Roads question

[Gunhawk]

Hi Guys. Another question.

I didn't think that roads mattered in Civ 4 except to travel on, for commerce between cities, and to link to plantations and such, but now I see that my neighboring civilization is buildings roads on *every* square in his territories, just like in Civ 3. So should I do same, and if so, why?

Thanks

Gunhawk

[Willem]

It makes it easier for your units to move around in your territory. I've noticed that the pathfinding isn't always the greatest. Quite often units will ignore roads and cut across Forest etc. to get to where they are going. If you put roads everywhere, that doesn't become an issue.

And you never know when an enemy may deposit troops in between your cities where you wouldn't necessarily put any connecting roads. It doesn't matter to them since they don't get the extra movement rate from your roads.

[marvinkosh]

Cutting through forest is okay if the unit has no other way of getting to the other side without taking a long-ish detour. You have to remember that while in forest, many units get that neat 50% defensive bonus, thus it makes sense to end a turn in forest.

I try not to go overboard with road-building because although they are good for moving units quickly to defend against incursions, every turn that workers are building a road is a turn they could have been building an improvement which actually increases food, hammers, or commerce.

[Cort Haus]

I think the idea is, marv, that you build roads when there are no more productive jobs available nearby. If improvements have got ahead of population, it's better to put down roads that could be useful very quickly if someone declared war. If pop is ahead of improvements, then improve.