Okay, so I finally got it to work...so many unanswered questions have built up

[Elephant]

In CivII Classic through MGE, production in Wonders and spaceship parts can be switched back and forth without shield loss. Don't have ToT to verify, but it would be sad if they blocked that. Putting caravans into wonders and switching to spaceship parts is a time-honored way for OCCs to stockpile shields for a fast spaceship build.

[jatf]

Yep they would appear to have blocked that.

Hopefully the attached jpg will load. But if not then TOT says "Sire if we change our production between items of different general types (units, city improvements, Wonders of the World), there is a 50% production penalty.

As far as I can recall, it applies to spaceship parts as well.

JATF

[rjmatsleepers]

The message you posted would also appear in classic where there is the same 50% penalty for switching between a wow and a building. It did not apply between a wow and a space ship part. Presumably you have tested that the penalty applies to SS parts in ToT.

RJM

[Peaster]

Why hasn't anybody revealed the one true and universal principle of Civ 2? Build Lots of Cities ! This is especially important in the beginning of the game, before trade is possible. It allows faster production of wonders, vans, taxes, science, and most importantly - more cities.

[MoNoLitH]

Also - don't use fundamentalism until you're done with research. That 50% penalty really hurts, especially since you don't get the democracy/republic trade bonus.

[Straybow]

Bah! Fundies is for wimps. No challenge in that.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Deliver caravans from your arrow-rich cities to AI cities on different continents that demand the goods in your caravans. This is optimal. Other caravans won't pay off as well, but in the long run, may still be worth doing. Eventually you'll get a feel for what's going to pay off and what won't (the GL thread can give you more tips on what to look for in the meantime).

My rule of thumb is that a 100g payout is worth doing. Anything less, and you may want to save that caravan for when its good is demanded, or for wonder building.