Trade Routes and Economy help

[jbmagic]

what are the steps to make a trade route? what do i need to make and do ?


how do i keep my economy good, so i have money on the postive side...it seems after i start game after awhile it hard to keep from going to the negative side...what do i need to make at the beginning of the games beside making farms for each providence i own?


thanks

[ShadesWolf]

I have a couploe of pages on trade at my web site.... Take a look

ShadeWolfs - the art of trade

[Popeye]

Okay, first of all, land trade IS possible, but I spend so little time at peace with neighbors that I would not build up trade facilities based on that.

For trade to work at all, you need to have one or more trade buildings, and a chain of ships in every zone to one or more foreign ports. You cannot build a trade merchant where there are no goods to trade, but different goods are worth different amounts. I have not researched this. Once you have a trade building up, you can right click on it to see how much it is producing, and use that to decide whether an upgrade is worthwhile. Other than study the various goods, I don't know how to predict the value of a building. I may or may not study that someday, but I haven't yet.

So what you have to do first is build a Keep in a coastal province, then you can construct a Shipbuilder. The shipbuilder allows you to make little boats to move in the sea zones. Then you need a coastal province with a port and a merchant building. As you make more ships, you extend your line of ships out to the world. As long as no zone is interrupted (by being empty of your ships or the presence of ships from factions at war with you,) your trade buildings with ports will generate income, based on the number of ports you don't own that your ships can reach.

Now, trade is a fragile thing, as you can see. Storms and hostile navies can happen, or everyone can just declare war on you and cut you off. This transient nature has discouraged me from studying it too hard, I just go for extending naval power for spying and opening amphibious attack possibilities, and if it looks like trade might work out too, then okay.

[SgtAndrew]

What faction are you playing with, jb?

[jbmagic]

thanks i am trying ou the english early years, first time playing the single play campaign just bought the game..

not clear on how to trade still...i build a port but it shows no income coming in...i know thats not correct..what else i need to build in my providence beside the port?

sure am having a hard time with my economy too, i am early year in 1175 and already reach a negative number of coins.

also what things i need build on the starting providence i get first and what i need to build on providence i capture to help economy..so i can make more troops to protect my providence i have and capture thanks


thanks all

[lookbeyond23]

Let me explain trade to you my son.. =D

This is how trade works. Your going to transport a good from point A to B. You can gain income from merchants without having any of the extra resources (at the top of the province parchment when you rightclick the area)

To do this, there are two ways
Land
Sea

Land is simple. Your merchant, depending on it's quality (there are advancements) can reach farther and farther into non-enemy countries and trade with them generating extra income for that province. Note that the trading province must have a merchant of some kind as well.

Sea is a bit more complicated. In order to do so you must first create a merchant and a port. THEN you must build docks (they come after upgrading to a Keep). Ships taking 3 years to build each. Trading by sea is easier and also much harder. It works best for the Italians. Once you build a ship fleet, you must connect the ships (one in each water area) to another province of a non-enemy which has a merchant and a port as well. Only then will you gain income

Some things to note. If an enemy ship is in the same waters as your own ship, that area cannot connect to others for trade. Trade is blocked untill the offending ship(s) are removed

I hope that helps

[Elwe]

Quote[/b] (lookbeyond23 @ May 07 2003,20:21)][..]to another province of a non-enemy which has a merchant and a port as well. [..]

Not quite right. The target (non-enemy) province only needs a port, they do not need to have their own trading post/merchant/etc.

Cheers

[ShadesWolf]

Good information guys, keep it coming.

Do you mind If I use some of this on my web page, as long as i credit it to the authors.

[mav3rick]

Hi jbmagic,

look like you already have lots of quality help just adding my 2 cents.

Two different trade types :

Land Trade Prerequisites :
Trade buildings and resources. Trading is automatically done between the province where you build the trade buildings and the provinces around its border provided that they are under your control or those belonging to allies or neutral fractions. If beside a hostile province, trading cannot be done. Upgrading the trading buildings will generate more income from trade.

Sea Trade Prerequisites
Trade buildings, docks, and shipping links. Sea trade usually generates more income as you are not bound only to the surrounding provinces. Once you have build the required buildings, all you need to do is build ships and placing them on the ship routes. Keep expanding, by building more ships and moving them along, creating a chain towards the targeted destination. Shipping chains are also important as it allows moving of troops to other provinces in a single turn. You can only launch such an invasion from your province which has a dock. Please bear in mind you cannot retreat from that province until you've build a port.

Try experimenting with the Danish fraction. They have an early advantage as they can build cheap longboats. You should also put trade building upgrading priority to provinces which have lots of resources

That's about all hope it helps.

[misplacedag]

One thing I didn't see mentioned in the above is the use of the V key. Once you do have some long trade links established, hit the V key at least once a turn when you are looking at the strategic map. All the seas you can trade through will turn green. Any you can't will turn red. Any that have neutral ships only will turn yellow.

You can have a trade link going for a while, when suddendly someone you are at war with will build a ship right in the middle of it and with all the other things to worry about on the stat map, you might overlook its magical appearance.

[DDogwood]

Also, the best way to make a lot of money with trade is to stay at peace with as many factions as possible. This presents a challenge for most of us, as we didn't buy Medieval: Total Peace, but there's something to be said for preying on the weak & keeping strong enough forces on your borders to keep your rivals at bay.

I am currently in a Danish campaign where I was making 6000 florins profit per year by 1150, and my only holdings were Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Ireland. My opportunistic preying on my neighbors over the last 50 years has given me Great Britain, Sicily, Naples, Provence, and all regions bordering on the Baltic, and the only faction I am warring with right now is the People of Novgorod (who have, strangely, taken much of Asia Minor and the region around the Black Sea, but are staunch allies with the Byzantines... it's an interesting game).

[RisingSun]

I'm the English and i always seem to have trouble with getting trade income, because its just so damn far to the mediterranean, and the Northern Sea options are very limited, plus, ships are so expensive, i need that money for me to kill off the French/Germans/Italians/Russians.

[lookbeyond23]

Quote[/b] (ShadesWolf @ May 07 2003,19:44)]Good information guys, keep it coming.

Do you mind If I use some of this on my web page, as long as i credit it to the authors.

Go for it

[HindSight2020]

Remember that you can't trade with enemies. Also, your sea trade routines are disrupted when enemy ships are in the same part of the sea as the target trading province. Enemy ships become blockading ships not only in relation to transporting troops but also in regards to trade.

I was in an Egyptian campaign. At one point, multiple Catholic factions -- who had been my allied or neutral trading partners -- declared war on me by starting crusades aimed at my provinces. My trade income came to a screeching halt.

If you are Catholic, you will probably have increasing trouble if you are excommunicated, since former allies will become neutral or even declare war on you.