How Best to Make "Distribution" or "Balancer" Trade Routes?

[cammcken]

Let's say a particular good is both produced and consumed in many settlements, but in unbalanced rates, such as lumber. I want to set up trade routes to make sure that lumber in settlements with a surplus reaches settlements with a deficit.

I use a "linking loop" arrangement, which is my best strategy so far, but I want to know whether there's any problems and whether there's a better way.

Let's say I have settlements A, B, C, D, aligned roughly in a circular shape. First I choose an amount to keep in each settlement, for example 100, and then I choose a transport size, such as 200 for wagon trains. Then in each settlement I set the lumber to "Keep 100" and import "Up to 300". Then I set up routes like so:

• Lumber from A to B
• Lumber from B to C
• Lumber from C to D
• Lumber from D to A

To my best understanding, this will cause the wagon train to pick up any lumber over 100 from A, dump its entire cargo in B, then pick up any excess over 100 from B and repeat. If the total production of lumber exceeds consumption, eventually the wagon train will fill up and will be unable to empty its cargo at destinations. This is okay, because it will continue to its next route and try to empty cargo there. Is this all correct?

Let's say I have more settlements, and I don't believe a single wagon train can cover all of them. Then I will choose one settlement to be the "hub" and create a second loop that overlaps the first loop on the hub. The hub itself will have a much larger limit, such as "Up to 500." I can also make a "hub" in my main export city, so that excess can be shipped to Europe.

Instead of a circle, I can also arrange loops in a line shape: A to B; B to C; C to D; D to C; C to B; B to A. Good for coastal transports.

Potential problems:

• We the People seems to have changed how some of the minimum and maximum limits function, so maybe my logic is incorrect.
• If total consumption is greater than total production, then only a few settlements will actually get the resource.
• For resources affected by warehouse limits, the "hubs" need to be export centers. Automatic sale to Europe abilities (e.g. from expanded warehouse and customs house) chooses from a wide variety of the settlements resources; there is no way to prioritize the specific resource in excess.
• If any settlement in the chain turns off its imports, such as when warehouse is full, then the transport gets "stuck" there and cannot service settlements further down the chain, if I understand the automate behavior correctly.

What strategies do you all use?

 

[Voker57]

I don't set up manual routes, this is not really much better than handling logistics manually... You can just set proper import/export limits in all towns and set transports to 'fully automate'.

 

[cammcken]

I don't set up manual routes, this is not really much better than handling logistics manually... You can just set proper import/export limits in all towns and set transports to 'fully automate'.

I worry this would lead to inefficiencies, such as when a transport chooses a route between two distant settlements without stopping at the settlements in between. Is fully automate smart enough to used intermediary stops?

 

[Martin Peralta]

I treat my first settlement as the main capital and every nearby settlement as a support city. Support cities export their surplus goods (raw materials or products) to the capital, which acts as the central storage hub.
On the return trip, those same trade routes deliver back whatever goods the support cities consume, provided the capital has enough surplus. Each trade route I name them TR1, TR2 and so on.. and same way i name my transports, so that i always know what Trade Route is servicing each transport, and i can relatively easy change the cargoes.

I also have specialized production cities (for example, one that only produces lumber or ore). These don’t receive anything fancy - they just ship their output to the capital.

Later, once my colony expands, I often establish a second regional capital - a “provincial hub.” It receives large shipments from the main capital and in turn manages its own network of nearby support cities, using the same import-export logic on a smaller scale.