Does the type of road in Citadelum affect its speed?

In city builders, providing road access to your commercial buildings, service providers and people's residences is a big part of the game play. 

In most city builders, at least the strategically inclined ones like Anno or SteamWorld Build, you are offered several types of road. Each with their own look and feel, but also their effect on the city. 

In Citadelum, 2 types of road are available. Let's compare these 2 and find out if it matters which one to build. 

2 types of road

In Citadelum you can build 2 different types of road.

Rural road

The first type of road you can build, is Rural road. This type of road looks... rural. It doesn't offer more than a sandy path. 

Rural road costs only 10 silver per tile, so it doesn't dig in your stockpile of resources. 

Paved road

The second type of road you can build, is Paved road. These are made of paving stones and already look a lot more like a road than the rural one. 

Paved road costs 12 silver and 1 stone per tile. Keep this in mind when paving your city, as it does cost double as much silver than the rural road. 

Premium road?

In the Citadelum build menu, a third type of road is shown. This is Premium road, available at Prestige level 6.

Premium road costs 15 silver and 1 stone brick (instead of stone) for that more premium look and feel. It has a reddish shine to it. 

Effectivity of road

In the aforementioned Anno and SteamWorld games, the type of road actually affects the speed with which people travel across it. In Anno 1800, a warehouse worker walks 1/3rd faster on paved road than they would on dirt roads. Incredible, right?

Other games implement similar mechanics. That does raise the question: in Citadelum, does it matter what type of road we build? 

I put this to the test. My test subjects were:

• 2 logging camps;
• 2 warehouses;
• connected by the same distance and shape of road.

The only difference between the two sets of logging camp and warehouse, is the type of the stretch of road connecting the two. The left one is of type rural, the right is paved road.

The buildings and roads used for testing the type of road on its speed in Citadelum: Prologue.

With my trusty stopwatch at hand, I let the warehouse workers race and clocked them several times. I used the pick up and drop off as signals. These are indicated by a red -3 appearing above the logging camp and a green +3 above the warehouse.

The results were surprising in a few ways.

Type of road DOES affect speed

Yes, carts go faster on the paved road. Maybe not surprising at all, the timings were quicker on the paved road than on the rural road.

On the rural road, it took them 18 seconds from the moment they loaded the cart at the logging camp to the moment they unloaded the cart. 

On the paved road, it took them 15 seconds from the moment they loaded the cart at the logging camp to the moment they unloaded the cart. 

It did definitely matter if the warehouse worker was crossing the rural road or the paved road. This means the type of road in Citadelum does affect the speed with which people travel on it.

Actually, it is a 20% speed boost on paved road. That's definitely worth the upgrade price!

Weight of cart does NOT affect speed

The first surprise then: the weight of the cart doesn't affect the speed. 

I tried this with 3 separate situations:

• Empty cart: from warehouse to logging camp
• 3 pieces of wood: from logging camp to warehouse
• 9 pieces of wood: from logging camp to warehouse (after a fire at the warehouse during which the worker couldn't fetch and deliver goods)

It took the warehouse workers either 18 (rural) or 15 (paved) seconds to travel to and from the logging camp every time. It did not matter if the cart was loaded and if so, how much load it had to carry.

Desirability is NOT affected

Another way the nicer looking road could have an impact on your city, was that it might influence the desirability of an area. You could expect the paved road, or at least the premium road, to make an area more desirable. 

Of course I tested this as well.

Ends up: it doesn't. Paved roads and premium roads do not make an area more desirable than rural roads. Only decorations have this power.

Which road to build in Citadelum?

The above information leaves us with a clear answer to the question: which road should you build in Citadelum?

As we've seen, it does matter which type or road you use. But, only for the carts travelling on the road. 

That means that:

• For roads where carts travel, use paved road. For instance between farms and granary, quarry and warehouse or market and houses, use paved road. It will make the carts and deliveries go 20% faster.
• For roads where carts do not travel, you don't need the extra speed or the stretch is really short, use rural road. For instance between granary and market, baths and houses or a lumber mill placed next to a warehouse.

The other real difference is how the road looks in your city. It looks silly if your Plebeians would be walking around on paved road, while Patricians are stuck with a muddy rural road. But even then, apparently they don't even care about that.

If you care about the aesthetics of your city and have enough stone and money, you should definitely consider choosing the paved road over rural road. But that is the only reason why you should consider it. Other than aesthetics, the type of road has no impact whatsoever.

Visual difference between paved and premium roads in Citadelum.