I have a question

[shadow_fighter]

How can you have above zero gold? Whenever I enter the middle ages, I always have -50 something gold per turn, even if I turn all scientific and entertainment funds to zero.
And also, is it a good idea to increase scientific spending?
And what is the best government to have?

[punkbass2000]

This thread should help you with most of your queries. All though it depends on the situation and your overall goals, Republic is generally considered to be the best gov.

[star mouse]

Roads?

Do you place a road in every tile that is worked by your towns? If you have a stack of automated workers, you can have the roads built for you. If you build a worker with any city that gets to size 3 without the production needed to build a settler quickly, you will soon have a healthy supply of workers. The workers can improve their own city first (so they can build those settlers quickly), then can be set on automatic. Soon every worked tile will get roads.

Ideally, you need about 1 worker per city. Industrious civs can get by with about half this number.

[Rhothaerill]

I'd advise posting at least a screenshot of your empire at the time you're at now, as well as a savegame. Someone can then take a look at the game and give you direct advice about how to go about solving your question.

[Dis]

yes posting those would be nice. It takes a little practice to fully make a profitable empire. A good understanding of commerce of the game is good to know.

In general, you want more roads. Each road gives you +1 commerce (if your worker is working that square). So you want to start by putting roads in squares you know you will work first. Squares such as bonus resource squres, strategic, and luxery resources, and shielded grassland. And don't forget to connect your cities by roads to improve troop movement. You probalby already know these things, I just want to point out their importance.

Next up is marketplaces. Build them in all your cities. No reason not to. Once you get the technology to build them, your cities should be large enough to profit from them. And they serve a purpose of helping the happiness boost from luxery resources.

As for banks and stock exchanges, those are useful to. They do have upkeep associated with them, but I find by the time I'm able to build them, my cities are large enough that they will bring in more profit, than the upkeep. And you can build Adam Smith's trading company to help with upkeep costs if you want to.

Building Wall Street when it is available to build is also useful. This really provides a boost to income.

If you are playing a low difficulty level you should be able to build Adam Smith's Trading company before the computer. I suggest building this and wall street. This will help you out greatly. Along with building roads, marketplaces, and banks- you should be in great shape.

[Solomwi]

Something else you shouldn't overlook is building libraries and universities. Since research and income come out of the same pot, the further you can make your research dollar go, the more you can plow into your treasury.

Paradoxically, bumping luxury spending up can help you make money. If you're having to use entertainers in your cities, and have roaded or river tiles going unworked because of it, chances are you're losing money. The extra luxury spending can be handled with the income that entertainer would bring in by working the tile. This is particularly true in the early game, so from the start, don't ignore your luxury slider.

[shadow_fighter]

What about taxes and interest? Whenever I look at the advisor, it always says "income--from cities=145
from taxes=0 from interest=0
What is up with that?
And about automating workers, whenever I do that, they always build excess railroads, cut trees, and build mines.
And how do you get entertainers?
And do you have to build a city on a gold supply to get it, or just a road to it?

[Solomwi]

Taxes: income derived from tax collector specialists. They give two gold. If that citizen can be working a tile, you're generally going to be better off that way than creating tax collectors.

Interest: Once you build Wall Street, you get 5% of your treasury at the end of each turn added to the turn's income, up to 50 gold.

Both of these are nice, but aren't going to form the basis of a healthy economy, which is what you really need. The keys to that basis are roads, rivers, coasts and resources, all of which generate more income when worked than an unimproved, landlocked tile. That's where it all starts. The more gold your city-workers are "harvesting", the better off your economy is going to be. The more you build up your commerce and research infrastructure, the better your economy is going to be. The less restrictive government you're in, the better your economy is going to be.

[shadow_fighter]

how do you make tax collector specialists?

[Xorbon]

To get specialists in a city, open up the city screen (by double clicking on a city). On the map in the city screen, click one of the tiles that are being worked on. That tile stops being worked on, and one of your citizens turns into a specialist (usually an entertainer). (The top of your city screen is where it shows all the citizens within your city.) If you click on the specialist, it will change into another type of specialist. Click again, and the specialist changes again, etc. If you wish to put the citizen back to work on the land, click on an unused tile in the city map.

Now as far as finances go, look to see what your expenditures are. Open up the F1 screen (domestic advisor, I think). Check out your expenditures for your military, city improvements, and deals with foreign civs. That will tell you where all your gold is going. If you're spending too much on military, start disbanding units you don't need. Also, some government-types give free upkeep on up to a certain number of units. (The civilopedia should have proper info on all the government-types.)

With city improvements, only build those improvements that you really need. For instance, generally only build an aqueduct in a town once it has gotten up to size 5 or 6. Build it much earlier, and you're just wasting money on the upkeep of the aqueduct while getting no benefit. Upkeep on a bunch of useless improvements can be a real drain on your coffers.

Finally, avoid bad deals with the AI civs. If a deal will cost too much gold-per-turn, then don't make the deal!

One more thing, you don't have to build a city on top of a 'bonus' resource (including gold) to be able to make use of it. The resource merely has to be within the city's working radius. All bonus resources do is provide extra food, shields, and/or commerce when worked.

[Mad Bomber]

Originally posted by shadow_fighter
......
And about automating workers, whenever I do that, they always build excess railroads, cut trees, and build mines.

Most experienced players do not automate workers, I tend to do so but only after my core is fully developed and I can afford a few 'mistakes' made by my sub-optimal automated workers.Railroads are never built to excess; a railroad improvement allows unlimited movement through the tile and increases any worker improvements by 1 (mine=shield, irrigation=food). Chopping forests adds 10 shields to a city, this is a popular way to rush large improvements, but this is better done manually to insure the maximum use of the shields. Building mines is a good thing, as long as your city can grow without that tile being irrigated. One last thing; road and railroad everything, this is the most basic step to building a strong economy. Make sure you improve the tiles that are being worked first before improving unworked tiles (unless you need the improvement for other reasons)

And do you have to build a city on a gold supply to get it, or just a road to it?

No, when a city is built the tile is automatically roaded, gold also provides natural commerce when a citizen workes the tile, roads only provide a +1 commerce bonus, but this bonus is to every tile roaded. Gold is not a luxury or strategic resource; you do not need to 'hook it up' to make use of it.