1) What does blockade do? I put my SotL in blockade next to enemy coastal city and nothing happened. It still gets trade route from another island. Isn't my ship supposedly to block all intercontinental trades?

Perhaps the trade comes in through another port?

I thought blockades only stop around half the flow of trade routes, not all of it.

Perhaps the trade comes in through another port?

We have to block every coastal city to stop trade? Isn't this absurd?

We have to block every coastal city to stop trade? Isn't this absurd?

Don't think it's absurd. An open port means a thriving trade.
Btw, did this blockade of yours altered the cities which traded with this coastal city?

I'm also confused about blockade.

When I have my ship and I have a blockade icon, how do I know who I'm blockading?

Invisible trade-routes don't really help. Or I'm missing the point.

Here's my take on it:

Click the blockade button when you're close to a enemy port. Once this is done, single click on the blockading ship. It should now show you a shaded area highlighting the tiles your ship is disrupting. These were in the same colour as my Civ's colour. If your blockaded area overlaps the tiles in which the enemy city's trade can enter and leave then I presume this means you're blocking overseas trade. I doubt it's possible to prevent land trade however so I suppose there'll always be a certain degree of trade income.

I know this was working with my Privateers since I started reaping some 'stolen' income each turn.

Well with the changes to overseas trade routes in BtS, the loss of oversea's trade routes is a very big deal. I think the blockade area is pretty big too, so its possible to blockade 2-3 cities with one ship.

I think just having a hostile warship (with blockade ability) ending turn in city radius should block water-based trade for that city for that turn. There is no need to make things overly complicated.

It also blocks those cities from working any tiles in the blockade radius.
If you want to cut off trade of resources, etc., from that continent/island, you do need to blockade every port.

When you say trade routes do you mean, the trade routes that each city has that give extra gold, or do you mean the invisible trade routes that you would use to trade resources to other civs?

I don't have BTS yet, but I imagine if you cutoff trade routes to a city it will be forced to use internal ones (to cities of its own) which do not yield as much income. You only need one coastal city to trade resources with another civ across the ocean, however, hence the need to block every one to disrupt resource trade.

I was surprised to see the privateers create extra income for their owner. That' pretty cool.

How much income does it generate apprpximately

Ocean-going trade routes generates 8 gold (it depends on a number of factors). I think with market + groccer + bank it will bring in 16 gold per trade route.

Combine a blockade with a water source poison and you have some nasty starvation-warfare.

Combine a blockade with a water source poison and you have some nasty starvation-warfare.

Thats not the blockade they're talking about.
Now naval ships have a new button called "blockade" that will block a certain area around it from trade.

I think I read somewhere before that they had made intercontinental trade routes, need a specific trade route set up but a work boat. Then these routes could be blockaded.

Assuming what I heard is true, that means they changed it during development and maybe they simply [I]patched the new blockade feature to sort of do something...

Thats not the blockade they're talking about.
Now naval ships have a new button called "blockade" that will block a certain area around it from trade.Yes it is. As I said above, blockade also prevents tiles from being worked. In a 3 tile radius around the blockading ship. See this graph to see how I put it to use against the Ethiopians

Ocean-going trade routes generates 8 gold (it depends on a number of factors). I think with market + groccer + bank it will bring in 16 gold per trade route.Don't forget that trade route income is in commerce, not gold, so it adds to science or culture according to your slider.

I see, I didn't know that cool.

Are you sure its a fixed area by the way? or does it depend on the model ship being used.

Yes it is. As I said above, blockade also prevents tiles from being worked. In a 3 tile radius around the blockading ship. See this graph to see how I put it to use against the Ethiopians


This has nothing to do with the blockade. Hostile ships prevent adjacent tiles from being worked since vanilla CIV.

Since the game has already been released in some places and since some of the people here have already played, is this business about having to use workboats to build water routes to connect continents true?

Adjacent tiles from a sitting ship = 4 tiles, yes? From a blockading ship it would be 25 tiles, I think.

