How do you decide how to utilize your Trade Routes?

[Marshall Thomas]

I'm playing my first game of Brave New World and I'm having difficulty deciding how to best utilize my trade route opportunities. Should I set up international trade routes with other AI civs? Or should I set up trade routes with city states? Or am I better off setting up domestic trade routes for food or production?

Eventually, maybe it's best to do some of all three options; but early on, which of these three options is usually best? How do you decide? Thanks in advance.

edit: by the way, I'm playing as Arabia -if that has any bearing on making this decision.

 

[Calouste]

I'm playing my first game of Brave New World and I'm having difficulty deciding how to best utilize my trade route opportunities. Should I set up international trade routes with other AI civs? Or should I set up trade routes with city states? Or am I better off setting up domestic trade routes for food or production?

Eventually, maybe it's best to do some of all three options; but early on, which of these three options is usually best? How do you decide? Thanks in advance.

edit: by the way, I'm playing as Arabia -if that has any bearing on making this decision.

Arabia definitely makes a difference, because their trade routes spread religion faster. So you want to trade mostly long distance (because on short distances your religion spreads anyway) to help spreading your religion, and you might want to send multiple trade routes to the same city to concentrate your religious pressure.

 

[jlafleur]

Early on, if you can't protect your trade routes outside of your borders from barbarians, then you can use the trade routes internally for food. Once you can protect the route, then you can trade with other civs. Sea routes are especially vulnerable unless you have a sizable navy. Sometimes, if you want to rush a wonder, spread them out amongst your cities and send production to the wonder building city.

 

[EK834]

I'm playing my first game of Brave New World and I'm having difficulty deciding how to best utilize my trade route opportunities. Should I set up international trade routes with other AI civs? Or should I set up trade routes with city states? Or am I better off setting up domestic trade routes for food or production?

Eventually, maybe it's best to do some of all three options; but early on, which of these three options is usually best? How do you decide? Thanks in advance.

edit: by the way, I'm playing as Arabia -if that has any bearing on making this decision.

It depends on a lot of factors that vary from game to game, with difficulty level etc..

Someone already posted about Arabia's specifics advantages.

Internal trade routes, especially if they can be cargo ships, are a powerful way to grow your capital or other cities fast (soon they easily equal or better having an Hanging Gardens in the recipient city...). Growth is a key to science in BNW. If you generate enough gpt to afford internal TR, don't hesitate.

Occasionally they might provide a good boost in production when building a Wonder.

On higher levels, external TR have a big advantage: the AI is ahead of you for most of the early game and external TR thus give much, much science. On lower levels they pretty much lose this advantage, except for beginners who will let the AI run away in science.

Late game external TR provide a tourism multiplier (they do so the whole game, but it's not a significant factor until the midgame or so), so that's another factor that might influence you to send one to each Civ you wish to increase your influence over.

Assigning them to CS away from a specific theater of the map is often a move you wish to make when you're planning to attack a Civ in another area and want to minimize the risks of being pillaged during the war. Another reason to send TR to them is when they have the quest for that. One tenet also gives influence with CS you have a TR with.

Various factors can influence the choice of a destination city: how safe the route will be, how safe is it to trade with that specific AI - will he DoW at some point?, how much gold and science I get, and how much I give the recipient.

There is also a diplomatic advantage to sending TR to an AI: it might influence it not to attack you not to lose all the benefits. With many AI a few TR is enough to keep them very friendly. With others they'll attack no matter what, as they already do even it loses them trade deals for luxuries, resources etc. In the early game especially, sending a TR can instantly bring a neutral AI to become friendly and offer deals and DoF. When you fear that AI might launch an early attack on you, that can be a boon (if it's not one of the backstabbing AI).

When an AI sends TR to you, it's a good sign they probably intend to be friendly for the moment. Watch out if they re assign them though. It doesn't automatically mean they're about to DoW (they may have found better deals elsewhere) but if you're their only trade partner it's almost certain the DoW is imminent.

 

[Barghaest]

It's all circumstantial to me. If I'm struggling to get my economy growing, I'll do the Highest Gold route that is least likely to be plundered by barbs or irritable civs (usually ends up being closest CS).

If I'm behind in science vs an AI I'll send routes to him for the boost.

After my economy is going nicely, I'll run internal routes to speed growth on new/smaller cities.

When I get multiple routes I usually mix internal/external (more external if I need the coin/science).

