Well, they lied. While it's true that Armenia, Parthia, and Pontus get Trade Caravans/Spice Roads/Silk Roads (+2/+3/+4 to trade), they don't begin the game with them, and there are two issues at work.doesn't the description at the kingdom selection phase at the very beginning describe Parthia as being rich due to sitting on the trade routes with China or something like that?
The first is that a settlement needs to reach 12k population before you can even build a simple Trade Caravan. For Pontus, that's not a big problem because Sinope (and other port cities in Anatolia) can get there quickly. For Armenia, it's a problem at the start which is quickly remedied by eliminating Pontus and the Greek Cities and taking over Anatolia for themselves. For Parthia, only Seleucia is capable of getting to 12k in a reasonable amount of time, and horse archers are a very bad unit to be using to attack a walled city, which leaves only laying siege and waiting for the garrison to sally (or an outside stack coming to their relief). It's doable, but tough.
Problem two are the roads. Parthia (and Armenia) can only build dirt roads which is an oversight on the part of the devs. In a discussion 'long ago and far away' about the engineering capabilities of Eastern factions, I posted a picture of a paved road in Armenia built in BCE times that led to a stone bridge spanning a ravine. And simple logic will tell you that a faction that can build stone city walls complete with buttresses, crenelations, turrets, etc., could certainly lay stone pavers for a road (and both Armenia and Parthia can build stone city walls). Why is this important? A paved road doubles the trade income along that route, a highway triples the income.
IIRC, some simple modifications to the RTW\data\export_descr_building.txt, and RTW\data\text\export_buildings.txt, allows you give the capability to build paved roads to a faction.
Several quotes from this article---https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/36216/jacobson_herbert_r_194005_ms_95034.pdf
And an indication of how developed, and sophisticated these highways were...from Herodotus:Persia, recognized by all authorities as a builder of roads, displayed considerable ingenuity in the improvement of transport and communications, much more so than in industry. The empire, extending from the Aegean to the Indus River and from the Caspian to the Indian Ocean, was interlaced with a magnificent system of highways. In order to unite and efficiently control his widespread empire, Darius I (521-485 B.C.) instructed his engineers to construct great roads between the various capitals, and over these excellent roads was maintained a government-controlled postal service such as had not hereto-fore existed on so vast a scale. The Persians inherited from the Babylonians and Assyrians a considerable network of great roads over which traffic had flowed for thousands of years regardless of the rise and fall of great empires. The most famous of these was the Royal Road which ran from Susa, the capital of Persia, through Arbela, Guagamela, Nineveh, Amide., Comana, Ancyra, Oordium, and Sardis to Ephesus. Although this road is called the Ancient Royal Road of the Persians, it was already ancient long before the Persians gained control over it.
The RTW devs would like you to believe that only the Hellenic cultures and Rome were road engineers. As you can see, that is simply not the case. Middle East cultures weren't just building simple paved roads, but highways....very sophisticated and well-designed highways.....long before Rome came along.With respect to this road, the case is as follows: There are royal stations all along, and excellent inns, and the whole road is through an inhabited and safe country. There are 20 stations extending through Lydia and Phrygia, and the distance is 94 parasangs and a half. After Phrygia, the river Halys is met with, at which there are gates, through which it is absolutely necessary to pass and thus to cross the river: there is also a considerable fort on it. When you cross over into Cappadocia, and traverse that country to the border of Cilicia, there are eight and twenty stations, and 104 parasangs; and on the borders of these people you go through two gates, and pass by two forts. When you have gone through these and made the journey through Cilicia, there are three stations and 15 parasangs and a half. In Armenia there are 15 stations for resting places, and 56 parasangs and a half. As you enter from Armenia into the country of Matiene, there are four stations; and from thence as you proceed to the Cissian territory there are 11 stations, and 42 para-sangs and a half to the river Choaspes, on this Susa is built. Now if the royal road has been correctly measured in parasangs, and if the parasang is equal to 30 stades, as indeed it is, from Sardis to the royal palace is a distance of 13,500 stades (1550 miles), the parasangs being 450; and by those who travel 150 stades(17i miles) every day, just 90 days are spent on the journey.
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