combining units with trade routes

[Siptah]

civvi allows combining civil and military units and move them together. We haven't heard if that also applies to trade units. I'd love to attach a ship to my sea trade units so it's harder to pillage the trade route. You will have to kill the guarding unit first. Same goes for land trade and barbarians. When sea barbarians are as active as the ones we have seen on land, I fear for my sea trading routes without proper protection. Of course this reduces the income of the trade route since there is upkeep for the military unit guarding it.

Edit: maybe it is still possible to pillage the trade route, but the guarded trade unit survives and the pillaging does not generate as much gold as an unguarded fully pillaged and disrupted trade route.

What do you think?

 

[Smitty1776]

I agree. It was frustrating not being able to protect trade routes in Civ V (well, unless you followed them with a unit, which was basically impossible anyway, since you didn't always know what route they were going to take).

That being said, I'm not sure I like the idea of attaching a military unit to the trader permanently. As you point out, that makes it too difficult to pillage. Furthermore, I think of a trade unit as representing a continuous flow of trade to be guarded along its whole length, rather than one single caravan/ship. Someone may have mentioned this elsewhere, but what about being able to put military units (perhaps only melee units) in a protective mode, somewhat like interception with fighter planes. The melee unit could have a range of protection along a portion of the trade route. Sometimes a pillaging unit would have success; sometimes it wouldn't. Either way, the pillager would sustain damage. This way, you would have to invest more in protecting your trade units, and it would be advantageous to set up new trade routes along an already protected stretch.

 

[Siptah]

Your idea could also be done with an improvement (khan, caravanserai). You can build it inside and outside your territory. It protects trade routes within a radius of 2 or 3 hexes around it. It may even increase income from trade routes that go through it. However, the caravanserai itself can be pillaged (giving a rather large sum if you do) so you should put a unit on that tile guarding the caravanserai.

 

[Smitty1776]

Your idea could also be done with an improvement (khan, caravanserai). You can build it inside and outside your territory. It protects trade routes within a radius of 2 or 3 hexes around it. It may even increase income from trade routes that go through it. However, the caravanserai itself can be pillaged (giving a rather large sum if you do) so you should put a unit on that tile guarding the caravanserai.

I like it. Good idea.

 

[jsciv69]

Maybe the trade units can have a defense/attack mechanism similiar to scouts.