Any reason not to just trade out of one city?

Uncle_Joe

Uncle_Joe

Prince
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
482
I'm in my 2nd game now and I'm noticing that there isn't a lot of obvious incentive to diversify trade around your cities.

Am I missing something? It seems that having all of my trade routes out of my capital is viable and quite profitable. And it means I don't have to build the trade-enhancing buildings anywhere else.

I was kind of hoping there was some sort of limit on the number of routes per city (I'm up to 5 now and counting for my capital). I would think that maybe a limit of 2 would encourage you to diversify the trade around.

I don't see any form of penalty for 'overtrade' or anything.

So, any reason not to just originate all of your trade from your best city?
 
I played a game as Venice and was forced to diversify my trade because it was a large map and I couldn't really reach many other civs even though Venice was coastal. I actually did most of my trading out of cities that I bought that were closer to the big oceans. I guess it depends on the map size.
 
Quite a few reasons: Firstly, say your capital is landlocked and you've got sea trade with coastal capitals on other continents. Now, in a great many cases, you'll want many of your cities to trade with one or two of the AI capitals (in my last game, Gao and, while not a capital, Teotihuacan were the two biggest targets to shoot for), and I often find myself running 4 or more cities for trading in the endgame.
 
The only reasons are sometimes there are more lucrative routes if you start them elsewhere, or they can be easier to defend if started somewhere else. If you can get full value and defend all of your routes from one city then you might as well.
 
BTW, in the later game when it's difficult to tell just which routes are the best, I've found advantage in going into the trade route overview, clicking "show all available routes", and sorting by "gpt you receive". An easy way to find the most optimal routes... at least, if gold is your only concern.
 
There's an old saying about eggs in baskets.

You make the most money with an optimized trade hub.

OTOH, if someone declares war on you, there's a single point of failure for your economy. And anyone can find this out before they declare war on you. In this area, I expect that the initiative will favor the attacker.
 
Ok, thanks. So basically what I'm seeing is there really ISN'T a solid economic reason to diversify the trade. I've checked the 'available routes' and there isn't much that would be better than my capital routes.

Yes, security is a factor, but if I lose my capital, it's pretty much a write off anyways.

Maybe there should be a diminishing return or something. I mean, this works fine, but it feels wrong to just be using one city and it feels a lot less dynamic IMO.
 
Well, trade from your less-perfect cities to another civ's best city can be worth more than trade from your best city to one of their less-perfect ones.
 
Uncle_Joe said:
Ok, thanks. So basically what I'm seeing is there really ISN'T a solid economic reason to diversify the trade. I've checked the 'available routes' and there isn't much that would be better than my capital routes.

Yes, security is a factor, but if I lose my capital, it's pretty much a write off anyways.

Maybe there should be a diminishing return or something. I mean, this works fine, but it feels wrong to just be using one city and it feels a lot less dynamic IMO.
Click to expand...
That really depends on development, locations and so on. Some games your best routes will all be from one of your cities; some they'll all be to one particular foreign city. Usually somewhere in between.

Also, there's the question of spreading religion. That can sometimes affect it.
 
IdiotsOpposite said:
BTW, in the later game when it's difficult to tell just which routes are the best, I've found advantage in going into the trade route overview, clicking "show all available routes", and sorting by "gpt you receive". An easy way to find the most optimal routes... at least, if gold is your only concern.
Click to expand...

I think Princess Leia said it best when she said "If gold is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive."
 
I don't know about the major Civs, but from what I recall about CS trades, the diversity of your luxuries in comparison to the city state you are trading with is an important factor in how lucrative the trade is.

Simply put, if one of your cities has similar luxuries of that of the city state u are trading with, choose another of your cities that has different luxury resources.
 
Well, one thing I don't like about it is that really only need one coastal city. And now that water is 'weaker' than before, there is less incentive to have more than one.

So far, I've started on water with my capitals, but in a game where I don't, I just don't see a need for multiple maritime cities. Build one, crank up the trade bonuses, use it to initiate all/most of your trade routes.
 
Mrdarklight said:
I think Princess Leia said it best when she said "If gold is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive."
Click to expand...

Not really sure what you're trying to say? I was trying to help out by providing information that a player might not know about.
 
You can only have 1 trade route per each pair of cities. Take this example

A B D
C

A is a rival civ while B and C are your cities. D is a closer city state. If A is a good city, it is likely good from both B and C. If you take all of your trades from B though, you are only getting the good trades from A once. Whereas if you sent one from B & C to A it may make more money. Otherwise you have to send your next trade route to D, which may only be worth 10 gpt where A was giving you 26.

But it depends on your specific arrangement. In my games I would have lost considerable money only sending from my capital because I would only get those great trading cities once.
 
With the East India Co. small wonder, it makes is that pretty much the city housing it will always have the richest gold routes because of the +2 (iirc) bonus per route; it's better financially to source all your main (first run) routes there.

The only reason to have a 2nd hub of trade is range, defensibility and as noted, to get extra routes to a nice city.

Given the limited # of routes; you'll probably have the majority of your routes coming out of your East India company hub city with a 2nd or 3rd city to double tap or to hit those far flung city states asking for a trade route.

Granted I also find double/triple tapping a rich city also has the nice bonus of applying good pressure for religion;
 
dexters said:
With the East India Co. small wonder, it makes is that pretty much the city housing it will always have the richest gold routes because of the +2 (iirc) bonus per route; it's better financially to source all your main (first run) routes there.
Click to expand...

East India Company does not affect your trade routes, only trade routes others make to your city. So, this is wrong. It would make the city that has it be a more attractive place for OTHERS to send their trade routes to though.

Anyway, you send trade routes from other cities because sometimes, an AI city is just too good, and you want to send more than one trade route there (by end game, there was a 10+gpt difference between the #1 AI city and the #2 AI city). Also, you will sometimes have different opportunities depending on the coast. On a continents/fractal map, you will often be in a position where trade routes from one side of the continent will reach a whole different set of places than trade routes from the other side for most of the game.

In my game, my 2 most lucrative trade routes were not from my capital (although, most of the other ones were).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Unable to trade with City States
Replies
6
Views
555
martindo
M
M
AI toys with a city in order to get XP
Replies
10
Views
482
martindo
M
D
  • Locked
(6-CP) Caravansary/Burial Tomb Change - Buff to Villages and Trade Routes, Nerf to Merchants and Base Yields
2
Replies
39
Views
3K
Hinin
Hinin
King Phaedron
Indian Graveyard and Casino - Random Trade Routes and Pillaging
Replies
2
Views
317
Bonyduck Campersang
Bonyduck Campersang
C
Tradeable Techs Do Not Show up on TradeScreen
Replies
7
Views
900
Deaf Metal
Deaf Metal
Top Bottom