How to determine range of trade routes?

Makavcio

Prince
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
543
So, I have cargo ships and would like to create nice, profitable trade routes. The problem is I have absolutely no idea what range they have. I've also got some improvements to it, however I know neither the starting value, not the bonus.

How to calculate it? Does map size influence it in any way?
 
If you click the Trade Routes telltale at the top of the screen, it will open the Trade Routes window. The second tab has available trade routes. You don't need to worry about measuring distances. If the route is available, it will show up there, and you can compare them and pick the best one.

If you think some more lucrative trade routes might be available if you had a longer range from certain cities, there are some things you can do:

1) Caravansaries extend the range of caravans originating in that city

2) Harbors do the same for Cargo Ships

3) Roads extend the range of caravans

4) Some techs extend the range of caravans or cargo ships
 
Uh, I need to care about it because it's an important factor in planning which city should be developed as a trade hub and whether should I focus on land trade, or invest in seafaring merchants. I'm stuck in a nasty corner of an oval landmass with ice blocking my access to profitable markets. My only open marine trade routes would need to end in Venice and I despise Donadolo, the Butcher of Profitable Friendships.

If I remember correctly from pre-release conversations, caravans should have range of 10 hexes and cargo ship of 25, but even though it seems right for caravans, cargo ships cannot reach coastal cities within this range.

Could you give me more details concerning the list of modifiers you laid out? My standard difficulty level is immortal, but here I'm struggling on king...
 
So how do I know if it's worth it to build Caravansaries? If I don't know the base range then I can't easily determine if extending the range is worth it. Right now I count hexes to the farthest available trade city to see if I want to build a Caravansary. sort of a pain. I realize the range does change with new roads, techs etc.
 
I too haven't seem yet how to actually calculate trade range, or somewhere in-game that shows it.
An overlay mode for Strategic View would be fantastic.

Though yes, they do seem to use something like Movement Points, since they are affected by roads. Perhaps also by difficult terrain?
 
I too wondered where this information was and found it recently. When you're selecting a new trade route, it's in small letters at the top of the selection screen: says "range 20 hexes" or something like that. But I don't think you can see it anywhere else while the trade routes are active, only when they end and you have to choose a new route.

Wish they would have made it more obvious and also put it in the strategic view. This is an important factor when making a strategic choice whether to invest builds into a caravan or whatever, and depending on how our map plays.
 
Ranges

Caravan: 10, +10 with Combustion, +50% with Caravanssary, +50% for Arabs
Cargo ship: 20, +10 with Compass, +10 with Refrigeration, +50% with Harbor

Not sure exactly how roads/railroads affect caravans
 
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