Markets under powered?

**Conan** · 02-10-2009, 23:24

Hi Guys,

It was the same in Vanilla RTW but why is it markets give very little in the form of an increase in trade?

I'm aware that they also give the ability to increase population as well as recruit spy, assassins and at the highest level a nice 10% happiness bonus but with what seem to be only an increase in 10+ money with each upgrade its hard at times to justify the investment.

**Ferromancer** · 02-11-2009, 02:03

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't every building that says "increase in tradeable goods" increase the maximum number of goods per trade route by one?

So if you started with no markets, the first upgrade might matter a lot.

Also, if you had a city surrounded by lots of provinces and containing a large port, every single trade upgrade would matter a lot.

**Cute Wolf** · 02-11-2009, 02:08

but if u don't have any trade rights.... that was your problem... try to not at war with all your neighbours, so you still have some source f extra income...

**Ibn-Khaldun** · 02-11-2009, 15:46

Or conquer all the cities in the Med. Sea. Sea trade makes a lot of money even if there are no other factions that you could trade with.

**Antinous** · 02-11-2009, 16:51

SeaIbn-Khaldun is right. Sea trade makes tons of money. I'm playing as the KH and I have taken the turkey and the sea trade has made me very wealthy.

**We shall fwee...Wodewick** · 02-13-2009, 03:24

Sea trade is the only way forward. As the romani, I owned EVERY port in the mediterrean and my treasury was unstoppable. I actually built all those extensive port upgrades just to get rid of money.

**Novellus** · 02-13-2009, 03:31

I always wondered about the expensive port upgrades--- are they worth it?

**soup_alex** · 02-13-2009, 03:34

Originally Posted by We shall fwee...Wodewick

I actually built all those extensive port upgrades just to get rid of money.

Did it work?

I had posted this question in another thread, but I've since lost it:
Will cancelling trade rights with a neutral or allied faction harm their economy, or just yours? Assuming that the AI does benefit financially in some way from trading with the player, is there any way of encouraging your markets/ports to trade with other, perhaps specific, factions and cities, or are trade lanes automatically calculated to be the ones which provide the greatest income? Do trade ships have limited range, and if so, can this be extended somehow? Is there a good way of predicting which trade routes will be the most valuable; is this dependent only on access to goods that [your city] doesn't have and vice-versa, or also on trade upgrades built by the AI?

Thanks. That was actually more than one question, wasn't it? Sorry

[edit: Novellus, Extensive x Port upgrades are sometimes worthwhile if your economy will support their cost and that particular city has nothing more important to be building over the next few years. They actually boost trade income quite significantly from what I've seen, though without allowing an extra fleet (obviously). One to consider if you have a governor with lots of trade bonuses, perhaps.]