How Trade works

[andrewt]

These are from my observations so far:

There are 3 components to your trade income, exports of resources, exports of other goods and a bonus for how long you've traded with a certain faction.

1. Exports of resources are based on how many resources you control. This component of trade, I've noticed, doesn't change even if you add new trading partners. If you have 15 barrels of tea and 1 partner, you export all 15 to that partner. If you have 3 partners, the 15 are divided among your 3 partners.

The one I don't get is how many resources you export. For example, I'm playing UP and exporting tea from Ceylon. However, the number of barrels of tea I'm exporting is larger than the one my plantation says. I'm suspecting some technologies or port upgrades play a part in this. What the modifier is, I can't understand.

For this resource, your income is essentially how many barrels of tea, etc. you're exporting multiplied by the price listed on your trade screen. Furthermore, it seems the province doing the exporting also gains some of it as province income. So you get 2 sources of income on exports, the exports themselves and the tax on them that gets added to province income. However, it doesn't seem to always be consistent.

2. For every trade partner, there's a component called other goods. To me, this looks like pure profit and each partner gets one. I don't think it's divided by number of trade partners so this is a benefit for trading with more trade partners.

In my UP game, I'm exporting a similar amount to all my trade partners. It's generally within 10-20% of each other, no matter how many resources I'm exporting to them. I don't know how this goes up, I'm guessing with technologies and just having the value go up as time passes in the game.

3. The last one is a bonus for how long you've been trading with a certain faction. Each turn, it goes up. Unlike number 2, it seems how many resources you trade to the other faction partly determines how fast the bonus goes up. I don't think it purely determines it, so I believe this still goes up with having multiple trade partners.

[Fondor_Yards]

1. The modifying factor as far as I can tell is the plantation wealth.

2. I assume the 'other goods' are the products of all your carpet weavers, factories, and such on.

[andrewt]

I wonder what port upgrades do, then, aside from increase province income. The number of trade routes thing seems to be capital province only. I'm wondering if increases quality of exports is a similar thing. I thought it affected it on a per province basis.

[Gaiseric]

it seems that you trade more other goods with major nations than you do with minors. I am not sure what affects the number of other goods that is traded. maybe population? territories?

[A Very Super Market]

Probably population.

Trading with the UP gives me 700
Trading with Savoy gives me 600
Trading with Ottomans gives me 1500

It is probably population, size, and whatnot.

[andrewt]

That's not the case with my game. My highest other goods is Westphalia with 1291. My lowest is Ottoman with 1161.

[MikeV]

Probably population.

That's my guess, too. Seems like they want to encourage farm building again, since so many folks developed allergies to them in R:TW (where the squalor levels got to be obnoxious).

[MikeV]

A slightly different question: can anyone describe how trade routes work? In particular, how does it decide which ports get a trade route, and which ones don't?

Understanding this would help to decide how to develop regions that have 2 or 3 ports: whether to make them all trade, use one or more for fishing, etc.

[Kobal2fr]

A slightly different question: can anyone describe how trade routes work? In particular, how does it decided which ports get a trade route, and which ones don't?

Understanding this would help to decide how to develop regions that have 2 or 3 ports: whether to make them all trade, use one or more for fishing, etc.

It's a bit complicated.

For trade routes, this is how I've gathered it works : only trade ports in your capital region, and regions directly connected to it by land routes get to trade with other factions. Each trade port in the capital (and connected) regions gives you a certain number of available trade routes (I think it starts off at 2, and goes up to 4 with tech). So, if you are playing as, say, the French, only France works at first. If you capture say, the United Provinces, their starting port won't trade until you've also got Flanders from the Spaniards. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire starts with god knows how many working trade routes (I think land bridges, such as the one in the Dardanelles straights, work as a connection).

An interesting side effect from this is that Britain starts with a useless trade port, the one in Ireland. Turn it into a shipyard ASAP, and convert the shipyard on the mainland into a trade port.

If a province is not directly linked to your capital, then a trade port there will not be useful at all (except maybe as a source of town wealth), unless the province also has a plantation (sugar, coffee, furs etc..., but not wood, weaver & smith). In that case, you *need* a trade port to import it back to the home theatre, where it will then be exported through trade (I don't think trade goods like sugar create money unless you sell them).

Meaning if you capture the pirate islands in the Carribean (Antigua & Trinidad), you'd better destroy their shipyards and convert them to trade ports.

Note also that these regions only need the one port to export, more won't help if I'm not mistaken. Any other port should be used as shipyards or fishing ports.

[Jason X]

nice post monsieur

So, if you are playing as, say, the French, only France works at first. If you capture say, the United Provinces, their starting port won't trade until you've also got Flanders from the Spaniards.

the fact that the goa port stopped working when i "liberated" it in my maratha campaign would be a bug by your explanation, correct?

