Looking for a rule of thumb for when City Connections add gold?

[WhoGnu]

Is there an easy rule of thumb for this? I know that distance increases the cost by 1 GPT per tile. And I think that larger pop cities increase the value of the connection.

Any advice appreciated. I have jumped up to immortal and struggling with early gold. I am Brazil which I know is probably not the best to learn a new level on but I like the challenge.

Thanks

 

[Browd]

This is still a good summary (note that pre-BNW trade routes are city connections in BNW, but the mechanics are unchanged): http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=438745

 

[joncnunn]

The math is easy:
City connection provides 1 gold per pop of the destination + 1 gold for every 10 pop in the capital.

In early game when you capital hasn't reached size 10 yet, that puts break even at when destination city is the same size as the number of tiles it would add to your road network.
(Not counting the one time expenses when the road is in progress; but there's also strategic advantages provided by a road)

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

Generally I'll start building a road when the satellite is one pop less than the number of tiles it takes to connect it. Usually by the time you get the road done it breaks even, maybe it could even be profitable. At least that's been my rule of thumb. Meritocracy can sometimes make you need it sooner.

 

[Browd]

joncnunn's rule of thumb is generally useful, but the actual formula is (1.1 * (number of citizens in connected city)) + (0.15 * (number of citizens in capital)) - 1, rounded down to the nearest integer.

So, for a 5-pop secondary city and a 10-pop capital, joncnunn's number (5 + 1) equals the formula (5.5 + 1.5 - 1). If, however, you have an 8-pop city and a 15-pop capital, his formula (8 + 1) is one short of the actual number (8.8 + 2.25 -1, or 10.05, rounded down to 10).

Also, it is important to understand the fractional results, since Macchu Picchu's +25% is applied before rounding down to the nearest integer.

 

[klaskeren]

i usually wont make roads until expo is like 6-7 pop, normally i have other tasks for workers early on, though of course sometimes you need the roads for units, but usually not.

 

[chazzycat]

I generally wait until the cities are 1-2 pop points above the break-even point. Roads cost a little bit of gold before the connections are even completed, so if you are just breaking even once the connection is completed, that's a net loss. It's a small amount but every bit counts.

 

[Calouste]

IIRC, roads also help extend the range of Caravans so if the city you want to connect to is in the direction of a civ or city state you'd be interested to trade with that could add value.

 

[WhoGnu]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Sorry I got too involved with my game to pay attention to my emails.

I just won a DV after restarting from a save point and building less roads. I was under the impression that roads outside the territory were free. Not so! Now I have a good understanding of the mechanic thanks to you all!

Thanks again