Trade Theatre Usage Analysis

[Skott]

I'm not surprised by this info. I've long thought the AI wasnt doing all it could and this just proves it. Kudos to Didz for taking the time to do this btw. CA needs to work on this but I have a feeling they wont bother too much with it. My guess is if they do work on it it wont appear until their next game/expansion. I just dont think they are willing to spend more time on something when they can make some quick money like they have been doing. I would encourage them to try though.

On the subject of wether a enemy fleet attacks ships on a trade node or not I have seen it happen. Usually its the pirates as they seem the most aggressive in attacking trade zones but I've only seen it happen if I have warships next to the trade node. If you park your India Men ships on the node and move the warships away from the node the trade ships are left completely alone. This is why I dont mix my fleet with warships and trade ships on a node. I will put trade ships in the stack with warships until I get to the zone of choice but upon entering that zone I split my fleet apart. I'll send the traders to whatever node I desire but once there I'll keep my warships far from them. Out in the shipping lanes preferably. Just something I have learned to do since the game came out.

In the beginning I thought if I kept my warships near the traders they would be in a better position to defend them since some of the nodes can be close together. Experience has taught me it seems to attract trouble especially if the stack containing my warships is smaller than the enemy's stack. It doesnt happen a lot but it does happen upon ocassion. Like I said though more often than not its the pirates who do the attacking than other nations. I always figured the pirates are programmed to be more agressive in this manner.

[Didz]

Yes, I've seen that happen a few times. The a faction (player or AI) places a fleet close to a another on a trade post then an enemy will attack the fleet that isn't on the trade post and the trade fleet gets caught up in the action as a reinforcement. Thats why, as you say, its best not to put another fleet anywhere near your trade posts.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Yes, I've seen that happen a few times. The a faction (player or AI) place a fleet close to a another on a trade post then an enemy will attack the fleet that isn't on the trade post and the trade fleet gets caught up in the action as a reinforcement. Thats why, as you say, its best not to put another fleet anywhere near your trade posts.

Unless you want that node, park a sloop next to it and wait for the pirates to attack. Before the patch it was my favorite tactic to get some extra nodes. I usually managed to get those from the Portuguese on the Ivory coast and the one from the Dutch in the East Indies. After the patch the starting fleets of the pirates are too weak to do that succesfully.