well yes..but that doesn't explain how a city is trading with itself. 1 freight in gives both ends or 2 routes.Nice.If it could be done with food freights..well now that would be something.
It can be done with a food freight or a commodity freight, with at least 2 ways that I have found:
Method 1: Use a NONE freight. This will make 2 trade routes, connected with road/RR for bonuses, but use only the destination for trade calculations. The result will be 2 trade routes. This is an expensive method sometimes, as to get a NONE, you must bribe an enemy freight.
Method 2: "Trade Special" city. Ditto. but it is not dependent on freight direction of entry. Some cities are "TS" and some are not "TS". A TS (Trade Special) can do such things. But in a fully developed trade empire, you are better off delivering to a faraway city, since you can get the full trade arrows for both sities.
This uploaded map fits my general discussion above, but I have not fully defined what make a TS city, since it is not generally worth the effort to do, compared to "normal" trade.
NOTE... this will work for food, and the FCT, too. It is not cost effective. But the result is a -1 route with itself, and the usual food in the box. The
net result is
no change of food production using food instead of commodity in #1 and #2.
Guess one of these days I'll write a comprehensive trade document called the "Starlifter School of Trade",
so all this info is known and in one place.
These methods really won't result in a net advantage in SP, at least that I can see. An exception that I've tried before is if the owning civ is very poor, and the freight/caravan is a long way from the capital. But even then, it did not seem to be worth is. Better to spend the gold to PRB a "normal" freight and send it to a distant city! In MP, well, who knows... but the cost in gold still seems prohibitive for the slight advantage of NONE freight and TS cities.
There are 2 minor advantages, neither of which I feel are worthwhile in normal circumstances. First, you get 2 commodity routes. But both are crippled... e.g., not full value, since the "source" trade value is zero. In an isolated area, maybe method #2 would be worth it in the short term, until "fat" routes could be established. The big disadvantage (besides cost for case #1) is that you get neither the overseas/foriegn bonus, nor do you get a route with another city of you own. Just two "slim" routes with your one city.
