Trading Posts everywhere?

[manu-fan]

Hi,

I'm basically constructing Trading Posts everywhere except special resource tiles.

I'll tell you why.

When you need happiness buildings, just buy one. When you need military in a hurry, just buy it. When you need City State relations, you need to buy them.

The only thing that can't be bought is a Wonder. For that, I keep one city that has mines and farms, but every other single tile in the game is pretty much Trading Posts.

Do you agree that money is so powerful, and that Trading Posts everywhere is basically the way to go?

BTW: I should add that I'm playing on a Mac where they still give +2. But even with the new patch they give +2 eventually right?

Cheers.

 

[robvollman]

Yes, that is exactly what I used to do before this latest patch. And it worked brilliantly.

Unfortunately you don't get the +1 to your production until the 16th century or so, so you'd better build farms and mines and build your own buildings. Fortunately production has been boosted with the patch, so it's easier than it used to be.

 

[Martin Alvito]

My (pre-patch) experiences have indoctrinated me into the cult of , and I'll tell you that focusing on production in a city that isn't a puppet is a mistake. The reason is that is more efficient than on a per-city basis.

That said, in my opinion you should focus on in any city where you control the build order, and focus on in puppets where you don't. A competent human is sufficiently better at choosing build orders than the AI to make it worthwhile to effectively transfer from puppets to core cities where the human is in charge, even when doing so involves lost efficiency.

 

[vexing]

i pretty much only put trading posts on jungle tiles in cities i'm working.

on a separate topic, i've switched to almost never rush buying buildings. a few exceptions like initial library to get NC up 8-10 turns faster, or later in the game a factory for the instant production boost can be useful, but i try to put every cent into RAs then CS alliances.

 

[mekane]

yeah i don't know why they needed to nerf TPs to 1 gold (pre-economics). That didn't seem necessary, they are worthless now until economics in your controlled cities, maybe if for some reason you have no hills or forests is the only time you would build TPs. Hammers were still king even before the TP nerf.

 

[Rittmeyer]

I agree with the post above. There was no need to nerf the TP`s. They were already worse then production, but you could still want to build 1 or 2 gold cities as fillers, if you were not going for puppets. Now you just don`t settle the non-luxury cities if you know what you are doing (at least for now it seens optimal not to).

 

[manu-fan]

Why are you saying they were already worse than production at 2 per tile? Money was very flexible for buying things when you needed them, and only Wonders can't be bought.

Cheers.

 

[vexing]

most things cost at least 3 * hammers to buy with gold.

university for example is 200 hammers, 780 gold. so it costs 100 mine work turns, or 390 trading post work turns.

 

[Tabarnak]

They boosted markets and you can get +2 gold post-economics. Perfect like that.

 

[joncnunn]

Depends upon the site and weather or not you can block an AI from founding there.
Really annoying if an AI you'd been friends with the entire game were to found a city there and then immediately complain that your settling too close to them.

Yes, a no luxury city without resources would be lower priority than other cities, but eventually most of them would be good sites if you wait until you have the happiness to support it.

Add the Trading Post nerf is only pre-Economics. After you have that tech they get back to normal. (In fact with various building bonuses your income can be higher than pre patch) A tech around that same time increases production to mines.

I agree with the post above. There was no need to nerf the TP`s. They were already worse then production, but you could still want to build 1 or 2 gold cities as fillers, if you were not going for puppets. Now you just don`t settle the non-luxury cities if you know what you are doing (at least for now it seens optimal not to).

 

[Rittmeyer]

A tech around that same time increases production to mines.

Chemistry.

 

[Copaczin]

I generally put TP's around all of my cities except for a few designated production centers, mainly because I use the purchase feature a bit more than I should. If you're going for a TP spam, it might be worth it to get the Rationalism policy that makes them all produce a beaker (only if you're expanding a lot, seeing as it takes a lot of TP's for it to be worth the culture).

Someone tell me if I'm sounding like an idiot

 

[Mizou]

i focus on and in almost all but 1-2 cities, those with preferable gems are my cities to stop any diplo attempt and make sure i have my 2-3 allied CS

 

[Alpedar]

is more efective if its where you want it
can be transfered into effects of where you want them from where you does not want them and it can be loss lessly stored

So if I cannot stop myself from wanting everything (I usualy cannot), i go for

 

[manu-fan]

Thanks for all the comments.

I've just started a new game, and my capital is on the coast with Whales, and then grassland, with Horses and Spices. It's going to be a money place. My second city will be the production one with some hills and wheat and on the coast. I'll try to tailor each city to its environment and see how it goes.

Cheers.

 

[robvollman]

Thanks for all the comments.

I've just started a new game, and my capital is on the coast with Whales, and then grassland, with Horses and Spices. It's going to be a money place. My second city will be the production one with some hills and wheat and on the coast. I'll try to tailor each city to its environment and see how it goes.

Cheers.

It's harder to create a money city using trading posts until later in the game when trading posts are worth 2$ apiece.

In the mean time, maybe you can build farms and this can be the city that produces your settlers.

Once you're done with settlers, and once it reaches the size you want (ie. large enough to exploit the most valuable tiles), you can use excess population to work in a building of some kind, to help produce science, money, culture, or great people.

Around the 15th century, when trading posts are worth 2$, you can have your workers change the farms to trading posts, and make it more of a cash city. In the mean time you could be better off with farms and specialists.

Are there any rivers nearby?

 

[Justicex]

I try to rush-buy very little unless it's something I really need (units in a war gone bad, happy buildings in a war gone good......) except for money buildings since they will pay me back faster. It's a Civ Rev technique I know, but it works.

My big thing is, I've noticed that it's harder to stay afloat in early game now. With Trading Posts producing less gold and being able to condtruct buildings faster makes the early game a little more tricky than it needs to be I think.

 

[Roghar]

I’m with the 'production is king' crowd in terms of terrain improvement, excepting jungles and puppets

Gold is mostly for maintenance, RAs and occasionally city states, unless you manage to get the various wonders and civics that promote cheaper buying and upgrading

Gold is a bigger challenge in the early game now. I prioritise markets more than I did pre-patch, often go Monarchy for the early gold boost, and am a big believer in building Machu Picchu if I can, often saving an engineer for it. It pays off big time through the game

 

[Firvulag]

I used to be very much in the TP everywhere crowd, but with the recent patch, and my recent step up in difficulty, I'm certainly seeing more of the mine and farm strategy in my play

 

[Pazyryk]

For puppets: is better for the reason that Martin Alvito said above, but there is another reason to build TPs that may be more important. A puppet will work a hill with a TP, but it won't work a hill with a mine (preferring even a non-resource water tile). You can essentially direct puppet tile use by placing TPs. So, although it's counterintuitive, TPs on all hills will result in much more production than mines on hills (and divert them from growth tiles, which is good).

For my core 3 or 4 cities, I've always gone with a "farm on every river tile including hills" strategy. The only tiles I even consider building TPs on are jungle tiles or non-river tiles. This gives you +2 early in the game when you want maximal growth (now that vertical growth is a viable approach). The extra +1 or from TP or mine come later in the game. When these cities reach a proper size of 20 or so (and you have the +1 boosting tech) then start converting farms to mines and TPs.