Welcome tomrayner,
Yes this is very noticable sometimes, though it does not happen at set years. It's probably coincidence more than anything else.
Dromons are faster than other vessels. They tend to flee when attacked and due to their greater speed usually always escape. This is why you end up chasing them around - especially if you're using the heavier and slower ships a lot. Break your fleets into individual ships and attack with each ship individually for a better chance of catching them.
The game is skewed towards trade income vs farm/mine income. Trade income is potentially massive where farm income will never be the basis for a large empire. Mine income is not much use either. This is bad both in gameplay terms and is historically incorrect also as the great maritime trading empires of the Portuguese, Spanish and British etc had not been established at that time. Most trade at the time was local land trade and this is not represented in the game in any form. In essence you are forced to trade if you want to have a chance against the AI. Also ships are vital to defend your coasts from invasion - so you simply have to build ships or be overwhelmed.
Regions also have very imbalanced farm income so building an empire based only on farming in the eastern steppes isn't really viable. If you play as Novgorod or the Russians you will have to start trading from the Baltic and/or Black Sea or fall behind. The inland provinces simply don't provide enough farm income.
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