Are you sure its a fixed area by the way? or does it depend on the model ship being used. It is the same radius on every ship I've tried, so I'm pretty sure yes.

Since the game has already been released in some places and since some of the people here have already played, is this business about having to use workboats to build water routes to connect continents true? No.

Can subs 'blockade'? I hope so since interdiction of convoy routes and whatnot was their primary mission.

I see, I didn't know that cool.

Are you sure its a fixed area by the way? or does it depend on the model ship being used.

Im pretty sure it's reaches 3 tiles each side of the boat (at least for destroyers)...That means you have a 7x7 tile block for each boat. With opponents only having frigates I had a long chain of destroyers starving a while coastline back to the stoneage.

How do you see the 'visible' trade route?

I have tried blockading with different ships, the effective area is always 3 tiles from the ship. Also, blockade has no effect on gold generating trade routes, the enemy city still gets lucrative overseas trade routes.

How do you see the 'visible' trade route?

I have tried blockading with different ships, the effective area is always 3 tiles from the ship. Also, blockade has no effect on gold generating trade routes, the enemy city still gets lucrative overseas trade routes.

I have tested this and it appears that the blockaded city does lose its trade. Before the blockade the trade route box is full, after blockade, empty. Or am I missing something here?

We have to block every coastal city to stop trade? Isn't this absurd?


why is it absurd? in real life blocking one port city wont stop all coastal trading to that country

I have tested it and you need to block all the possible ways for a city to get overseas trade on its island. So that means each coastal city. Blockading just city one won't work as the trade route will just go via another city. I needed around 4 destroyers to blockade the entire trade from around 6-7 Byzantine cities. The blockade area of each ship is quite large.

I could tell the trade was blockaded because all their cities on that island went from trading lurcratively with the Dutch to trading with themselves only.

I have tested it and you need to block all the possible ways for a city to get overseas trade on its island. So that means each coastal city. Blockading just city one won't work as the trade route will just go via another city.


So City A will still trade overseas with another civ's cities via City B? I didn't think it worked that way. I thought the city had to have a direct connection to the trading partner. I don't recall ever seeing a landlocked city have oversea trade routes.

Is this a good summary of how it works?

A ship stops all 8 adjacent sea tiles from being worked as before.
A ship can blockade a 3 tile radius from trade routes when put into blockade mode.

There's a big difference in my mind. A 3 tile radius is huge.

You need to make sure the city-tile is in the blockade area, right? So you can leave water-tiles next to the city outside the blockaded area, as long as the city is in it. I'm not too sure about this, but I'm sure somebody is.

So City A will still trade overseas with another civ's cities via City B? I didn't think it worked that way. I thought the city had to have a direct connection to the trading partner. I don't recall ever seeing a landlocked city have oversea trade routes.

Don't quote me on this since I haven't tested this out but:

my understanding is that trade routes always try to be as profitable as possible. As such harbors give +50% to trade routes and hence in effect the most profitable place for the foreign trade routes to go is almost always coastal cities.

This makes me think we need to improve the trading model.

Idea: If your trade route goes through someone's territory, they get a cut.

This would make direct routes worthwhile, and if you (say) blockaded the ports of an empire on a large island, they would get less trade if they had to go through other nearby empires (and the nearby empires would get the difference).

As far as I can tell, that isn't true.. I have had great intercontinental trade relations with some released colonies on another continent and I didn't have to build the trade lane manually..

I'll load the savegame to see if there's anything of notice..

Blockading is so weird. I usually get 2-4 gold if I use my privateers but when I am blockading an enemy city with normal boats, I dont see any gold coming my way.

Blockading is so weird. I usually get 2-4 gold if I use my privateers but when I am blockading an enemy city with normal boats, I dont see any gold coming my way.

I don't think you're supposed to. It's the privateer's special ability to make money which makes it worthwhile.

So, then why do I have the blockade ability on normal ships? What is it blockading?

So, then why do I have the blockade ability on normal ships? What is it blockading?