After I've gotten my empire going well and have 5+ routes available, I tend to save one for CS quests and two for pushing cities (production and/or food on new cities or boosting existing ones with lots of growth room but slow rate - like coastal cities - to help with science and specialist or production for later game buildings to cities with poor production - like island/arctic cities which could use hospitals or airports) while the others boost economy to let me purchase items/CS loyalties. I tend to prefer routes to CS unless AI are ahead in tech or I have some influence over them - I don't like giving them a science boost unless I'm getting some science in return.

I tend to prefer coastal cities so I'll usually have more cargo ship routes than caravans - often selling existing land ones to make room for more sea.

 

[anrke]

If money is in the positive, I'll send food caravans to new cities to boose their growth.
External trade routes to CS only once I have tech parity/lead.
Trade routes to nearby neighbours early on to help discourage an early war.

I'll always check all CS quests to see if anybody is looking for a trade route whenever a caravan comes up for a new destination.

Q. As the game progresses, do people tend to disband land trade routes and replace them with more cargo ships if there are sufficient coastal origins/destinations?

 

[DarthSheldonPhD]

seems most people concur that early routes are better internally for growth, and later on switch them up to external for more gold.

I'd recommend the opposite, early external routes for cash and later internal routes for growth. Early on, happiness caps your growth brutally, so increasing growth rate only leads to cutting your growth by 75% due to unhappiness. Later, there's more outs to keeping happiness high and the increasing food surpluses necessary to increase big cities by single pop points makes internal routes all but necessary. Regarding economics, it's difficult early game simply covering building and unit maintenance, let alone using your economy beneficially by purchasing units, buildings, and influence, and external routes can be critical in covering the costs of the investment of early infrastructure and the military necessary to protect that investment. Later on, as that early investment is paying off and you're making hundreds of GPT, switching to internal helps with growth.

Yes, protecting external routes early is more difficult than late game, but I usually find that 1 fog-busting unit clears a route for land routes and 1-2 units covers a coastal route.

 

[CultureManiac]

Agree with teh above. I generally use external trade routes in the beginning (if it's safe) as the gain in money and science is better than the gain in food - farms plus granary plus food focus keeps me growing about as fast as happiness allows early on. Later, when the science from routes declines, and the gold is less significant as a perentage of my income, and I need more food to run more specialists, then internal routes become preferable. There is no solid rule, as it depends on circumstances/needs, but this is my general preference.

 

[Bagi]

Early game I always prioritize other AIs for the science boost, its pretty essential especially on higher difficulties. Assuming your neighbor isn't a warmonger you usually get an easy DOF this way as the AI seems to really like the free gold they get from you.

Usually my 3rd route is used to grow the capital, although that depends a lot on how much happiness and food I can get from other sources. I usually go full tradition and build my guilds in the capital, so a big capital is more important than the other cities.

I only send trade routes to city states if theres a quest for it or I have literally no other option. I think the science and diplomatic boosts far outweigh the few extra gpt you might get from a city-state route.

 

[njmfff]

Early on, if you can't protect your trade routes outside of your borders from barbarians, then you can use the trade routes internally for food. Once you can protect the route, then you can trade with other civs. Sea routes are especially vulnerable unless you have a sizable navy. Sometimes, if you want to rush a wonder, spread them out amongst your cities and send production to the wonder building city.

Best way to grow new cities fast, especially with naval TR.

 

[Memoryjar]

Usually, my first trade route is for a safe way (no barbarians). I need to avoid cash to be in red. If, i can have science, i priorize this trade route.

After, food for my cities. At last, money. Rarely hammers for my capital.

If i pick Liberty, i'm waiting to have Treaty organization, except caravans for food, i reorganize my trade routes to cities state.

 

[King_Course]

Early on, the science gained from a very early traderoute with another Civ, can't be beaten. At least on the higher difficulties where you often start far behind and thus get a nice science addition.

It seems, that whichever game I am playing, I am wanting to build the Petra. If it is in a second city, food from cap by a traderoute can help it grow to be ready for the hard build, and when it is building will allow it to work more hammer tiles.

Later in the game, I often have 1 or even 2 food to capital. This help it work it's specialists, universities and the cultural specialists. If another city is specialist heavy I redirect the food there of course.

You'll eventually want sea trade routes for gold, and food to capital if possible.

Traderoutes to a CS, only if it's a quest that will give you standing with them, which can be very good early. Or if there's no other choice.

Regardless, I always keep 1 or 2 traderoutes for food, or hammers.