If railroads gave no bonuses except movement, would you build them on every square?

[Aileron]

Just wondering what people think about road/railroad spam...

[uberloz]

I wouldn't do it just to spam my country with rails.

I would do it for the strategic ability to respond in force quickly in every single square of the lands I control.

[Aileron]

Originally posted by uberloz
I wouldn't do it just to spam my country with rails.

I would do it for the strategic ability to respond in force quickly in every single square of the lands I control.

And the enemy can quickly penetrate your territory too...Or you can quickly penetrate enemy territory if they've rail-ed every tile, which the AI always does.

I thought it was ridiculous in Civ2 when the AI did that, because back then the rails allowed infinite movement. I guess that's less of an issue now, because the rails increase movement, but don't make it infinite.

[willgamer]

I wouldn't do it just to spam my country with rails. I would do it for the strategic ability to respond in force quickly in every single square of the lands I control.

Exactly, it's not like there's much of a best game play choice.

OTOH, Why not simply grant all units in friendly territory an increase in movement over time after railroads are discovered and the appropriate mines are built. You could even add a slider for infrastructure to the exiting tech/culture/wealth.

[ghen]

sometimes my workers just need something to do so I let them build railroads everywhere.

[Bill3000]

Same point as said before. There are times when my workers have nothing else to do.

[Datajack Franit]

when my workers are idle I give them funny homeworks, like building a railroad from north to south pole

[Dis]

I don't build them in every square. My map looks too cluttered as it is. cottages/hamlets/towns are the worst. They make my map look so cluttered I have trouble finding stuff sometimes.

I basically put a railroad on every tile that has a road on it (it looks better that way ). I railroad forest tiles with lumbermills and mines of course. I also road my resource tiles. I'm still not sure if this is necessary. This is just a holdback from my civ3 days. Even stuff like wheat and rice I put a road on. I'm not sure if I need to do that.

I do like to have 2 or 3 ways to get to a city (in case one line is cut). So in addition to the above, I will road/railroad other tiles to get those access routes to the city. That's the only reason you'll see roads/railroads in my deserts.

[Datajack Franit]

towns are the best feature so far?

[MrFun]

In Civ III or Civ II I never did build railroads knowing it gives me infinite movement -- I just restrained myself, and only built railroads like a sane ruler.

For some reason, people complained about the "building on every tile" temptation, when all one has to do, is simply resist the temptation do so. Get some will power, guys!

[Dis]

Originally posted by MrFun
In Civ III or Civ II I never did build railroads knowing it gives me infinite movement -- I just restrained myself, and only built railroads like a sane ruler.

For some reason, people complained about the "building on every tile" temptation, when all one has to do, is simply resist the temptation do so. Get some will power, guys!

if I had any willpower, I wouldn't be playing civ4. I'd be doing something more productive.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Dis


if I had any willpower, I wouldn't be playing civ4. I'd be doing something more productive.

[Proteus_MST]

I wouldn´t build the railroads on every tile of my empire, but I also wouldn´t "just" build a single railroad connecting the cities.
Instead I would build them strategically, so that important spots (for example places with a good defence bonus in case of an invasion) are also connected to the railroad net.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Aileron
And the enemy can quickly penetrate your territory too...Or you can quickly penetrate enemy territory if they've rail-ed every tile, which the AI always does.

Erm, no it can't. Invading units don't get movement bonuses from roads and rails while in enemy territory.

On topic, I hate the tile improvement spam the AI does, as I stated in a thread I posted. The main reason is that it turns the map ugly.

[Kc7mxo]

I build rails everywhere for defensive purposes.

And I think that warfare would be GREATLY enhanced if all units could take advantage of enemy roads but not railroads.