Trade Route Money Calculation

[EndoConvert]

How is the amount of money from trade routes calculated? Even without any trade route enhancements (like Machu Pichu), I found that it was greater than the sum of the population of my non-capital cities.

 

[GenjiKhan]

Basically that's the equation:

1+1,25x=money from trade routes,where x is the population of the city.Machu Picchu and Commerce can increase the money,but i'm not sure in which way they do it.

 

[Keejus]

That's the old equation. The new one is -1+1.1x + 0.25y, where x is the population of the city in question, and y is the population of your capital, if I recall.

 

[Raethwyn]

That's the old equation. The new one is -1+1.1x + 0.25y, where x is the population of the city in question, and y is the population of your capital, if I recall.

It should be .15y so...

-1+1.1x + 0.15y

For every 1.1x you have in there representing your connected cities, you have to add another -1, unless of course you are Arabia.

 

[slobberinbear]

For those of us not mathematically inclined, my rule of thumb is to count the road hexes needed to hook up the city. If the capital and secondary city are both larger in size than the road hexes needed to hook them up, then you will break even or make money on the trade route.

This gets extra financially painful once you start laying down railroads, by the way.

 

[Superluminal]

For those of us not mathematically inclined, my rule of thumb is to count the road hexes needed to hook up the city. If the capital and secondary city are both larger in size than the road hexes needed to hook them up, then you will break even or make money on the trade route.This gets extra financially painful once you start laying down railroads, by the way.

Nice. Will do when I play again. Haven't played since last patch.

Anyways the game should reveal the mathematical calculation on the fly before you lay the road instead of hiding it. We shouldn't have to deal with a hidden and arbitrary equation.

 

[Uniform Sierra]

Where do harbors stand in this whole thing? They seem to produce less money.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Harbors produce the same amount of money, but keep in mind you need a harbor in both the capitol and the other city. This means maintenance for both.

 

[EndoConvert]

That's the old equation. The new one is -1+1.1x + 0.25y, where x is the population of the city in question, and y is the population of your capital, if I recall.

It should be .15y so...

-1+1.1x + 0.15y

For every 1.1x you have in there representing your connected cities, you have to add another -1, unless of course you are Arabia.

Which patch (version number) implemented this new equation?

 

[snipperrabbit!!]

Harbors produce the same amount of money, but keep in mind you need a harbor in both the capitol and the other city. This means maintenance for both.

Unless you capital is landlocked !

 

[wannabewarlord]

Unless you capital is landlocked !

Quick question about that:

Can your landlocked Capital still provide trade route to a coast city that has only a harbor?

And do two cities connected by harbors need to have a "line of sight" over the water, i.e. there must be a water connection that you must have fully explored previously?

 

[Camikaze]

I'm fairly sure that there must be a connection between a city with a harbour and a landlocked capital by road. That is, if your capital is landlocked, and City A just has a harbour but no land connection, then I'm fairly sure there needs to be a City B with a harbour that is connected to the capital in order for City A to get a trade route. Harbour, IIRC, have automatically established connections between them, so just imagine a road between City A and City B, required to link up with the road continuing to the capital. (could be incorrect, but I'm fairly sure)

 

[Louis XXIV]

Unless you capital is landlocked !

Then you also need the cost of a road to a coastal city along with the harbor in that city and a harbor in another city, so it costs even more gold

 

[VGT]

Keep in mind, that it's not 2 harbors for each city connected. You need only 1 harbor in capital (or coastal city connected to capital), and then 1 for each city, that you want to connect. So it's not "2 x number of cities", but "1 x number of cities + 1".
It also automatically provide railroad bonuses, when appropriate tech is discovered. So it's quite profitable, when you want to connect a lot of cities. Great for islands maps.

 

[slobberinbear]

Nice. Will do when I play again. Haven't played since last patch.

Anyways the game should reveal the mathematical calculation on the fly before you lay the road instead of hiding it. We shouldn't have to deal with a hidden and arbitrary equation.

A financial advisor popup ("hey, if you built a road to New York, it would pay for itself.") would be handy.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Nice. Will do when I play again. Haven't played since last patch.

Anyways the game should reveal the mathematical calculation on the fly before you lay the road instead of hiding it. We shouldn't have to deal with a hidden and arbitrary equation.

I agree, but Civ has always been TERRIBLE about revealing their equations

 

[JWAT44]

yeah your advisor should tell you about roads and if you would gain or lose money from building them into trade routes to your capitol

 

[revelation216]

So is it worth building harbors or not?

 

[The_Quasar]

So is it worth building harbors or not?

definitely... they can make a huge amount of difference long term.

 

[revelation216]

Yeah but they cost 3gpt, what sort of requirements do I need to build one?