What experiences have you had of trading in v1.3? Anyone held trade nodes since 1700? Or have most people wimped out like I did and gone for the shelter of dry land and a continental campaign?

The first campaign i tried when v1.3 came out last week was a UP one. In my first turn I did the (then) normal thing of building indiamen in all ports accross the globe and fragmenting my trade fleet in the East indies, claiming all but the 1 trade spot the pirates were guarding and sending the Fluyts off to madagascar. I then smugly ended the turn.



Indeed. The pirates in the E Indies attacked and chased-off 2 of my ships from their trade nodes in the same turn. I tried to move them around and trade whilst avoidingt he priates but lost 2 indiamen in the next few turns. Meanwhile, my fluyts arrived in Madagascar and were set upon by the resident pirate fleet, only just managing to get away back to the indian ocean.

I then canceled my queued indiamen and built a couple of fluyts in Ceylon instead, hoping to use them to destroy the fleet of Xebecs in the East indies and return to "normal" business claiming trade nodes.

I destroyed the Xebec fleet and send my damaged fluyts back to Colombo to be patched up. however, in the same turn another pirate fleet popped up and set upon my defenceless indiamen like a fox in a hen house. Realising that the game had changed in a more than imperceptible manner, I decided to put my UP on ice and start an aclimatisation campaign with Spain.

The Spanish campaign has been going well, although I've made no effort whatsoever to claim trade nodes, concentrating on resources from plantations for trade. As the pirates are now least active in America (especially after taking Trinidad), the main threat to my shipping has come from Moroccan and Barbary state galley fleets blockading my ports in the western mediterranean and GB and UP blockades in the Atlantic.

I've now turned a corner, having built up my navy enough to pressure my Naval foes on their shores. In doing so, I've captured a fair few dromons and have launched a squadron of 3 3rd rate ships of the line. Finaly, in 1735, I am going to send a trade fleet to the ivory coast...