Explaination of trade routes

[Morgawr]

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?

It certainly can. X can trade with A, B, C, but then Y cannot trade with them again because the foreign trade routes have to be unique. Note that trade routes are one-directional though: A will still trade with X, Y, Z but that does not mean Y & Z will be trading with A. Sounds confusing I know.

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.

Domestic routes do not have to be unique, which goes for both the human and the AI so there's no unfairness there.

 

[Bushface]

Domestic routes do not have to be unique, which goes for both the human and the AI so there's no unfairness there.

Now that I didn't know. But I've never noticed it in "my" civs, very possibly because foreign trade becomes available before enough internal trading routes have developed to the point of duplication.