Trade Partners

[Ed TW]

Why is it so difficult to establish trade partners? Most of my offers are rejected. What am I doing wrong?

[WackiestPaladin]

Try offering them money. I start at 500 and have gone up to 3000 at times. If you trade enough to them you usually make it back within a few turns (if not sooner).

[aimlesswanderer]

Yes, if they won't sign up for free offer $. Though there are times when people just don't want to trade with you.

[Dayve]

It seems to depend on how much the faction hates you, which is fine. If they absolutely hate you, then you get responses like "The only thing from saving you from destruction is diplomatic niceties! Your request is rejected outright!", and no matter how much money you seem to offer them they simply won't trade, and it's risky to offer them large amounts of money because if they hate you, they tend to break the trade agreement very shortly after accepting it.

In my most recent game as UP, Spain has hated my guts right from the very start because i took Flanders on the first turn, i think they were -250 on the friendometer. Around 1730, with France blockaded Britain which plunged me into bankruptcy. With my income at -4000 a turn and my armies being halved in number each turn because of it, something had to be done, and with everybody across the map rejecting my offers of trade no matter how much money was offered, i turned to Spain and began offering trade for various things. Military access, which they refused, money each turn for 5 years, refused, and i believe something else which was refused.

In the end, i had to give them a province. I offered Goa in India, which is tiny and has only a tea plantation and no towns, and they accepted, taking me from -4000 a turn to +6,000 a turn. They can't go anywhere from Goa, i own all the land from the south and east of it, and Maratha owns the land north of it, and recruitment options from Goa are limited. If they break the trade i will take back Goa and give it to somebody else for trade.

Also in this campaign i paid Russia 3,000 for trade, and the very next turn they sent me a message saying they have decided to break the trade agreement off for one reason or another, even though i have been giving them technology to defend themselves against the ferocious Prussians right from the start. Bastards.

[anweRU]

As with many other things, the breaking-the-trade agreeement event seems to be random. I've had factions break their first trade agreement (Spain and Russia) and then keep them going normally when re-established...

[TinCow]

The responders are correct, it is very difficult to get a trade agreement for free and also with a nation that dislikes you. I've had some nations accept with an "indifferent" attitude and I think once with "unfriendly" but I almost always have to get them to "friendly" or "very friendly" first. In addition, you pretty much always have to toss in something extra to get them to agree. With minor nations, they'll usually accept 500-1000, but major nations can require something in the region of 1000-3000. Technology will sometimes be accepted instead if you don't have the cash on hand.

Despite the costs required to improve relations with a cash gift and then provide for the 'incentive' cash to get the trade agreement itself, it IS worth it. The extra income is pretty significant, especially with large nations. You'll make your money back quickly.