[nafod]

It's a bit complicated.

For trade routes, this is how I've gathered it works : only trade ports in your capital region, and regions directly connected to it by land routes get to trade with other factions. Each trade port in the capital (and connected) regions gives you a certain number of available trade routes (I think it starts off at 2, and goes up to 4 with tech). So, if you are playing as, say, the French, only France works at first. If you capture say, the United Provinces, their starting port won't trade until you've also got Flanders from the Spaniards. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire starts with god knows how many working trade routes (I think land bridges, such as the one in the Dardanelles straights, work as a connection).

An interesting side effect from this is that Britain starts with a useless trade port, the one in Ireland. Turn it into a shipyard ASAP, and convert the shipyard on the mainland into a trade port.

If a province is not directly linked to your capital, then a trade port there will not be useful at all (except maybe as a source of town wealth), unless the province also has a plantation (sugar, coffee, furs etc..., but not wood, weaver & smith). In that case, you *need* a trade port to import it back to the home theatre, where it will then be exported through trade (I don't think trade goods like sugar create money unless you sell them).

Meaning if you capture the pirate islands in the Carribean (Antigua & Trinidad), you'd better destroy their shipyards and convert them to trade ports.

Note also that these regions only need the one port to export, more won't help if I'm not mistaken. Any other port should be used as shipyards or fishing ports.

I'm not sure this is entirely true. In my Prussia campaign, Finland, Sweden, Courland and Croatia all trade with my capital in Brandenburg. Sweden and Finland are not connected by a land bridge. Oddly enough Venice Konigsburg Rome and Latvia do not trade via port.

[Kobal2fr]

nice post monsieur



the fact that the goa port stopped working when i "liberated" it in my maratha campaign would be a bug by your explanation, correct?

I think so, yes. But I'm not sure my understanding of things is 100% right, either :)

One thing I forgot to say : if you have two provinces with plantations/fur hunters, and they are connected to each other, then only one needs a trade port I believe, the other's goods will be transported to the first one by road, and then shipped.
At least that's what I gather from the French campaign in which both Montreal and Quebec have fur traders, only Quebec has a port and the imported fur total changes when Montreal's fur lodge is upgraded.

[Pelast]

It's a bit complicated.

For trade routes, this is how I've gathered it works : only trade ports in your capital region, and regions directly connected to it by land routes get to trade with other factions. Each trade port in the capital (and connected) regions gives you a certain number of available trade routes (I think it starts off at 2, and goes up to 4 with tech). So, if you are playing as, say, the French, only France works at first. If you capture say, the United Provinces, their starting port won't trade until you've also got Flanders from the Spaniards. On the other hand, the Ottoman Empire starts with god knows how many working trade routes (I think land bridges, such as the one in the Dardanelles straights, work as a connection).

An interesting side effect from this is that Britain starts with a useless trade port, the one in Ireland. Turn it into a shipyard ASAP, and convert the shipyard on the mainland into a trade port.

If a province is not directly linked to your capital, then a trade port there will not be useful at all (except maybe as a source of town wealth), unless the province also has a plantation (sugar, coffee, furs etc..., but not wood, weaver & smith). In that case, you *need* a trade port to import it back to the home theatre, where it will then be exported through trade (I don't think trade goods like sugar create money unless you sell them).

Meaning if you capture the pirate islands in the Carribean (Antigua & Trinidad), you'd better destroy their shipyards and convert them to trade ports.

Note also that these regions only need the one port to export, more won't help if I'm not mistaken. Any other port should be used as shipyards or fishing ports.

Thank you for a very good post.

I query the logic of the useless Irish port for the British though, as it is possible to 'walk' from Scotland to Ireland, though a land bridge does not show on the campaign map.

I have also noted a bug with the port on the smallest island (IIRC) going east from Cuba in that when it was blockaded by pirates the trade screen lost all the depictions of ivory, tea etc from ALL trading partners albeit the trade figures seemed to be ok.

[nafod]

So how does trade for the Russians work?

I ask as I captured the Crimea prior to Ingria and had routes blockaded by the Ottomans in the Med. I then torched the port in the Crimea and all trade routes (save the o0ne from the Maratha Confederacy) went through the baltic. Oddly the indian trade route continued to go to the defunct Crimean port.

[Liberator]

it seems that you trade more other goods with major nations than you do with minors. I am not sure what affects the number of other goods that is traded. maybe population? territories?

Supply? Demand?!

[anweRU]

I query the logic of the useless Irish port for the British though, as it is possible to 'walk' from Scotland to Ireland, though a land bridge does not show on the campaign map.

The Irish port does not have a visual trade route going to it, but it does work.

