The treasury is where your empire's wealth is stored. Each turn, the net income from each of your cities is combined, costs are deducted, and the remainder is placed into your treasury. On some turns, gold may have to be drawn out of the treasury to cover costs. Balancing your need to spend with your need to build a substantial store of liquid wealth is an interesting challenge. Gold You use gold from the treasury to pay: * Maintenance costs for city improvements. * Support for military units in excess of those allowed by your government types. * Payments you may be making to rival civilizations as part of a diplomatic agreement. * To build Embassies and conduct diplomatic and espionage missions. * To hurry production of city build projects.