Trading

[Trekkie Spice]

Hi Everyone

When you ask the Trade Advisor, a list of cities willing to buy your commodity comes up e.g. Wool - London(6) York(8) etc., Can anyone tell me what the numbers in the brackets mean.

Thanks in advance

Trekkie Spice

 

[iambenben]

the number of items to trade that city has maybe, i never understood that one myself

 

[Ali Ardavan]

It is the last known size of that city. It is a mystery to me as to how that number gets updated.

 

[simpeter]

I've always assumed that if you have an embassy, this information (size + commodity demands) is automatically updated. If you don't have one, information gets updated when the city comes into your field of view or a civ shares maps with you. For this reason, occasionally, you get your caravan next to a city and find that it's commodity demands (swinishly) change. Once you deliver a van, they frequently change, and the reasons for this remain unknown to me, although I'm sure many of the more expert players can readily explain the formula involved.

 

[Sharwood]

No idea as to the formula, but I did notice in my last game, that checking Supply and Demand for Hides, Persepolis had a population of five, but when checking Cloth (same turn, immediately afterwards) it was size 6. Strange, no?

 

[Ali Ardavan]

That is indeed strange. Did you come in contact with the city meanwhile?

 

[Sharwood]

Nope. I was playing on the European map as Egypt, so I'd already contacted the Persians and Babylonians much earlier, and last I knew Persepolis had a pop of 3. Then I was wondering about a caravan I was building, so I checked Supply and Demand. I went straight from Hides to Cloth, never leaving the SaD menu. There was no contact with anything in between.

 

[Russ3Z]

If I recall, one thing that can cause a city to change what it demands is when all three of its demanded good have been traded to it.

I think what "Age" you are in may also change things, since early game cities never demand Uranium, for instance.

Doubtless there is some method the game uses to determine these things, when, how, and to what the changes are. Would make for an interesting sutdy doubtless.

 

[CSDanger]

The best way is to trade with big citys then with little villages. The higher the number in the brackets is the more money you can earn if you trade with this city.

If you already trade with a little city and the city is growing up then the money you earn with already built trade routes grow also.

 

[Terrapin]

The trade formulas are way, way more complicated than anyone here is has suggested. The formula is based on map size, terrain types in the city square, technologies which have been discovered, the city's location on the map and a 16 turn sequence at the end of which some city's supply/demand lists are updated. Frankly, I don't understand it and I read Solo's 20,000 word dissertation on the subject like three times.