The main problem with the Trade Route system in Colonization 2 is its interface. This not to say that the system itself is ideal, but for now I'm concentrating on a complete revamp of the interface to the system. After that is done, I will then focus on adding and enhancing the system itself.
My first step, which is practically done, is to provide more straight forward access to the information of your Trade Routes. To that end, I have narrowed it down to 4 important elements.
1) The Trade Routes themselves.
2) The Transports to move along the Trade Routes.
3) The Commodities to put in your Transports.
4) The Data over Time of the various parts of your Trade System.
This information can now be easyly accessed through a new Screen I have created. It has 5 different Pages.
The first and second Pages, "Domestic Routes" and "Foreign Routes", address the first point and show the Trade Routes in your Colonies and the Trade Routes with Europe, respectively. This Page has Buttons that allow you to Create, Edit, and Delete Trade Routes. This Page also has a Button, Assign Units To Trade Route, that will all you tell Units to use the selected Trade Route. Also note that the Create Trade Route Button is on all Pages of the Screen.
The third Page, "Transports", addresses the second important point. This Page has two Tables, the top one showing Land Cargo Transports and the bottom showing Sea Cargo Transports. I just made this Page tonight and it is basicly done. What isn't done is the popup that will allow you to assign Trade Routes to the Transport Units.
The forth Page, "Commodities", addresses the third important point and gives a comprehensive overview of the Yields Stored in all your Cities. The Table at the top of this Page shows your totals for each Yield and the Table on the right shows the total for each City. I'm not sure what else I'm going to do with this Page, but it isn't quite done yet.
The fifth and final Page, "Graphs", begins to address the forth important point, but is not near done. Currently it works similarly to the Info Screen, except better because I coded the screen correctly.. something it seems was not done with alot of the default screens... anyway.. It currently has two Graphs, one shows the History of Yields Stored in Cities and the other shows the History of Production Rates of each Yield.
Most of the work so far has been done with Python to make the Screen, but I did add a few new helper functions to CvTradeRoute objects to make it easyer to determine if a Trade Route goes to Europe and if it is a Land or Sea Trade Route. I also added a little code to CvPlayer objects so that I could keep track of the data that is displayed in the new Graphs.
Thread: JTradeRoutes Mod Discussion
Sources: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=10999
My first step, which is practically done, is to provide more straight forward access to the information of your Trade Routes. To that end, I have narrowed it down to 4 important elements.
1) The Trade Routes themselves.
2) The Transports to move along the Trade Routes.
3) The Commodities to put in your Transports.
4) The Data over Time of the various parts of your Trade System.
This information can now be easyly accessed through a new Screen I have created. It has 5 different Pages.
The first and second Pages, "Domestic Routes" and "Foreign Routes", address the first point and show the Trade Routes in your Colonies and the Trade Routes with Europe, respectively. This Page has Buttons that allow you to Create, Edit, and Delete Trade Routes. This Page also has a Button, Assign Units To Trade Route, that will all you tell Units to use the selected Trade Route. Also note that the Create Trade Route Button is on all Pages of the Screen.
The third Page, "Transports", addresses the second important point. This Page has two Tables, the top one showing Land Cargo Transports and the bottom showing Sea Cargo Transports. I just made this Page tonight and it is basicly done. What isn't done is the popup that will allow you to assign Trade Routes to the Transport Units.
The forth Page, "Commodities", addresses the third important point and gives a comprehensive overview of the Yields Stored in all your Cities. The Table at the top of this Page shows your totals for each Yield and the Table on the right shows the total for each City. I'm not sure what else I'm going to do with this Page, but it isn't quite done yet.
The fifth and final Page, "Graphs", begins to address the forth important point, but is not near done. Currently it works similarly to the Info Screen, except better because I coded the screen correctly.. something it seems was not done with alot of the default screens... anyway.. It currently has two Graphs, one shows the History of Yields Stored in Cities and the other shows the History of Production Rates of each Yield.
Most of the work so far has been done with Python to make the Screen, but I did add a few new helper functions to CvTradeRoute objects to make it easyer to determine if a Trade Route goes to Europe and if it is a Land or Sea Trade Route. I also added a little code to CvPlayer objects so that I could keep track of the data that is displayed in the new Graphs.
Thread: JTradeRoutes Mod Discussion
Sources: http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=10999