Note that you start with one trade port in each GB province: 3 trade routes in England, 2 in Scotland and 2 in Ireland. As GB you can have up to 7 trade agreements in your first turn of the game. Ergo, the Irish trade port works. The trade route display is bugged.

But then, what's new?

[jonny]

Do all these factors still hold true now after the patches?

[Slaists]

Do all these factors still hold true now after the patches?

Well, not entirely. He's a quick summary:

1. Trade ports can only export a certain amount of goods. So, if you have two land-connected provinces both producing sugar sharing one port, it is likely that the product of only one of the provinces will be exported. It seems, now one needs to invest more in trade ports. Also, the amount that a port can export goes up as the port level gets upgraded.

2. It appears, regardless how many trade ports a faction's main province has; if one of the trade ports is blockaded, ALL maritime trade stops.

3. Kobalt suggests fisheries and shipyards for provinces with several port slots. Fisheries and shipyards give minuscule or no addition to the province wealth. So, even if a trade port does not actively trade, it does give positive return simply through boosting the province's wealth. Fisheries and shipyards are useless in that sense.

[Servius]

On Supply...
- Trade goods (Furs, Tobacco, Cotton, Sugar, Spices, Ivory, Tea, and Coffee) are generated in your provices or by trade ports on the coasts of South America, Africa, and Indonesia.
- The number of units generated by plantations is determined first by the level of the plantation (which will give you the base units produced), which is then modified by the site quality. Meagre = 100% of listed production, Low = 125%, Average = 150%, High = 175%, and Abundant = 200%. Thus, it is always more cost effective to upgrade plantations on Abundant or High producing towns than for Low or Meagre ones.
- There is also text on the trade port page that says upgrading ports does something to improve the "trade value" but I can't nail that down to increasing the world price, increasing the number of units, or increasing the "Other Goods" category. My bet is that trade port levels determine the max amount of "Other Goods" you trade with your partners. Can't confirm yet though.
- If one of your export trade ports gets blockaded or raided, it can't export any goods. If you're an island with only one trade port, no goods get out. If you're on a contenent with other trade ports in other regions next door, or if there are more than 1 trade port on your island, the goods will just get shipped out through another one of your trade ports. This is true, despite the impression the Trade window gives you that no goods from the entire theatre are being supplied to your home region.
- The trade routes are those colored dashed lines that run between ports. When you park a ship on one that carries trade goods for a nation you're at war with, you'll steal some of the goods or income the other nation would have recieved. Income from raiding other nations' trade routes shows in up as "Other" in the revenue list (where you see your tax income and your trade income), along with Protectorate income, etc. You can raid intra-national routes (like one from Jamaica to England), which leads first to a reduction in the supply of trade goods to England, and thus results in less trade revenue for England. You can also raid inter-national routes (like from England to France), which does not affect the supply of trade goods but does affect the income received from trade partners.
- Every trade good generated by one of your regions or those coastal trade posts gets shiped to your capital. As GB, everything goes to England first.
- Before the most recent patch, 100% of the trade goods generated by a region could be sent to the nation's home region for later export with even the level 1 trade port in the supplying region. After the patch, the supply of trade goods to the home region can be reduced if your trade port is too low level. I haven't figured out the number yet, but each trade route can carry x goods. So, a fully-upgraded Meagre plantation can have all of it's exports handled by a level 2 or 3 trade port, but a fully-upgraded Abundant plantation will require a level 4 trade port (and maybe part of a second trade port's capacity) to export all of the units it produces. Open up your region capital's detail screen, look at the Region Wealth section, and run your cursor over the trade good icons there. That will tell you how many of the trade goods produce in that region are actually being supplied to your home region for export to trade partners.

On Exports...
- The goods that reach your capital are then sold to your trade partners at the global prices shown at the top of the Trade window. I don't know what determines how much goes to each trade partner, but my guess is the main (if not sole) variable is the population of the trade partner. The bigger their population, the greater part of the pie they get.
- This is why the number of trade partnerships you can have is partly determined by the number of trade ports in your home theatre. READ AGAIN: HOME THEATRE. So, using GB again, upgrading trade ports in Ireland will grant you more trade partner slots. So, it's not just trade ports in England or even Scotland.
- As metioned above, inter-national trade routes can also be raided. When these are raided, the trade income you get from your trade partners goes down, even if your supply of trade goods stays constant.

[Servius]

UPDATE!

I think I figured out a rough approximation of the export capacity of trade ports. This is what I have so far. Please note that these are approximate and your results my differ by +/-3 units.

Also, this export capacity refers to your regions that produce trade goods and export them to your home region. To my knowledge, the only cap for exports from your home region to other nations is the cap on trade partnerships, not on the total number of units you can export to them.

0|VP|Po|Gro|Pro|Wea
1|40|45| 50| 55 | 60
2|60|67| 75| 82 | 90
3|80|90|100|110|120