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Game Info[]
Basic transport infrastructure. Requires The Wheel.
- Constructed on:
- Any passable land tile; may pass through tiles containing other improvements
- Effect:
- Increased movement speed for units
- Provides a City Connection when connecting to the civilization's Capital
- Allows crossing of rivers without losing MPs after researching Engineering
- Additional movement speed increase after researching Machinery
Strategy[]
In Civilization V, the roads work a little differently than they do in the previous games. They are still constructed by Workers and allow units to move larger distances within a turn by negating the movement costs of terrain. However, they now have an upkeep cost: roads within your territory cost 1 Gold per tile per turn.
If a road is within a city's borders, the owner of the city pays for the maintenance of the road, regardless of which player built it. This allows for a potent exploit: sign an open borders treaty with an opponent, then build roads on every hex possible within his or her cultural borders. This will severely weaken your opponent's economy, since they will lose 1 Gold per turn per road hex. Running out of Gold will slow your opponent's scientific progress and force military units to disband, making it difficult for the opponent to discover new technologies and maintain a defensive army without strengthening his or her economy first. Moreover, building roads will not cause diplomatic incidents with AI leaders, who may even propose to extend the open borders treaty.
Railroads make the aforementioned tactic twice as potent, thanks to their doubled maintenance cost. It can, however, be reduced by the Wagon Trains social policy from the Commerce tree, which halves maintenance costs for roads and railroads once the player picks it.
Civilopedia entry[]
A road is a path between places suitable for wheeled traffic. The Romans were famous for the quality of their roads, and in fact many are still in use today - albeit with repairs and improvements made since.
Gallery[]
Related achievements[]
See also[]
- Road in other games
Civilization V Improvements [edit] | |
---|---|
Standard | Camp • Farm • Fishing Boats • Fort • Lumber Mill • Mine • Offshore Platform • Oil Well • Pasture • Plantation • Quarry • Railroad • Road • Trading Post |
Unique | Brazilwood Camp • Chateau • Feitoria • Kasbah • Moai1 • Polder • Terrace Farm1 |
Great People | Academy • Citadel • Customs House • Holy Site • Landmark • Manufactory |
Scenario specific | Hadrian's Wall • Motte and Bailey • Pontoon Bridge • Tipi • Wajo |
1 Requires a DLC
Added in the Gods & Kings expansion pack. |