Trade Routes - Didn't we learn from Railroad Tycoon?

[rsmithuf]

I agree that the trade route functionality needs major patching. I am somewhat AMAZED by the lack of depth in such a critical area, especially since Sid Meier has experience in this (ie Railroad Tycoon).

1) The trade route needs "Railroad Tycoon" style orders. You should be able to say:
Pickup Good A @ Town 1
Dropoff Good A @ Town 2; Pickup Good B @ Town 2
Dropoff Good B @ Town 3; Pickup Good C @ Town 3
Return to Town 1 etc
You should easily be able to examine a trade route by just clicking on the ship or wagon train. Perhaps bringing up a map showing the known area and the route the ship or wagon train will take. Adding this feature I think would enhance the user's experience so much more. The "list" of import/export possibilities gets to be a complete MESS at the later game, spending so much time trying to find the correct goods to ship from city to city. Furthermore, it's limited to only two cities (no triangle routes).
2) When enemy units are near wagon trains, do not cancel orders
3) Fix ship order so that they constantly go back and forth between trade city and Europe. Right now, after one run, they "forget" their orders.

 

[Shaded]

I totally agree with you. Trade route system is flawed, inadequate and cumbersome in Colonization. It is almost impossible to play the game at later stages because of the micromanagement.

Firaxis please fix this!

 

[AKviking]

Valid points. They should make a way to sort the list either by goods, "from city" or "to city".

My last game worked out pretty good in that I did not assign any specific routes to the wagon trains, but rather set them all on AUTO and then had one that I used for special shipments that I had to Manually drive around. All the importing/exporting worked out pretty good.

None of the stock piled up in the from cities, just in their destinations.

 

[Supr49er]

Welcome to the Forums AKviking.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

I agree that the trade route functionality needs major patching. I am somewhat AMAZED by the lack of depth in such a critical area, especially since Sid Meier has experience in this (ie Railroad Tycoon).

1) The trade route needs "Railroad Tycoon" style orders. You should be able to say:
Pickup Good A @ Town 1
Dropoff Good A @ Town 2; Pickup Good B @ Town 2
Dropoff Good B @ Town 3; Pickup Good C @ Town 3
Return to Town 1 etc

That's how it was done in the original Col game. There was a pulldown menu with the options "create trade route", "edit trade route" and "delete trade route" instead of the rigmarole in Col II. Like so much else in Col I, it was extremely easy and player-friendly.

 

[jenks]

whilst i always argue in favor of col1 design Im with AKviking on this one, the auto function seems to work well enough and is simple once you figure out how to change import / export. Less micro-management.

I kinda like it, and keeping a couple of spare wagon trains for 'precision' stock moving such as wood tools and muskets works well enough for me.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

whilst i always argue in favor of col1 design Im with AKviking on this one, the auto function seems to work well enough and is simple once you figure out how to change import / export. Less micro-management.

I kinda like it, and keeping a couple of spare wagon trains for 'precision' stock moving such as wood tools and muskets works well enough for me.

How many wagons do you generally build?

 

[AKviking]

How many wagons do you generally build?

It all depends on how many towns I've got and how much need I have for transporting goods. If I notice the current wagons are not keeping up with the need, I'll build a few more. I just have to remember when one is created, if it's supposed to go into the auto mode or if it's for my own manual moving of goods.

For 5 towns, 2 wagons seemed to be pretty good, and of course depending on how spread out the towns are and if there's roads connecting them will factor in as well.

My last game got out of hand and I had towns being overstocked with goods.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

It all depends on how many towns I've got and how much need I have for transporting goods. If I notice the current wagons are not keeping up with the need, I'll build a few more. I just have to remember when one is created, if it's supposed to go into the auto mode or if it's for my own manual moving of goods.

For 5 towns, 2 wagons seemed to be pretty good, and of course depending on how spread out the towns are and if there's roads connecting them will factor in as well.

My last game got out of hand and I had towns being overstocked with goods.

Wow. You know, I aways used to build as few wagons as possible in Col I because there were so many other necessary things to build. The change in Col II where one can trabsport wagons to another continent/island *is* a great improvement, ny the way.