trade routes combination

Ll1442

Chieftain
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
93
is it possible in any way to establish trade routes between 2 city, where the trade unit crosses both land and water? I don't believe it is, but I would like someone to confirm this, as it could become annoying in some situations.
 
I don't think so. Cargo Ships and Caravans are separate units. Cities that are not accessible by land or sea for the appropriate trade unit type just don't appear on the list of possible trade routes.

Yeah, I've always hated this. It means if I build a city in the middle of an island, it's just stuck without being able to trade with anyone. This is actually relatively common in the large islands map.
 
There isn't that we know of.

Which seems like a strange omission, given the importance of air traffic in transporting goods today. One would think they would put in a Cargo Plane unit, which would have an extremely long (maybe limitless?) range and not be restricted by terrain.

Then again, one of the main reasons there are now trade routes depicted visually on the map in the first place is so they can be attacked for plunder and as a means of disrupting enemy trade. And it's not like air pirates have ever really been an actual thing. (Certain awesome movies notwithstanding.) I suppose they could have included an option to hijack the planes . . . but even if we ignore the controversy from people inevitably mistaking "stealing money from a trade route" for "glorifying those terrorists", it still wouldn't make sense because these wouldn't be passenger planes anyway. Hijackers have to pretend to be a passenger to get on to a plane in the first place, and generally are doing it to make a political point rather than a monetary gain. Hijacking a cargo plane to steal the cargo doesn't happen often, if at all. Maybe that's why they didn't bother putting in Cargo Planes?
 
Which seems like a strange omission, given the importance of air traffic in transporting goods today. One would think they would put in a Cargo Plane unit, which would have an extremely long (maybe limitless?) range and not be restricted by terrain.

Then again, one of the main reasons there are now trade routes depicted visually on the map in the first place is so they can be attacked for plunder and as a means of disrupting enemy trade. And it's not like air pirates have ever really been an actual thing. (Certain awesome movies notwithstanding.) I suppose they could have included an option to hijack the planes . . . but even if we ignore the controversy from people inevitably mistaking "stealing money from a trade route" for "glorifying those terrorists", it still wouldn't make sense because these wouldn't be passenger planes anyway. Hijackers have to pretend to be a passenger to get on to a plane in the first place, and generally are doing it to make a political point rather than a monetary gain. Hijacking a cargo plane to steal the cargo doesn't happen often, if at all. Maybe that's why they didn't bother putting in Cargo Planes?

Problem of Airplanes is the fact that, have you ever heard of an Airplane taking several days/months to get to it's destination? Probably the reason. I know I know realism but they would also come too late, and by the time you reach that era, you'd have established your routes well enough.
 
Maybe someone could mod in the ability for caravans to cross to the other land masses, via the airlift mechanic. Just make it so if they use this mechanic, they can only be for internal trade routes and they can't airlift to/from the source and destination cities. Instead they have to travel over land to the nearest city capable of airlifting. In this way, we can have the cargo go by plane, but still have the unit on the ground for part of the journey at both ends where it can be plundered.

Edit: For clarity.
Caravan leaves city A, travels to city B, is airlifted to city C and travels to city D, then reverses this procedure. City A is the source, City D is the destination.
 
Which seems like a strange omission, given the importance of air traffic in transporting goods today. One would think they would put in a Cargo Plane unit, which would have an extremely long (maybe limitless?) range and not be restricted by terrain.

Then again, one of the main reasons there are now trade routes depicted visually on the map in the first place is so they can be attacked for plunder and as a means of disrupting enemy trade. And it's not like air pirates have ever really been an actual thing. (Certain awesome movies notwithstanding.) I suppose they could have included an option to hijack the planes . . . but even if we ignore the controversy from people inevitably mistaking "stealing money from a trade route" for "glorifying those terrorists", it still wouldn't make sense because these wouldn't be passenger planes anyway. Hijackers have to pretend to be a passenger to get on to a plane in the first place, and generally are doing it to make a political point rather than a monetary gain. Hijacking a cargo plane to steal the cargo doesn't happen often, if at all. Maybe that's why they didn't bother putting in Cargo Planes?

The problem with air trade is it is still not very economical for regular use. Depending on the weight and amount of goods air transit can be 5-10 times as expensive as land/sea transport. It is useful if there is an emergency but most goods will still use trains, trucks or ships. The airlift function shows the emergency use well but I don't think air trade should be a major part of the game.
 
I think the reason they allowed no combo/air trade routes is you have a limited number..so it is ok if some cities don't have them.

What I am surprised at is that there is no way of making city connections to those large island inland cities (airport would have been perfect for that.)
 
What I am surprised at is that there is no way of making city connections to those large island inland cities

I think if a city's tiles reach the coast, it should be able to build a Harbor even if the city itself isn't on the coast. I'm fine with non-coastal cities not being able to have a shipbuilding industry. But if a country has a coast, it's still going to have ports even if it has no major coastal cities. Rome was not a coastal city in ancient times (still isn't, as far as I know), but it still had a port. They should make it so that once a city's tiles reach a coastal tile, it gains the ability to build a Harbor. Even if they made it a separate building with slightly different benefits, called a Port Town or something, and made it a requirement that you had to build a road from the city to the tile where it appears in order to get the city connection, it would still be a good idea.
 
Maybe someone could mod in the ability for caravans to cross to the other land masses, via the airlift mechanic. Just make it so if they use this mechanic, they can only be for internal trade routes and they can't airlift to/from the source and destination cities. Instead they have to travel over land to the nearest city capable of airlifting. In this way, we can have the cargo go by plane, but still have the unit on the ground for part of the journey at both ends where it can be plundered.

Edit: For clarity.
Caravan leaves city A, travels to city B, is airlifted to city C and travels to city D, then reverses this procedure. City A is the source, City D is the destination.

Since the origin city doesn't matter for DTRs, just debase the caravan to city C and send it to city D. The current setup is much less complicated and works essentially the same.:)

For ITRs, yes a mechanic that would allow them to be "airlifted" could certainly be useful is some situations (trading with non-coastal capitals on another continent, for example) but at the end of the day unnecessary given the complexity of the coding required, imo.
 
I think if a city's tiles reach the coast, it should be able to build a Harbor even if the city itself isn't on the coast. I'm fine with non-coastal cities not being able to have a shipbuilding industry. But if a country has a coast, it's still going to have ports even if it has no major coastal cities. Rome was not a coastal city in ancient times (still isn't, as far as I know), but it still had a port. They should make it so that once a city's tiles reach a coastal tile, it gains the ability to build a Harbor. Even if they made it a separate building with slightly different benefits, called a Port Town or something, and made it a requirement that you had to build a road from the city to the tile where it appears in order to get the city connection, it would still be a good idea.

That would probably be best as an Improvement.. Only build on coastal tiles.. Only in city territory... Can only have road level connection.
 
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