Route types | Trade routes Civilization V - Brave New World Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

International routes

The international routes (the ones in the above screenshot lead to Kayseri, Gaziantep and Zanzibar) can be established each time another player's city is within reach, and you have an empty slot for a trade route. This gives you mainly gold.

Additionally, civilizations receive half of the science points for each exchanged technology. This means that, if you have made two discoveries that your opponent does not yet have access t. and you establish with him exchange via a trade route, he will receive additionally one science point per turn. This also works the other way round: if, both you and the opponent, have access to two technologies unknown to the other, each one of you will receive a science point. The amount of science points is rounded up.

In the very same way, you can export your religion. The Cities that already follow some different piety, exert pressure on the cities at the other end of the route. If, every city has its own religion then the influence varies and cities will gain/lose followers to the other piety. .

As you can see, trade routes may help you increase your wealth . Still, there are other elements that can effectively discourage trade. If the difference in the technological advancement is big, your opponent (or you, but then it is good) may earn a lot of science points, which will increase his development rate. Still, this aspect loses its value with time. Once you reach Renaissance, even ten science points do not make much difference because, if you take a good care of erecting the right buildings, your science points probably way exceed two hundred. In the next Epochs you probably have even more.

Internal routes

The internal routes (the ones in the above screenshot lead from Krakow and Lodz to Warsaw) are used for different purposes - to help your own cities with their enterprises. They are subject to the same rules that apply to the international routes and, additional ones described below.

The aim of the internal routes is to supply food or manufacture to the needy cities. In order to supply the right kind of resource, you need to have the right kind of building on the city that you depart from. In the case of food it is the Granary, and the Workshop for manufacture.

The city of departure in no way suffers from this kind of help. This does not decrease its pool of food or manufacture. The only cost it has to bear is the cost of the trade vessel, and an occupied slot for a trade route.

Internal trade routes are very helpful for the developing cities, e.g. for the newly started ones. Thanks to the routes, it is possible to help at the construction of buildings or facilitate their natural growth. Dispatching several routes with manufacture to one city, effectively reinforces the building of wonders.