MrUnderhill
Civ-loving Hobbit
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2005
- Messages
- 655
I think the trade route system could use a major overhaul. IRL some of the greatest cities and civilizations relied on trade, but in Civ it's pretty much an afterthought; besides juggling resources, all you get is a free +1
, +2, or maybe +3 that doesn't really do anything. We have players using Specialist Economies and Cottage Economies, but a Trade Route Economy? I don't know if it's even possible, let alone an effective strategy.
Here's my idea:
, +2, or maybe +3 that doesn't really do anything. We have players using Specialist Economies and Cottage Economies, but a Trade Route Economy? I don't know if it's even possible, let alone an effective strategy.Here's my idea:
- Rename trade route commerce to "capacity". Each turn, any unused capacity would be turned into commerce, so unless you actively change something, trade routes would work just like they do now (although possibly with more of a yield).
- With trade routes between two of your own cities, you can have one city take excess food or production from the other (limited, of course, by the route's capacity). Sort of like a streamlined version of Civ2's caravans. That way you can have cities surrounded by hills or flatlands without worrying about them starving to death or being unable to produce anything.
- Foreign trade routes could also provide food, production, and commerce based on the trade deals you have with the other civ. Essentially, the cities that receive the resource also get a small bonus, so cities with lots of trade routes are slightly more prosperous than those that are more secluded. For example, if I gave you Iron, all of your cities that are directly connected to my cities would get +1
. If you gave me wheat, all of my cities which are connected to yours would get +1 
, and so on. Again, this would be limited by the route's capacity. - Because commerce (or "capacity") is now so important, let's increase it to, say, double what it is in regular civ.
Then, instead of percentage yield increases, you could have Techs, Civics, and Wonders flatly increase the capacity of each trade route, in addition to giving more routes (which the game already allows). - For instance, Mercantilism would still block off all foreign trade routes, but increase the capacity of local trade routes by 1. Free Trade would reduce the capacity of trade routes but give you more of them in each city (quantity vs. quality). This could make these civics a bit more interesting and less of a road-block on the way to State Property or Environmentalism.
