Trade Route Idea

[legalizefreedom]

Here's an idea that I haven't seen mentioned before that might solve the backward yield issue for internal routes.

What if the city that sends the route gets the larger share of the yield (same calculations) and the receiving city gets the smaller yield?

This is sure to raise balance issues, but seems like a fair way to distribute the yields as opposed to always feeding the larger city. Currently I don't believe the direction of the trade route factors in at all.

 

[Minor Annoyance]

You might not have heard that mentioned because it's exactly how it worked before the patch.

 

[legalizefreedom]

Before the patch the smaller city always got the larger yield, now the larger city does. I didn't think who sent the route ever had anything to do with it. You could/can send the route from either city and the result is the same, correct?

 

[Minor Annoyance]

No, when the game was released the direction of trade mattered very much. The destination got the most and the source less.

 

[legalizefreedom]

I apparently don't recall that. I thought they just flipped the yields with the patch. The sending city always getting less may be why I was thinking that.

Seems like they could have just flipped who got the bigger share with the sender benefitting more. Along with not being able to buy the depot, seems like that would benefit the balance and the realism. It's intuitive that the city putting the trade route out there would get much of the benefit.

It's odd they would remove a layer of strategy, but with all the cries about micro, I guess I can understand why.

 

[s0nny80y]

how about trade routes via space docks, space elevators and frictionless solar powered transport of goods?

 

[Lglenhaber]

how about trade routes via space docks, space elevators and frictionless solar powered transport of goods?

That would be very cool!

Maybe you could build the Space Elevator wonder, which lets you send one trade route through the space elevator. This would take all of the trade route slots of the city, but it could reach twice as far, and could give 3x yield or something like that

Would that work?

 

[ShagVT]

Ultimately I don't think the direction of trade should matter that much. Imagine trade happening between New York City and Lagos, Nigeria. They are both huge cities. But are the merchants in New York going to be willing to pay more for Nigerian goods simply because the good arrive in New York Harbor on a ship with a Nigerian flag instead of an American flag?

What I could see would perhaps be two establish two different kinds of trade: Profit trade and Subsidy trade.

In Profit trade, the cities are both looking to benefit from the exchange. I think it would be most interesting here to have this be primarily a resource x for resource y type exchange, so Lagos might send New York production (ie, manufactured goods) and New York would respond with energy (ie, money). Or Lagos might send New York food and New York would pay with science.

In Subsidy trading, one city is simply supplementing the needs of another. In most states in America, the taxes received from the cities pay for much of the infrastructure for the rural areas, for example. So just as you can send a trade route to help an Outpost become a city faster, why not be able to specifically subsidize cities afterward. So this would be one-way trading - send a resource from city x to city y.

 

[ShagVT]

how about trade routes via space docks, space elevators and frictionless solar powered transport of goods?

And I like this idea. As technology advances, why not come up with more advanced ways to trade? If we can already imagine bitcoin today, or shipping good by air, or by internet, why not be able to do something like that in the future?

I think this falls in the category of missed opportunity ... with such a new setting, the game could have gone in such novel directions, instead of just looking to reskin old civilization.

 

[legalizefreedom]

Ultimately I don't think the direction of trade should matter that much. Imagine trade happening between New York City and Lagos, Nigeria. They are both huge cities. But are the merchants in New York going to be willing to pay more for Nigerian goods simply because the good arrive in New York Harbor on a ship with a Nigerian flag instead of an American flag?

The NY merchants would be able to pay more for Nigerian goods if Nigeria went to the expense to build/buy the ship and pay for the crew and fuel. Whereas if a NY vessel showed up at a Nigerian port, they could at least expect to make a larger share of the trade profit. Not that simple in reality, but as far as game mechanics it makes sense.