The Prices Thread

[supercoolyellow]

Ok, so I thought this would be an interesting thread to get an idea of what patters prices follow in most games. So fill this out

Year: 1696

Price of food:
price of production:
price of science:
price of culture:

price of incense:
price of marble:
price of oxen:
price of silk:

General:
Scientist:
Prophet:
Builder:
Artist:

Year:

Price of food: 487
price of production: 463
price of science: 440
price of culture: 95

price of incense: 313
price of marble: 288
price of oxen: 305
price of silk: 281

General: 4460
Scientist: 7235
Prophet: 11252
Builder: 8117
Artist: 4808

Hopefully this will give newer players the chance to learn what patterns prices usually follow.

[bronzeager]

the prices fluctuate too wildly to really learn anything useful from individual examples like this. someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but the averages seem to be:

Food: 500-600
Production: 500-600
Science: 300-500
Culture: 100-200

dunno about GPs or commodities

[robin74]

It really depends on the game. I would say bronzeager's estimates are close to what I saw, though in the game I am now hammers stay consistently closer to 1000 than 500 (but there's a lot of wars going on).
GPs - it depends very much on the year. I'd say the prices eventually start to fluctuate around 10k later in the game, though they start much lower.
Commodities - the same thing. They start low and go up as the game progresses.

[mrt1212]

Food: 500-700
Production: 500-700
Science: 200-400
Culture: 85-125

Culture really is the most interesting one because of the wide spreads on Great People. A lot of times culture is not worth buying because the price of great people is so low. Taking a 40%-60% chance on coming out ahead is a bit much especially when the horizon to acquire a great person is so long.

[bronzeager]

I think science and production are bound to fluctuate the most. Production gets REALLY expensive when wars are going on. Food really only goes sharply up or down if someone is being an idiot and buying/selling too much of it. (correct me if I'm wrong here )

Science, in my mind, should be a lot more valuable post-patch, because you can't rely on getting as much from mazes at once. If I see it for 200, and have any gold at all, that's pretty much an instant buy for me. I see it quite regularly sitting at 600 gold or so, but was conservative in my 300-500 estimate. But maybe my games so far have been more science-biased than other peoples. They certainly have been more about tech races then clobbering everyone with military.

[bronzeager]

this might be getting a little off-topic, but what are people's tendencies in the market?

for example, I almost never sell food or science unless the price is amazingly high, and then only a few 100 units. I also almost never buy culture unless it's around 50 gold or I'm REALLY close to getting a great person.

[ashes]

I buy/sell if the price is +/- 100 outside of the "average," for military units I use the production price, but am less likely to buy since I cant convert units to production. I try to stockpile production and make a TON of money during wars. I never buy culture as it is always overvalued. Do the math. It is cheaper to buy great people, especially if you can be patient and buy at the "right" price. Someone else will always be desperate! Corollary: Plan ahead and you'll never be desperate.

Price of food: ~500
price of production: ~700, if a war ~1100
price of science: ~400
price of culture: ~100

price of commodities: varies wildly

Great people: 10k - 50k

[mrt1212]

I think science and production are bound to fluctuate the most. Production gets REALLY expensive when wars are going on. Food really only goes sharply up or down if someone is being an idiot and buying/selling too much of it. (correct me if I'm wrong here )

Science, in my mind, should be a lot more valuable post-patch, because you can't rely on getting as much from mazes at once. If I see it for 200, and have any gold at all, that's pretty much an instant buy for me. I see it quite regularly sitting at 600 gold or so, but was conservative in my 300-500 estimate. But maybe my games so far have been more science-biased than other peoples. They certainly have been more about tech races then clobbering everyone with military.

I agree to an extent. production should never get TOO expensive because at some point itll be cheaper to sell production and buy units. As for science, i'd reckon it's that it's not worth as much as food or production because
1. production can buy other means of victory and allows for arbitrage with units, plus ensuring victory in its own right
2. food allows for greater returns over time in a way science doesn't.

[robin74]

production should never get TOO expensive because at some point itll be cheaper to sell production and buy units

Sure, but there is an externality (if you're in the war, particularly) - if you sell production, the price of hammers goes down and your rival can now buy it cheap and produce cheap units using that.

[Lysander]

Production is worth more early on: wars can still win eras and people need buildings. Later on production tapers off. If the game stalls out, like one I'm playing, everything sits at 100. Usually though, production starts really expensive and ends up fairly cheap. Food devalues a little too, but not to the same extent. Culture is always cheap. Science fluctuates based on if there's a tech race.

[bronzeager]

this is also kind of off-topic, but I would LOVE it if they patched the game so that turning your citizens into merchants is actually viable.

[mrt1212]

Sure, but there is an externality (if you're in the war, particularly) - if you sell production, the price of hammers goes down and your rival can now buy it cheap and produce cheap units using that.

As we used to say in my youth "No duh".

But there are very clear ranges where it makes sense to buy units with cash, or sell units for hammers.

[CivWorldLord]

Price of food: 500 - 10000+
price of production: 500 - 1000
price of science: 100-150
price of culture: 0-50

[dkk]

I usually set the prices. Typically around 500-500-250-100. Science is more volatile now, though, and I'll let food go up to 600 and production drop as low as 400.

[mrt1212]

I usually set the prices. Typically around 500-500-250-100. Science is more volatile now, though, and I'll let food go up to 600 and production drop as low as 400.

This is how I'm playing the game. It takes a lot of micro but it's fun. I usually like to see things in a 600-800 range depending on unit gold purchase cost.