How to Use Trade Routes Properly?

So I generally feel that im reactive in regards to trade routes. I tend to use them as happiness modifiers for unhappy cities but other than that I have no cohesive understanding of how to properly use them. I play on standard speed Diety.

1) What does it mean by resource diversity?

2) East India trade wonder, should I build it in the city with the best luxury resources or have it in the capital or somewhere else.

3) Should you spread out of trade routes to different cities or concentrate them all in one city?

4) Specific strategies for attracting trade routes from other civilizations as I tend to only have a handful ever going my way.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

1) https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/whats-up-with-trade-route-gold.648935/

2) East India company doubles the count of luxury resources in the city its built. So build it in the city that has the most number of unique luxuries or in a city that gives you >50% of a particular resource. That way you can get a monopoly that you would not otherwise have.

3) In early game, I tend to use internal trade routes as they are safer, and also to grow my cities. Late game external trade routes are more viable for the amount of gold they bring in, especially with corporations. Concentrating them from one city is fine in late game, if you have some scaling bonus like Divine Inheritance, or in early game if you want to grow your capital.

4) If you are the leader, trade routes sent to you give other civs science and culture bonuses. So be the leader in everything and you will attract trade routes.

 

Also, external trade routes towards influenced civs increase your city growth. The more influential the more growth.

That means that you can target someone who you have yet to influence so you get tourism or you can target a subjugated civ who you might not influence anymore but will make your city grow more. It also helps maintaining friendly relationships. Trade routes towards allied CS are nice and safer, and yield tourism if you went Statecraft.

Depending on your raw food production, internal trade routes may get more yields and make sure that you are boosting your villages.

I recommend using the ui mod Filters in Trade Routes, so you can plan better your trading network.

 

Such a good mod, especially with late game TRs!!!

A few quick notes on TRs.

1) Early game ITRs make a big difference. With progress I try to sync a new city with an available ITR to get that city going immediately. With tradition I will send ITRs into my capital as much as possible to get it big and strong.

2) The TR CS quest can be nice a little later in the game, but generally I don't take it early. The food is nice, but you get more food overall with the ITR...and its a long time to wait before you can reset that TR again. So unless that quest will secure me a nice CS ally (and the quest provides very little influence so it needs to be coupled with something else), I will stay with ITRs.

3) After a few runs of ITRs I switch to ETRs if I think I can maintain peace with my neighbors. Tu mentioned that influence levels are worth looking at to select your trading partners.

4) A very important early game note. Never create a TR you cannot defend from barbs. I've hit this wall especially when I pick up Petra, I'm all excited to get that TR out....3 turns later a barb appears in the worse spot possible, I don't have a unit to stop it, and it grabs my TR. It happens more often than I care to admit....never create a TR near unsighted land (just assume a barb will appear there...because they will), and make sure you have units near those TR spots to protect them. Early in the game this is my number 1 factor when deciding a TR....I would rather create a short safe TR that's a little less benefit than a more lucrative one that will get sniped....trade routes are very expensive to recreate early game...its not worth gambling with them.

5) Mid to late game I use land TRs whenever possible. Water TRs are more lucrative, but are insanely difficult to maintain on maps with any amount of water. You just can't protect them well enough from enemy attacks or the damn barbs. AIs are very bloodthirsty in the late game, most will attack you sooner or later. With land TRs you tend to have a bit more control, with water they are pretty much a goner.

 

I'm not a diety player so take advice with a grain of salt.

2) East India trade wonder, should I build it in the city with the best luxury resources or have it in the capital or somewhere else.
I often build this in capital since more trade routes go from this city, it builds fast.
If there is a city with very good resource variation I would consider changing but its rarely enough to get an extra monopoly and will you really use that city to start trade routes from?
I'm not sure myself but 95% -> capital, I play wide and East India provide valuable global poverty reduction which is a higher prio than where.

3) Should you spread out of trade routes to different cities or concentrate them all in one city?
I go internal very early, CS for quests, I can see diety differ because you get further behind and have more to gain from sending them to AI.
If I go statecraft more and more will naturally be going to CS.

4) Specific strategies for attracting trade routes from other civilizations as I tend to only have a handful ever going my way.
More culture and science than them.

As Stalker said, water TR is risky and you are likely to miss out on village bonuses.

 

Good point on villages. If nothing else, you want to maintain the "village TR". Your goal is to pick one end of your civ, and send a TR right through the middle. You should build as many villages as possible on that route. ITR or ETR depends on what you have available, you can always do it with an ITR but often with a caravansary you make also make it work with an ETR.

On the East India Company, my first review is whether I can secure a monopoly with it. If I can...that's where its going. Beyond that, the capital is always solid, but a coastal city is generally best, as it gives your opponent the most options to get to it.