How to maximize gold

[georgiaboy3]

I very quickly get into negative gold production. I've tried not building roads, focusing on gold-producing squares (e.g. gems), and delaying starting a second city. Any tips?

 

[cpm4001]

Assuming you're playing BNW, here are a few things you may want to do:
1) You need to get your trade routes up-and-running very quickly. Remember that Cargo Ships double the amount of gold you get from international trade routes, and should be used as frequently as possible, even though they can be slightly trickier to keep safe.
2) In regards to building roads, you probably already know that you do get cash from connecting your other cities to the capital. However, a good rule of thumb is to not try to connect your cities if the population of your non-capital city is less than the number of roads it will take to connect it to your capital.
3) Don't super-spam military units early-game - make sure you have enough to keep yourself safe from Barbs and potentially hostile AIs of course, but don't build too many until your economy's functional.

 

[Plumfairy]

Assuming you're playing BNW, here are a few things you may want to do:
1) You need to get your trade routes up-and-running very quickly. Remember that Cargo Ships double the amount of gold you get from international trade routes, and should be used as frequently as possible, even though they can be slightly trickier to keep safe.

I just want to emphasize that in BNW trade routes really are the route to financial solvency. They're quite tricky to pull off because you need to have sufficient military forces to defend them, and those military forces are themselves drains on your bank account until you get the trade routes up & running.

Cpm is correct that cargo ships yield double the amount of gold, and in the long run they are indeed way way better than caravans. But don't be afraid to build a caravan or three in the early game. Land trade routes are generally easier to defend and their defenders are land units that you've probably built anyways as part of your expansion. (Gotta fight those barbarians, not to mention defending against AI civs.)

I often have a caravan or two running in the early game for easy gold & tech, although I'll usually delete him sometime in the Renaissance & replace him with a cargo ship.

 

[georgiaboy3]

Thanks for the tips. I'm playing the original Civ V.

 

[phillipwyllie]

In beginning only have a warrior and an archer to ward off any barbarians. Connect your cities using the least amount of roads. I prefer laying out my cities in a triangle shape like so(in the image below I've used 7 roads/rail to connect 3 cities). Build markets in all cities. Mach Pichu is another option if you have a mountain in range. Sell all your stuff, early game happiness shouldn't be a problem.

 

[JeSuisNapoleon]

Thanks for the tips. I'm playing the original Civ V.

build on rivers for the extra gold. Rivers are great for other reason as well.

Rivers > Lakes > coastal
All of these provide Gold as a tile yield. There are other ways

You should only build when there is a lux to grab early on.
Work duplicate lux if you can and trade trade trade.

Get CS allies. This can help with any number of problems.
Trade with AI for Gold. Any strategic resource your not using is a wasted source of trade gold. Personal I sell every Horse I can unless I am using them. Same goes for Iron or even coal.

If your army is large, consider hitting up every CS in town for gold (tribute demand). You wont be popular, but you will fill your treasury. This used to be my favorite strategy with Germany in vanilla CIV. Free Armies for the first age or two.

 

[fresh meat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAyDi1aa40E

 

[joshua43214]

Do not worry about going negative gold per turn.

It was a very rare game in vanilla and G&K where I did not go negative gpt before getting markets up. Just sell you horses, iron, and lux's and live off your gold stack until it comes around.