Bloody Trade Routes!!!

[Ulfang]

I just came back to this game after a few months. Always really liked it but never delved into the important bits other than battling and building Farms as the extent of my Economy.

Right let's get this straight. To build a trade route you have to Have a province with trade items, have a port, have ships in each sea province until they find one with a port and have either a Trading post or a Merchant.

Or isn't actually a Merchant cos it says this in the book .... "you need a port, a Trading post OR Merchant of some kind..."

Now in my current game i'm trying to set up a route from Wessex to Denmark. Now i have my port, trading post and ships in each province until they reach Denmark. I assume when the route is set i find out if it works by looking at the details of my port and looking for the bit where it says how much cash the port is making? At the moment it says zero.

I always manage to get to this time of the game and run out of cash I've secured Wales and Scotland and just finished off France but it's very difficult to balance the books as the cash just trickles in. All very well saying setup trade routes but it costs a bloody fortune I mean 700 PER ship My kind would prefer to chop a few trees down and do it himself rather than pay that

With the size of my army and owning all of Frank and Mainland Britain i'm lucky if i make 300 per year

Get those suggestions rolling and make me a Medieval Bill Gates Ot at Least Donald Trump

[malkuth]

No you look in the Providence info of your providences to see trade. Not the port. Port is usually always 0, and only affects Taxed trade goods.

This has been discussed alot though.

[Gaius Julius]

[quote=Ulfang,Jan. 26 2003,17:39]Right let's get this straight. To build a trade route you have to Have a province with trade items, have a port, have ships in each sea province until they find one with a port and have either a Trading post or a Merchant.


Also, remember that the province you wish to trade with must also have some tradeable goods.
Remember you can't be at war with the province in question; either ally, or neutral.



I assume when the route is set i find out if it works by looking at the details of my port and looking for the bit where it says how much cash the port is making? At the moment it says zero.


On the map screen,left-click on the icon with the gold coins; bottom left-hand corner.
A parchment will come up listing all of your provinces, and sea-zones you're in.
It lists the expenses,income, and profit.
Just scroll down the screen until you get to the province you want.
Then left-click on it; a screen pops up showing which provinces you're trading with, and how many florins you're making.


I always manage to get to this time of the game and run out of cash I've secured Wales and Scotland and just finished off France but it's very difficult to balance the books as the cash just trickles in. All very well saying setup trade routes but it costs a bloody fortune I mean 700 PER ship My kind would prefer to chop a few trees down and do it himself rather than pay that

With the size of my army and owning all of Frank and Mainland Britain i'm lucky if i make 300 per year


You say 700/ship?
Do you mean sea-zone support cost?
Are you "stacking" your ships?
Also, remember with a large army comes a large support cost.
These support costs can really eat away at profit. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[HopAlongBunny]

Trade.

You need a port with goods, a trading post or better in that port, and an uninterrupted chain of ships to another port. That "other port" cannot be owned by you or anyone you are at war with. Rebel provinces will trade as long as they are neutral; the first rebel province you attack automatically puts you at "war" with all memebers of the rebel... *ahem* faction.

It really IS worth it in the end...honest http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Nelson]

Quote[/b] ]
Also, remember that the province you wish to trade with must also have some tradeable goods.


I'm afraid you are mistaken, my good Gaius. A region without any trade goods will import anything.

Importers will not trade in goods they already have themselves of course. A grain exporter will not trade grain with another region that also has grain.

[Mr Frost]

Make sure your most profitable provinces {with England after you take France , that puts Flanders at the top of your money makers} have a Governor with good accumen {four feathers or higher : a Virtue like "Steward" is handy also , but watch them periodically incase they get a bad vice like "Gambler" which will lower income} and use your extra "add-on" titles like Chancelor or Archbishop of Cantaberry {when you build a Cathedral} to boost the accumen of your Governors in the richest provinces .

Also , don't be too reluctant to disband obsolete units {Highlanders and Gallowglass make good garrison troops because they are cheap but unlike peasants they can also fight well} . When you are making plenty of Militia Sergent for example , there is little reason to keep urban Militia around .
Untill I have my income established well and truely , I usually keep my expenditures down to what I really need and within the available treasury for that year {so I rearely see the "insufficient funds" parchment} . I plan ahead and maintain fiscal dicilpine {it takes a little patience : not my strongest suit , but it works} Untill my trade network covers the map {with never less than two ships in each sea to avoid a storm cutting off the cash flow for a year} and large fleets where I need them to counter other naval powers {I use basically the same idea as the Brittish Empire did of maintaining total Naval supreamacy over all competitors} . When I have the full network in place and all costale trading provinces with ports and trading facilities then I end up with more money than I can reasonably spend {unless I get involved in war with too many trading partners at once} .

