-
We are currently performing site maintenance, parts of civfanatics are currently offline, but will come back online in the coming days (this includes any time you see the message "account suspended"). For more updates please see here.
Explaination of trade routes
- Thread starter Kalyse
- Start date
Kadasbrass
Warlord
Your Cities will form trade routes automatically with other cities and civilizations (requires open borders and conntected to them via river, roads, or sea). Trade routes will then generate gold in that city.
The number of trade routes is determined by your technology, civics, and wonders. Cities start with one route but go up over time based on those three factors. Trade routes with other civilizations and over seas will generate alot more gold then trade routes between your own cities.
Any civilization with Merchantilism will not have foreign trade routes.
The number of trade routes is determined by your technology, civics, and wonders. Cities start with one route but go up over time based on those three factors. Trade routes with other civilizations and over seas will generate alot more gold then trade routes between your own cities.
Any civilization with Merchantilism will not have foreign trade routes.
Spaced out
Chieftain
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2006
- Messages
- 51
they are totally different,
if you want, after you get currency you can trade clams for gold
if you want, after you get currency you can trade clams for gold
Supr49er
2011 Thunderfall Cup
Thankfully you don't need to send caravans all over the map like older versions of civ.
HoMM3 fanatic
Chieftain
How does the game determine which cities does city X trade with? I mean, is it totally random or does the game pick the most profitable routes?
How does the AI calculate which routes are more profitable?
Often times I'll notice a city with nothing but domestic trade routes but that city's nearest neighbor has nothing but international overseas routes...aren't the overseas routes with foreign civs that are always at peace with me inherently more profitable due to bonus multipliers versus a domestic route with a city on the same continent? That said, shouldn't the computer automatically open as many of these routes as possible?
Often times I'll notice a city with nothing but domestic trade routes but that city's nearest neighbor has nothing but international overseas routes...aren't the overseas routes with foreign civs that are always at peace with me inherently more profitable due to bonus multipliers versus a domestic route with a city on the same continent? That said, shouldn't the computer automatically open as many of these routes as possible?
-- On a side note I actually wouldn't mind seeing this in some form or another. I think it would be really cool to be able to manipulate where and with whom your cities trade. It could even factor into diplomacy, being able to use or deny profitable routes as leverage during negotiations sounds good to me. At the very least some method of transporting food from one city to another would be a great idea. After all, it's not like Las Vegas is a lush oasis of farmland but hundreds of thousands of people live there not to mention millions of tourists each year.Thankfully you don't need to send caravans all over the map like older versions of civ.
Morgawr
Civ Fanatic
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
- Messages
- 1,230
Yes, but you cannot have more than one trade route to the same foreign city. Domestic trade routes are unlimited.
Example: You have three cities with 3 potential trade routes each, City A, B, C. You are connected to 3 foreign intercontinental cities X, Y, Z and have open borders. Assume City A is the "best" city as far as trade routes are concerned (i.e. largest size, coastal, etc) so it will automatically get assigned the best deals. It will trade with X, Y, Z. Now we move on the City B. You have already used X, Y, Z so you cannot use them again. If we know of no other cities, City B can only trade domestically with A and C. It is therefore only using 2/3 possible routes. (If we had a 4th city D it would be with D) Same goes for City C.
So this is how you can come across "a city with nothing but domestic trade routes but that city's nearest neighbor has nothing but international overseas routes"
The biggest implication is that you get the highest benefits from your trade routes if you are connected to many foreign cities and have open borders with them.
Example: You have three cities with 3 potential trade routes each, City A, B, C. You are connected to 3 foreign intercontinental cities X, Y, Z and have open borders. Assume City A is the "best" city as far as trade routes are concerned (i.e. largest size, coastal, etc) so it will automatically get assigned the best deals. It will trade with X, Y, Z. Now we move on the City B. You have already used X, Y, Z so you cannot use them again. If we know of no other cities, City B can only trade domestically with A and C. It is therefore only using 2/3 possible routes. (If we had a 4th city D it would be with D) Same goes for City C.
So this is how you can come across "a city with nothing but domestic trade routes but that city's nearest neighbor has nothing but international overseas routes"
The biggest implication is that you get the highest benefits from your trade routes if you are connected to many foreign cities and have open borders with them.
However, if you BLOCKADE a city (and have sufficient EP to investigate it), you will find that harbor/trade bonuses for it being a port are not eliminated or reduced.
I was definitely not pleased at making this discovery. It is even more relevant than just eliminating its use of the sea for food.
I can only hope that it was only the DISPLAY of the trade numbers were not reduced, and the actual trade was.
