Scooby Doo and the Mystery of the Trading Posts

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Look back at the very first screenshots brought out; there's trading posts in them. The one in the spoiler, for example, has a couple that the Celts have done.

Spoiler :

On reflection, perhaps all that's happened is that they have been moved to be introduced around Medieval times. Most (if not all) of the many screenshots we've had are from people doing a 90-turn trial Firaxis must have sent to games journalists and they'll have been more interested at looking at the new stuff than building trading posts.

 

[AriochIV]

If the trading post has been moved to that new Medieval tech following currency, that would explain why they haven't been seen much in the mostly Ancient-to-Classical screenshots.

In ideas and suggestion I proposed giving TP +1 as a base, but only +2 when on a road. It could be when next to river as well. It makes sense both for gameplay (as discussed above) and realistic reasons (infrastructure is needed for efficient trade).

Giving +1 gold for being on a road isn't very beneficial when the road costs -1 gold per turn in maintenance.

 

[anandus]

The same 2/7 issue came up when we were looking at the Citrus screenshots. It's almost certainly a two: not only do the numbers look the same (to me), but 7 for a trading post that's not on a river tile is extremely high.

Hmm.. Yeah, 7 would be a lot, indeed.
Probably a two then

 

[MadDjinn]

That's a very good idea, I like it. Even better: let the TP keep it's 2 gold bonus and modify it so that it can only be built on roads. Because an isolated TP doesn't make a lot of sense. I hope some firaxian is lurking in this topic because it's a great suggestion.

bad idea. Road Spam is bad, M'kay?

Giving +1 gold for being on a road isn't very beneficial when the road costs -1 gold per turn in maintenance.

and well, would increase road spam, which the -1g was meant to change in Civ 5.


back on topic:

what happens if they move it back in the tech tree, but gave it another bonus somewhere?

 

[theis81]

Giving +1 gold for being on a road isn't very beneficial when the road costs -1 gold per turn in maintenance.

That's the point. You build trade posts on the road between two cities and not anywhere else. (in the old days trading posts appeared next to the road and in modern times IKEA and such are always located somewhere near the highway).

bad idea. Road Spam is bad, M'kay?

This would not create massive road spam, simply because the -1 gold maintenance means you have to work the tile for a road to give a net gain (if you have positive gold modifiers).

 

[bonafide11]

I don't think there's that much mystery about trading posts. They were moved back later in the tech tree and given new graphics for certain eras because the spaghetti design of them was ugly. I'm sure they were gain additional bonuses by era, but they won't be implemented like the cottages --> towns design (as the screenshot still says trading post).

So why aren't they used in more tiles in the game footage we've seen? Simple: they're trying to show off the graphics and make the map look pretty. The terrain looks much nicer if it's not spammed with trading posts like players will do. We're not looking at some advanced player trying to beat Immortal by using every advantage s/he can, we're watching the developers try to sell the game by showing off how nice it looks. These aren't competitive games we're watching.

 

[AriochIV]

That's the point. You build trade posts on the road between two cities and not anywhere else. (in the old days trading posts appeared next to the road and in modern times IKEA and such are always located somewhere near the highway).

If a trading post gives +1 gold on a road, and road costs -1 gold, then building a trading post and a road gives exactly the same income as building a trading post by itself. I suppose it covers the cost of the road... if you want people to spam trading posts all along the length of a road.

 

[bonafide11]

If a trading post gives +1 gold on a road, and road costs -1 gold, then building a trading post and a road gives exactly the same income as building a trading post by itself. I suppose it covers the cost of the road... if you want people to spam trading posts all along the length of a road.

Plus you would need to work the trading post every single turn to justify the cost of the road, so it wouldn't really be worth it. It'd just be a silly micromanagement feature that doesn't add anything to the game.

 

[Gaizokubanou]

This would not create massive road spam, simply because the -1 gold maintenance means you have to work the tile for a road to give a net gain (if you have positive gold modifiers).

Near puppet cities it will create massive road spam because it'll just be free road since you ought to be spamming trading post that are always worked on there anyway.

 

[Ajuga]

How about when a trading post is build on a road that connects a city to the capitol it's money value is increased by 1?
As roads only become 'big roads' when connected to the capitol and roads around it do not get that change I believe it's already possible with minor tweaks.
Besides it makes a lot of sense.

It would remove the road spam issue as building a road wont increase the money a trading post produces. Effectively making the roads act like they do now.
Capital roads will increase the money value though, this brings in a nice situational issue.
Do I really want to remove that farm/mine in order to net 1 more gold in that city?

 

[Louis XXIV]

That's the point. You build trade posts on the road between two cities and not anywhere else. (in the old days trading posts appeared next to the road and in modern times IKEA and such are always located somewhere near the highway).

But it doesn't encourage you to build trading posts only on roads because you'll still get that one gold working somewhere else. Since it evens out, the only rule is you have to build a trading post somewhere to offset the road (and if you build it next to a river, you'll make money).

 

[Gaizokubanou]

Road spam will register all connected roads as connected to capitol.

Unless you mean only use the road that uses shortest route.

 

[Buccaneer]

Please, no road spam. That was yet another terrible feature in Civ4.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Technically, it's a terrible feature going back to the beginning. Civ4 thought simply removing benefits to roads (you used to get gold) would be enough, but that turned out not to be the case. Civ5 is the only one to kill road spam. Allowing trading posts to negate road cost will allow more road spam, while it won't actually do anything to increase the gold for trading posts.

 

[apocalypse105]

I Hope trading post are available from the beginning

Because it doesn't make sence moving them to a later era .

Because most of you're land will be farms at that time

 

[Louis XXIV]

That might be intentional to help prevent Trading Post spam.

 

[Bisqit]

I Hope trading post are available from the beginning

Because it doesn't make sence moving them to a later era .

Because most of you're land will be farms at that time

I personally like trading posts. They have historical significance. I think historically it makes more sense for trading posts to pop up later. I also think it might help game balance and encourage river building. Grassland only gives 2 food but grassland/river tiles are 2 food one gold so it'll encourage you to build near rivers. Currently you honestly don't have to build by a river and you'd be fine.

 

[CTH]

I would like tradingposts to be able to provide science, culture or faith but you have to improve them twice, so first once for gold and then once for one of the other things (so a trading post with science focus (science fair!) would give 1 gold and 1 science, where the science updgrade would be enabled with education) Would give your workers a little bit more to do and it would also give the trading posts a little bit more uniquness

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I believe trading posts are not available from the beginning. The reason I think this is because none of the beliefs we have heard about involve the trading posts; they involve everything else available at the beginning or in the early game, but not trading posts. Okay, so there might be a belief or two we've not seen, but there have been a few different screenshots of them now.

 

[AriochIV]

Here's a Trading Post image from the Destructoid video with tile yield.

Note that the graphic is different, probably from an earlier era. The date for the shot is 820 AD, and it's on a jungle-covered hill.