If you have trade goods on the coast , build a port and tradeing post {or better} then link this with a neutral or allied foriegn port with an unbroken line of ships and you will generate trade {just trading between , say , Wessex and Denmark won't bring much in , but get the other provinces trading and ships into the Mediterainian and you will see a big difference in income . Get the total map network and Flanders alone will bring in thousands {as will developed Sweden and others} .


You got England , Scotland Ireland and France : good Now stop for a moment and look at your troops . Get rid of what you don't need {you must guard your borders and keep provinces occupied with atleast 100 men or more if disloyal , but except for a reserve , you could probebly dismiss quite a few} . That will free up some florins . Now link what Ports+Trading Posts you have with non-hostile foriegn ports : thus don't build anything but ships and docks {to build more ships or someone like Itally or Sicilly will sink your ships to hurt your income out of spite http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif} . If you can spare the cash , then build more Ports+Trading Posts . When you get you income up nicely , then start building the other things you want , but keep your budget in mind {try to only build the best troops in the best province for their upgrades - Longbows in Wales and armoured up in Wessex if there is a better armourer there for example} . Keep building that fleet {at first only put more than one ship in each sea when you have to for security , you need the income first before you can get the big fleet} untill you have total supreamacy , and then your income {always get coastal trading provinces tradeing ASAP} will be pretty much assured {you will end up with a treasury consistantly in the hundereds of thousands and yearly profits over 10,000 florins per year will be the usual and then you won't have to worry about budgeting http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif .

That's how you accomplish it .

Cheers http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

[Gaius Julius]

Quote[/b] (Nelson @ Jan. 26 2003,23:06)]I'm afraid you are mistaken, my good Gaius. A region without any trade goods will import anything.

Importers will not trade in goods they already have themselves of course. A grain exporter will not trade grain with another region that also has grain.
Nelson

Thankyou, for clearing that up for me.
It makes alot of sense. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Jacque Schtrapp]

Quote[/b] (Ulfang @ Jan. 26 2003,17:39)]I assume when the route is set i find out if it works by looking at the details of my port and looking for the bit where it says how much cash the port is making? At the moment it says zero.
To see the exact amount you are earning in trade income right click the trade OR merchant building and it will display the amount that the facility is earning you in trade income.

[ToranagaSama]

See Table of Contents, Trade and Income

[Ulfang]

Thanks guys Funnily enough when i went back to the game after making this post the cash had started to flow. Not a huge amount But a few thousand every few years to start upgrading things

Gaius,

The 700 was ship cost to build. At the time i was making 300/turn if i was lucky so i was struggling to make one .. bit difficult when you are trying to make a trade route.

Mr Frost,

Thanks for the tips. Already working on Flanders. I've got the biggest army in the world at the moment but it's mainly Urban Militia, Archers and Hobilars. Only just beggining to afford armourers and the like. Built myself a Castle in Wales but just two or three Keeps besides that. I have mainly Allies around me now, Aragon and HRE but Spain cancelled my alliance when Italy crusaded against me. My Excomm is lifted now tho as my King Died

ToranagaSama,

As i mentioned it my original post i did check the booklet and it wasn't very helpful http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

[DonCoyote]

The cost of ships does seem high, i find it helps to think in terms of cost per year of construction - especially early when your income is low. Trade can generate large amounts of money, i am approaching the late 1300s of a danish campaign with 1.4 million florins in reserve. And i am still making a profit though i am at war with Byz who control the black sea & eastern med trading provinces.

To clarify what ToranagaSama meant, the Table of Contents refers to the "ToC" for the Org MTW site, not the game manual. Accessible in the "Main Hall" portion of the forum.

Don Coyote

[Syterion]

Personally, I just use trade at the beginning to boost army size and buildings. Once the fighting begins, there is usually too much trouble and work to do to keep it up, so I drop it and destroy the province that is getting in the way. If your King has a high influence then allies will usually stick with you. Then start trading again.

Once I was playing the Byzantines and the Almohads were my allies, and the rest of the world was at war with them. They slowly started to withdraw from their holdings in Spanish, France and Italian Lands. France and England attack from the North, Turkish Attacke dfrom the back near the East Mediterranean. The Turks were quickly taking provinces, so I joined and took about 12 provinces before they were cornered in Palestine. They had the best navy in the world and decided to kill all my ships in my trading routes. I didn't need the money anymore, since I now had enough provinces to support my troops easily(7000 profit a year) but they were annoying me, so I built a fleet in Constantinople and Greece(2 preovinces that they were not near yet) and made a line to Palestine to crush them. Then all their ships disappeared.