@ fuzzy_bunnies:
Firstly what you say rather holds true / might be accurate for the situation now.
What has been back then in the ancient times might be different and what is in erebus might differ a bit again. (the trade routes whould in a way represent the wealth of the city created by trade in question. Which whould lead to more nomads beeing able to roam the countryside around that cities. If im not mistaken even the nomads in old times used some form of settlement as a base (for a short period of time each year) to restock and trade and socialize.
Now that doesn't mean that the city-dwellers and the nomads are the same / the poeple in the cities favored nomadic livestyle. But both have been part of the culture. And each whould have been weaker without the other. (not soo much true anymore i belive for the city dwellers in todays world. But i reckon cultural heritage still matters to some people there.)
With the huge sucess of cities/city lifestyle all over the world now (most of earth inahbitants are belived! to be city-dwellers / outnumbering countryäfolk since a few years now) the nomadic cultures in that countries (and elsewere) are in decline. So recent times might not be the best measure. All said above is rather vague secondhand knowledge though.
Hope no one is offended should what i say be way off the mark.
And i whould very much appreciate if someone could offer some first-hand insight for sure. Especially if that firsthand knowledge is from someone of that community ^^)
(The bigger cities allready profit more than smaller ones from trade routes anyways because of drastically higher yields.
Ever checked the pure trade output (thanks to buildings improving trade route yield among other things) of a Pop 30/40 city which should be possible in floodplain-heavy terrain for such a civ (and is independant from happy / unhappy people really. So no reason not to outgrow your happycap in such a city.)? Its borderline riddiculous. 4 or so commerce for each trade routes might be the norm for a foreign city. Overseas might be as much as 6-8.
Thats base commerce.
Add to that the passive bonus for cities with lots of deserts (which is the real bonus for the floodplain-hubs since they get huge yields thanks to size) around and its enough with a flat 1/1/1
Problem is: the bigger a city gets the bigger the trade-route-yields get. 5% for each pop from a certain size upwards. 5 or 10 pop is the point were trade routes improve i belive. With the other cities size determining the base-yield? So tieing that bonus to the size of the city might lead to some sort of spiral effect.)
The balancing part is because it has allready been tested (in final frontier) and 2/2/2 flat has fastly been found to be riddiculous (strongest civ in that official mod even after the change to 1/1/1 which did make it more balanced and not a universal in all circumstances. And in Final frontier way less trade routes are available in cap. Now in that Mod the other civs are not as strong as most FFH2 civs. So not much danger to unbalance something with a 1/1/1 yield for each route imo.)
If we find a modmoder thats not hard to test really.
Food-Bonus is more or less a must though since that one of the most likely things to be imported along with making the bonus really interesting and favoring lots of rather small cities all over the place.
Its not a big deal in FFH to reach about 5-7 trade-routes in Midgame.
To make an example about numbers for a costal city you possibly get:
+1 from trade, +1 from currency, +1 from lighthouse, + 2 from greath lighthouse, +1 from foreign trade, +1 from foreign trade costal, +1 from inn, +1 from tavern, +1 from overcouncil (/undercouncil smugglers ports) resolution from what i can remember.
Makes for 10 base routes from those (and some nice yield bona from various buildings. And lots of those beeing foreign trade from overcouncil resolution single currency?).
Don't know for sure if one / more route base is gained without any tech just with connecting a few cities / time or if someone else opens a route with you...
Non-costal ones offer signicicantly less routes and less route yield (50% yield less and 4 routes less from lack of harbor, lighthouse, greath lighthouse and foreign trade costal special alone. Hence me saying they whould have some albeit small incentive to settle by the cost.)
Now while +5-10 (base) food / production / commerce might sound somewhat reasonable, + 10-20 (base) food / production / commerce might not so much... Even in FFH 2 context.
And im sure i have forgotten a thing or two regarding trade-routes. (some of them might require some special buildings / special locations but even without those 5 is doable without all to much hassle and things you don't want to do anyways.)
@ MagisterCultuum: On the other hand i can't really find something contradictory.
And nomad / desert civilizations did (at least on our own planet) focus on trade as a form of income by default (since in desert climates it has been the most reasonable thing for them to generate an economy to sustain stable settlements / cities. Since they have been at crossroads rather often as well as having a few highly sought-after resources like incense which could only be turned into something truly beneficial if traded as well as used themselves. Now given both of those point need not be true for Malakim on Erebus. But those and others might.)
Also desert life itself gives a good base for mutually beneficial trade (in scarce conditions you are likely to have in 'abundance' at least some things your neighbors might need and vice versa.
Not so much true to such a big degree in lusher climates where interaction with other tribes / civs might not yield something of positive interest by default.) which leads to higher inclination of establishment of trade networks and trade-related professions in consequence.
So i for one find the nomad-promotion and the pedia depicting them as a nomadic people as indication enough to assume them beeing traders.
Linking trade to that lifestyle just as i do freely roaming the desert / other hostile landscapes, scarce livelyhood and some sort of religious inclination. (mere man seems rather meek compared to the environement and impressive or 'supernatural' events are very tangiable there.
Moreso since in Erebus gods are real and those events might very well be really supernatural. Further augumenting such an inclination. Possibly leading to such a devition. Add Varn to the picture and its not so hard to imagine why they devoutly revere Lugus.)
Keal/Team might put that assumption right if he feels i got it wrong in some serious way.
That said focus on the divine path might be another good road (no pun intended
) to follow. Its also 2 ways not mutually exclusive in the way of how it improve them. One can very well mix i reckon.
Even though i belive that title might be shared with the Elhoim and maybe even the clan under Jonas. And those might argue not all so politely or smile and think differently in quiet.
(Unless i misunderstood the last part and it means they should get the strongest boost! from what is already implemented in that area if anything is boosted at all and not that they are the most devout civ.
A view i whould not utterly share since they allready get some huge incentives there allready.
Like their Worldspell. Which i find one of the strongest religiously related mechanics in the game by sheer power. No problem to kill one or more civs with those hordes of early free and experienced priests possible via that route. Especially if those priests are FoL, OO or Veil. Also they have the decent option of lightbringers upgarding to other divines.
Add the XP bonus from Deis-Dei + synergy with empyrean and they are allready rather religiously-oriented / slightly arcane-oriented. And they miss Assasins (unless if im not mistaken CoE is run and you fire the fervor during that time
. Happy backstabbing.
). So their recon-line is a rather weak one. Which usually is a good path for many other civs. So they allready have plenty of incentives going down that route anyways.)
Die fuzzy die! 
yay I got one! Now how bout them warcamps...
![[to_xp]Gekko](https://civfanatics-data.community.forum/avatars/m/74/74677.jpg?1475248346){kind=avatar}
) and I'm no lunger shunning the idea of deserts and ice causing damage AoI-style. I'm not 100% on this, but I admit it could work 
? + health and fol happiness from GoN on top.).
if someone dares raze those hard-hetched forest-improvements down to the ground. Back to Step 1...
