupt that a courthouse won't do much good, factories in low-shield cities, and temples, cathedrals, and colosseums in any cities when you're not going for cultural victory. The other thing that could cause financial problems is having more units that you can support for free, but that usually only happens after you get out of despotism. In that case, just disband unnecessary units.

 

[Aabraxan]

First, welcome!

Second, there are lots of reasons that you may be running short on gold. It could be that you don't have enough roads, or that you're building too many buildings, or mismanaging the sliders, etc. So more information would help to answer your questions. What difficulty & settings are you playing on? How are you playing? Are you a builder or a warmonger? How many cities do you have in place before you start getting this message? Government form?

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but it sounds like you think you need the gold resource to get gold. That's not the case. The gold resource is a bonus, but you can generate gold (commerce) without it.

 

[Kaleekanoka]

I am new to the game and I never have any gold but it doesn't seem to cause any problems running at a deficit. Is this something that is going to come up later and bite my in the behind or is there realy any good reason as to not continuing running deficits?

 

[TimBentley]

Above chieftain, if you run with a treasury deficit, you lose a unit and building every turn.

 

[Aabraxan]

Kaleekanoka,
First, welcome to the forums. When you say "running a deficit," are you saying that your treasury has fallen below zero, or that your income (gold per turn) has fallen below zero? Running a treasury deficit is bad. Running a short-term income deficit is OK, and will sometimes allow you to speed up research.

Also, you'll want to pad that treasury because later you'll want to cash rush buildings and units, bribe AIs, buy luxuries and resources, etc.

TimBentley, correct me if I'm wrong, but you're talking about a treasury deficit, right? You don't lose buildings or units for an income deficit, right?

 

[MAS]

And I'd like to add that the message only appears when you hit the next turn button. Not every 90 seconds, unless you take only 90 seconds before you move to the next turn.

You don't lose buildings or units for an income deficit, right?

Correct.

 

[GoodGame]

Always set the slider so you have a positive gold balance, except when researching a crucial tech like pottery. Work river spaces and don't build tons of cities next to rivers. Build roads on the river spaces too (2 gold/tile).

Keep the total number of military units down (disband obsolete ones), or switch to a more military friendly government if you have a humongous military.

On the 'too many buildings' figure that each city can only do one thing per turn, so specialize cities. Therefore DON'T build one of each building in each city. E.g. Military cities only need barracks/walls/temple generally. Only build markeplaces in size 6+ cities. Don't build granaries if it's only making workers generally (just found it near good tiles). Only your 12+ pop cities tend to need one of every building type.

I always seem to be broke...my land never seems to have much gold and my Adversaries never seem to have much gold to trade.

So how do I keep that message that I'm running low on gold from popping up every 90 seconds?

 

[MAS]

@GoodGame

While I agree with the general Idea behind your post, I have some comment to make on the way it turns out.

Work river spaces and don't build tons of cities next to rivers.

Building a city next to a river means you don't have to build an aquaduct, nor pay upkeep for the aquaduct. The extra commerce from the river will be added to your city center tile. Gold-wise, it makes no difference weather you work it with the city-center or a citizen.

Build roads on the river spaces too (2 gold/tile).

I'd say: build roads on every tile in your empire. The ones that are worked by a citizen first.

E.g. Military cities only need barracks/walls/temple generally.

Of course, you should focus cities, by selecting specific cities for unit production, you only have to build barracks in those cities.
But remember, Cities need nothing, but it is your empire that needs a city to have...
Why would a military city need walls or a temple?
Instead, your empire only needs a city to have a wall if it is a focus point of attacks, and the number of attacking units is far far greater than you can handle with your own units (this is usually only the case at the highest difficulty level) (walls don't cost upkeep by the way)

Only build markeplaces in size 6+ cities.

Only build them in cities that either:
produce more than 6 uncorrupted gold (depends on your slider settings also, if you set your SCI slider very high, (usually the case) there will be little need for a market.
Or:
If you have 4 lux resources connected to the city trade network, or more.
With 3 lux resources, the market makes it 4 happiness and costs 1 gpt upkeep, so it cost you 100 shields more than the lux slider. Less than 3, and the market does nothing for happiness.

Only your 12+ pop cities tend to need one of every building type.

No city needs one of every building type. Cities need nothing, but it is your empire that needs a city to have...
If my empire doesn't need a city to build military units, then it does not need barracks. If it sits at its maximum possible size, I might as well sell the granary, etc.

 

[Decebalus]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=186228

 

[AutomatedTeller]

With 3 lux resources, the market makes it 4 happiness and costs 1 gpt upkeep, so it cost you 100 shields more than the lux slider. Less than 3, and the market does nothing for happiness.

While true, it is not exactly accurate. Take 2 cities. one of which is the capitol, one of which is 50% corrupt. if you are running the lux slider, to get 1 happy face in the 50% corrupt city, you end up with 2 in the capitol, so the overall cost to the civ is 3 gold for 2 happy faces. In that case, the market is more efficient, because with a market in both places, you get 2 happy for 2 gold.

About walls - you only need them to size 6, not after. I almost never build walls.

 

[Kaleekanoka]

Kaleekanoka,
First, welcome to the forums. When you say "running a deficit," are you saying that your treasury has fallen below zero, or that your income (gold per turn) has fallen below zero? Running a treasury deficit is bad. Running a short-term income deficit is OK, and will sometimes allow you to speed up research.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I was running both below zero by the way.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

If the treasury is 0 and your gpt is negative, that will cause the program to disband a unit or sell a structure every turn, unless you are on chieftain. Chieftain has no penalties for running a deficit like that.

I am not sure how it chooses what to get rid of.

 

[TheAlakazam]

When the city grows to the size beyond the workable tiles on the map, convert as many citizens to tax collectors as possible without tipping the balance of happy and unhappy citizens. Each tax collector provides 2 golds per turn from the city and that can cancel out some of the improvements you have in the city.