economy

daladinn

Prince
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Messages
435
I keep hearing all this talk about a specialist economy vs a cottage economy. up to this point i have not really chimed in with any numbers or really any information that has much value to it. So i thought i would put in my 2 copper with an economy strategy post.

First off as to the Specialist or Cottage economies all i can say there is that when it comes to either one , having all of your eggs in one basket really really sucks. However, the main reason on this post is actually the Trade economy. The Trade economy is often overlooked by many and i would like to point out its usefulness to everyone.

First you have to understand trade routes. You have NO control over them and sadly they change throughout the game. but the key things to know is the the larger the city they are connected to and the farther away that city is the more money you make. Next you have to understand that you need open borders to have trade routes with cites that you do not control.

typically in the beginning I see trade routes ranging in value from 1-3g per route. This increases to 8-12g per route if played well. Here are the bonuses that can cause this to clime.

-- inn gives +25%
-- harbor gives +50%
-- tavern gives +25%
-- as city sizes grow so will base trade amount

looking at this even at the high end you think eh , whats 8-12 extra gold when i have 12 towns at 6-7g per town? Its not much till you realize that this extra 8-12g does not cost you a worker working a tile.

Now though lets look at how to make that 8-12g much more impressive. My advise would be to simply add more trade routes to your city. This can be done EASILY , let me list how ...

Buildings
-- Lighthouse
-- Inn
-- Tavern
-- Smugglers port (CoE religion only)
-- Obsidian gate

Techs
-- Currency
-- Trade

Civic
-- Foreign trade (+1 extra to coastal cities for a total of +2)

Wonders
-- The Great lighthouse (this one is +2 per city)
-- Nexus (just puts on obsidian gate in each city so you wont have to build them all)

OK, so its a pretty long list. If you just did the math that can add 11 trade routes to each city for a total of 12. Now realistically your only gonna see around 8-10 when doing this buts its an insane boost.

A good Trade economy can pull in as much raw gold as any cottage economy with the added advantage of being completely independent of city population. Where this becomes really handy is a little more complicated.

examples of primary uses...
-- every kuriotate subcity is capable of handling 7 trade routes (if played well) resulting in alot of extra trade due to maintenance on these cities being so low.
-- barbarian races are often more inclined to build close cities to limit cultural growth and point value. in doing this they have more cities per are and therefore more trade per area.
-- the order religion allows for massive empires due to low upkeep.

As you can see .... its simply a situation of the more cities you have the more you make on this. Please don't forget though the keeping the peace also greatly increases your profit.

take care all and have a great game.
 
The Lanun get obscene trade routes b/c all their cities are coastal, they can easily get the great lighthouse and astro is right in their research path.
 
First off as to the Specialist or Cottage economies all i can say there is that when it comes to either one , having all of your eggs in one basket really really sucks. However, the main reason on this post is actually the Trade economy.
Thanks. I enjoyed the read.

I very rarely set out to develop a trade economy, but I work towards them if circumstances permit. I have never understood how trade routes are determined and that takes a lot of the fun out of it for me.

Just the same, unless you're in the unfortunate situation of being politically isolated, the results of a well developed trade economy are amazing. I don't think most players consider the long term negative economic effects of fighting an unnecessary war, I tend to forget about it too.
 
What does it take to hook up a favorable trade route with a foreign city? Does it help to explore and find the more distant cities? Does it help to spread your religion there? Does a visit from a Great Merchant help (beyond the initial payoff)?
 
There's a limit of 8 trade routes per city set in GlobalDefines.
 
That seems an arbitrary and annoying limit :( Might have to be removed from FfH :p I doubt people will typically notice that limit unless dealing with a port city though.

As for how to set up specific trade routes, I still haven't figured out precisely what they use to select them, and they change a bit too often. My typical strategy is to close borders with people who have low value trade routes (neighbors mostly), and gift technology and the like to people with good potential (far away, many ports).

I believe it might be slightly affected by your diplomatic score with the other civ, but that assumes they still track what your score would be with other human players in MP. Otherwise I'd venture it is based primarily off the income of the connected city and the distance to yours.
 
Trade routes are just dependent on distance and city size.
 
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