I was definitely not pleased at making this discovery. It is even more relevant than just eliminating its use of the sea for food.
I can only hope that it was only the DISPLAY of the trade numbers were not reduced, and the actual trade was.
Bushface
Deity
Mousing over the trade route value in the city screen brings up a breakdown of how the total is made up. There will be a base value (of 1, plus 0.1 for each pop point the other city has), to which bonuses may be added: 5% for each pop point above 10 that your city has, 25% if your city is connected to your capital, 100% if trading with a foreign city and another 150% once you've been at peace with that civ for long enough, and another 100% for trading with a different landmass. A port city also gets +50% from a harbour and +100% for overseas trading if it has a Custom House. And one lucky city can also get +100% from the Temple of Artemis. Fortunately, the computer selects trading partners on the basis of what is best for you.
Also note that AI cities get a much better base value; I have seen it up to 2.5, to get which in one of your cities would mean the AI city being size 25, or if calculated on the above basis your city being size 35.
Also note that AI cities get a much better base value; I have seen it up to 2.5, to get which in one of your cities would mean the AI city being size 25, or if calculated on the above basis your city being size 35.
Merkinball
Deity
Interesting...
Convenient too, because I was going to start thread questioning what the "base" profit was.
In the statistics, what is the trade deficit/surplus? How does that work out? Is that centered around "clam for gold" trade, or "trade route" trade?
Convenient too, because I was going to start thread questioning what the "base" profit was.
In the statistics, what is the trade deficit/surplus? How does that work out? Is that centered around "clam for gold" trade, or "trade route" trade?
HoMM3 fanatic
Chieftain
So if city A can trade with foreign cities Z, Y and X (assuming they all belong to same civ), why can´t city X trade with A, B and C? Is the AI limited to only have one trade route with human player per city?
77alex77
Chieftain
I found a thread providing a detailed formula:
Trade Routes (formula)
I'm still not sure about the order trade routes are assigned...
But which city does assign its trade routes first?
The one that was founded first? The one with the biggest pop?
Or is it the one with the best possible trade routes?
Trade Routes (formula)
I'm still not sure about the order trade routes are assigned...
But which city does assign its trade routes first?
The one that was founded first? The one with the biggest pop?
Or is it the one with the best possible trade routes?
Bushface
Deity
That formula does not apply to BtS, which added a bonus for overseas trade, one for connection to your capital, the possibility for another from the Temple of Artemis, etc. It seems that all the factors emerge on mousing over the trade route value, as I said earlier in this thread.
BUT I can't explain the effects of trading on the same landmass, when the distance between trading partners definitely has an effect which it does not when trading overseas. For example, Edirne, size 15, an AI city, has a base rate of 2.28 trading with Belfast (mine, size 23) at distances of 32 tiles vertical and 13 horizontal, and a base of 1.74 with Liverpool (mine, 25) at 21v, 17h: Antalya (AI, 8) gets a base of 1.4 with Filmore (mine, 14) at 18h 20v. I cannot work out a formula relating these consistently.
As regards multiple cities trading with the same partners, although each of my cities has its unique set of partners the same clearly does not apply to the AI civs. Pacal has at least six cities all trading with his two largest, Aksum and Gondar, and these two cities are also trading with each other. Unfair, I say, unfair.
BUT I can't explain the effects of trading on the same landmass, when the distance between trading partners definitely has an effect which it does not when trading overseas. For example, Edirne, size 15, an AI city, has a base rate of 2.28 trading with Belfast (mine, size 23) at distances of 32 tiles vertical and 13 horizontal, and a base of 1.74 with Liverpool (mine, 25) at 21v, 17h: Antalya (AI, 8) gets a base of 1.4 with Filmore (mine, 14) at 18h 20v. I cannot work out a formula relating these consistently.
As regards multiple cities trading with the same partners, although each of my cities has its unique set of partners the same clearly does not apply to the AI civs. Pacal has at least six cities all trading with his two largest, Aksum and Gondar, and these two cities are also trading with each other. Unfair, I say, unfair.
The amount of commerce generated by a trade route depends both on the city that the route comes from and the city it goes to. I would guess that, of your cities, the one which has the potential for the highest trade route income gets first choice of foreign trade routes.
77alex77
Chieftain
Sounds logical. I think you are right.
Bushface
Deity
A little evidence of that being correct. I had a port city with the Temple of Artemis, trading overseas with a group of foreign cities: later in the game, after the temple had become obsolete, those foreign cities switched to trading with another of my ports which by that time had grown bigger than the ToA one and hence had a higher trade potential. Alas, potential is one thing, but the rounding down of trade revenue meant no actual increase.
Similar threads
