The trade system needs some considerable tweaking

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Oct 25, 2009
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Its extremely annoying how after a trade unit's mission ends, you have to manually reassign that trade unit every single time.

I don't always remember which trade unit was doing what, so once it's mission ends I have to go to the trade screen or look at all my trade routes in order to remember what this trade unit was doing, and then tell it to just do the same thing again.

In my opinion, once the trade mission of a trade unit ends there should be some kind of a "repeat last trade mission" button or something like that.

And now that I think about it, why are you even forced to leave your trade units to do what they are doing for a period of time and can't just manually re-assign them whenever you want? Why do your trade units HAVE to spend an X amounts of time on each trade mission? If I just want to make trade unit A do something else then why do I have to wait? And once I have assigned a trade unti to do something then why can't I just make it do it forever until I want it to trade somewhere else?

If feel the trade system while a good idea was implimented rather poorly.
 
Agreed. We ought to be able to assign and reassign trade routes whenever, not after X turns.
 
If you scroll down your trade route options, one will have a little message saying it was the one you were using last time.
You shouldn't be able to reassign them at any time; It would be much easier to divert them from attack and therefore make them less risky, which I think would be a bad thing. Defending them is fun. From realism, trade missions took a very very long time. Many ships would have to wait whole seasons for winds to change.
 
If you open the trade menu it says what the previous route was...its rather hard to miss...and to be honest I think the trade system works great. I wouldn't be upset if there was a repeat last mission...but I don't see why you think its implemented rather poorly..
 
If you scroll down your trade route options, one will have a little message saying it was the one you were using last time.
You shouldn't be able to reassign them at any time; It would be much easier to divert them from attack and therefore make them less risky, which I think would be a bad thing. Defending them is fun. From realism, trade missions took a very very long time. Many ships would have to wait whole seasons for winds to change.

More or less everything in this post.

I'd add that Civ5 is about commitment over time, not instant readjustment. Just like you can't switch from science to gold like in previous civ games via a slider, you can't instantly change a trade route as soon as a better, smarter, or safer one appears.
 
There is a note by the previous traderoute telling you it was the previous one. However they could move the previously used traderoute to the top.

At first I didn't see the sense in only being able to change the route every 30 turns. The reason I'm guessing is due to the target civ 'counting'/relying on the bonus on the one hand, and to limit abuse by CS-trade route quests on the other hand.
 
Do the trade routes always take 30 turns? The actual distance the trade unit has to cover doesn't affect anything?
 
There is a note by the previous traderoute telling you it was the previous one. However they could move the previously used traderoute to the top.

At first I didn't see the sense in only being able to change the route every 30 turns. The reason I'm guessing is due to the target civ 'counting'/relying on the bonus on the one hand, and to limit abuse by CS-trade route quests on the other hand.

This is an effect and not a cause, but it also means you have to plan ahead. If you're going to be doing some overseas colonization, are you better off saving a couple of Cargo Ships to kickstart those cities as soon as you put them down or are you better off using them to gather gold, knowing that it'll be an extra 20 turns before your cargo ships are available again to use?

Not sure if that planning aspect is worth the inconvenience, but it doesn't seem like an obviously wrong design decision to me either.
 
Only thing I want to see changed is the last trade used be the default starting point. I hate going through 20+ trade options looking for the one I used last time. This becomes really frustrating when you have 15+ trade routes. It is one of those micro managing things I believe the game could help you out with.
 
There should be a "sort by" option, and the last used (if any) always at the top of the list, with the rest sorted under it...
 
Yes! A "repeat previous route" button would be fantastic!
I'd also like the boxes/text for each trade route to be shrunk/rearranged so you can fit more to a screen.

But I like the concept of committing to a route. Is it really any different from committing to a "trade furs for 5 gold/turn" for 30 turns?
 
What's wrong with having to manually do stuff in the game? When a trade route expires, one should always reevaluate and see if there are better options, given the changes that could have happened in the meantime. The previous route is always labeled (if still valid) but paying attention to all details is how one could improve their gameplay.
 
Do the trade routes always take 30 turns? The actual distance the trade unit has to cover doesn't affect anything?

I would say the distance is a factor. I did not explore the code to confirm it, but I noticed that the longer the trade route, the more income of course, and the longer the commitment. Which is how it should be given the importance of the route in diplomacy.
 
Its extremely annoying how after a trade unit's mission ends, you have to manually reassign that trade unit every single time.

That's especially annoying as Venice! Not only do you have to reassign the trade route, first you must find the text "previous trade route" and the list can be very long. If I have enough money I don't use all my trade routes because it's so annoying.

Trade routes should not stop automatically. The trade route overview is a perfect place to allow manual reassignment of active trade routes that are above the minimum number of turns. Reassigning trade routes it not fun, especially in the endgame, when you have so much other things to do.
 
What's wrong with having to manually do stuff in the game? When a trade route expires, one should always reevaluate and see if there are better options, given the changes that could have happened in the meantime. The previous route is always labeled (if still valid) but paying attention to all details is how one could improve their gameplay.

This. I switch between trade routes all the time. You pretty much have to to get the most bang for your buck as the eras progress

And even if you don't want to, it says "previous trade route"

Trade routes are fine. If anything needs tweaking, it's the gold returns mid to late game, but even then that's up for debate
 
Every time a trade route comes up for renewal, I bring up the overview screen and do a bunch of sorts to find the best mix. Sometimes I want the gold; some times I can take less gold if I can get double the religious pressure; and other times I would want the little bit of science or perhaps not give an opponent lots of gold. It's all a balancing act and one that should be managed effectively.

Also, I look for re-basing the caravan/cargo ship as well.
 
not bothering to check your trade routes out and just reassigning the same route is a poor idea strategically. each time the ship needs a new assignment you should be evaluating how much science your giving away for free/receiving (if any) how much gold the trade partner is pulling off the deal (can you get the same amount of gold at a different city where the partner will receive less?) and is it trucking your religion their way or vice-versa? The only time i would see this being useful is if you were to forego international trading altogether and only use interior/CS trade routes since they dont change much and you wouldnt have to worry about giving away science. That said, this will not bring in nearly as much gold and trade routes with another civs capital can.
 
I would say the distance is a factor. I did not explore the code to confirm it, but I noticed that the longer the trade route, the more income of course, and the longer the commitment. Which is how it should be given the importance of the route in diplomacy.

I don't know if distance affects income (though I doubt it), but it certainly never affects commitment time for me.
 
In my own game, it became obvious I wanted to run all external trade routes from Venice and which two countries were the best deal, so I just scroll in that section to check.
 
I don't know if distance affects income (though I doubt it), but it certainly never affects commitment time for me.

I am sure I saw a trading route with 40+ turns left just yesterday (Standard), when normally it is 30?
 
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