Quote Originally Posted by Liberator View Post
Well, if you would be an Economist (like I am ), you would want the economy to be much more sophisticated,
for instance
- abandon the old-fashioned system of "trade agreements" altogether. Trade would be done by merchants (automated), not by states. As long as two nations are not at war with each other, there would be (at least some) trade between them.
- the states could raise tariffs on imports instead and get their share of trade in that way, far more realistic IMO
EU has the notion of inflation, with the rate going higher as a country imports more gold. Since CA are busy copying EU's look & feel, they might want to imitate this feature, too.

The trade system in the :TW series has always been rather too abstract. This one has some interesting possibilities. It would be nice to see more of a separation of government and guild / merchant activity. The "world market" (idea borrowed from HoI, among others) could be more dynamic. Trade routes and trade good movement could be more detailed, and more visible. And trade resources / unit logistics (iron and gunpowder, especially) could be a touch more realistic -- but it would require a much higher fidelity logistics/supply model.