Does anyone have some good rules of thumb for food caravans or trade caravans in general? I've noticed that I tend to either reflexively send all food caravans to my capital, or pick the highest science output, or complete a CS mission. Given the power of trade routes, I should probably put a bit more thought into it. I'm sure someone smarter than me has figured this all out, but when I searched the forums I didn't find anything simply explained.
For instance, the rate of return for that little bit of food to the capital has to drop off at some point, so I'd get more population/science by sending them to other cities, right? Where is that point? Then would it be better to send all food caravans to one city to get it up as quickly as possible, or spread them out?
Little bit of background. I had a game that started off with me trying a tall 3 city NC game. Then the AI intervened and I had to punish them in the form of conquering the entire continent. So now I have a super wide empire, and I'm thinking I would be better off growing all my other cities instead of struggling to boost the capital one more pop point.
For instance, the rate of return for that little bit of food to the capital has to drop off at some point, so I'd get more population/science by sending them to other cities, right? Where is that point? Then would it be better to send all food caravans to one city to get it up as quickly as possible, or spread them out?
Little bit of background. I had a game that started off with me trying a tall 3 city NC game. Then the AI intervened and I had to punish them in the form of conquering the entire continent. So now I have a super wide empire, and I'm thinking I would be better off growing all my other cities instead of struggling to boost the capital one more pop point.