Blockading is stopping trade from flowing.

You can use it to starve an empire you are attacking of overseas trade or resources.

It does require either trade embargoes from other civilizations ports on the continent, or a complete blockade of the continent.

So, then why do I have the blockade ability on normal ships? What is it blockading?

Ships belonging to your standing army are blockading or strategic reasons and simply refuse to allow ships to pass. Examples of this are the Cuban missile crisis or during the Israeli attack on Lebonan a year ago.

Privateers on the other hand will attack the ships and loot them for profit. Whilst not on the same level as pirates they do still carry out looting and ransacking of ships that they manage to catch.

edit: don't want to offend people on a civ forum

The guy named Solver over at Apolyton has written a review. I recomend you ALL read it make sure of your facts about the trade blockades with ships. He worked on the team for this Expansion and has over 80 games played so he probably knows quite a bit about this stuff.

here's a direct link for those not associated with Apolyton.

http://civilization4.net/3/263/482/

This is already set on the page for blockades and such.

Happy blockages!:cry: :eek:

here's a direct link for those not associated with Apolyton.

http://civilization4.net/3/263/482/

This is already set on the page for blockades and such.

Happy blockages!:cry: :eek:

Thanks for posting this, this review is great! I hadn't seen a link to it anywhere else before.

Since the game has already been released in some places and since some of the people here have already played, is this business about having to use workboats to build water routes to connect continents true? It appears that this was an early feature that was recently removed from the game. The printed manual lists [R]-Build Trade Route as a command for Work Boats, but this is not in the actual game. Work Boats now have the ability to enter Ocean tiles after the discovery of Astronomy, but this doesn't appear to serve any real purpose (except maybe to get a boat from one continent to another).

So work boats remain simply, well, work boats? :)

Work Boats now have the ability to enter Ocean tiles after the discovery of Astronomy, but this doesn't appear to serve any real purpose (except maybe to get a boat from one continent to another).


This is huge for Terra maps.

It appears that this was an early feature that was recently removed from the game. The printed manual lists [R]-Build Trade Route as a command for Work Boats, but this is not in the actual game. Work Boats now have the ability to enter Ocean tiles after the discovery of Astronomy, but this doesn't appear to serve any real purpose (except maybe to get a boat from one continent to another).

IIRC, this was mentioned in the super-secret "forbidden" memo that was leaked out prior to release -- I guess you were supposed to use work boats to build trade routes before overseas trade could take place. Kind of glad it was taken out, sounded like additional work for no real benefit.

IIRC, this was mentioned in the super-secret "forbidden" memo that was leaked out prior to release -- I guess you were supposed to use work boats to build trade routes before overseas trade could take place. Kind of glad it was taken out, sounded like additional work for no real benefit.

It would make blockades make more sense, and lead to wars in the deep sea more.

But ya, it is overly awkward.

I am very glad that this made it into the game. After you have vanquished a rival's navy and pounded the defenses of costal cities to zero, the only thing left was to move them around so your rival's ocean production was pseudo - "interrupted." Now the unused ships can help to put another nail in the coffin of a rival that has not lost all of its costal cities. Before the frigate, your navy now has a purpose other than attack enemy shipping!

I used it briefly last night with a trireme and I stopped the Russians from getting their horse resource from an island city. It was all down hill for the my rival from there!

So do ships always automatically stop tiles from being worked when they move near an enemies coast? Or do you specifically need to put them in the blockade mode? I assume the ship needs a remaining movement point to be put into the blockade mode?

I'm not talking about blocking trade routes at the moment (which I assume is only blocked when in the mode).

I think you must put them in a blockade mode (otherwise the button would have no purpose. This I think is dumb, when a ship ends turn in a city radiu, it should just stop your enemy from working water-tiles. Should have kept it simple.

Agreed, because it's not overly clear as to whether the AI actually uses this 'blockade' button as such....

Blockade extends the range of denial from 1 or 2 up to 3.