Its offtopic but it would depend of the prupose of the gold brick. As a paperweight it is not worth more than a lead one. But for general pruposes it is.
Actually that's a great example, because using it wrong doesn't change its value.
Look at the commisar squad. Both of his infantry modifier abilities have no cost to use but generate value. Free but valuable.
Something can have no cost and still have worth.
. The free flares are, well... Free and provide recon without so much as an arming time. That's poor design frankly. Adding the need to deploy them would really round them out. This is legit the only commander I can think of that grants passive that require nothing from the player as I think about it.