Trade routes

[richardgore]

In the first MTW you positioned your ships in a unbroken line so to build up a trade route and move men, I can't seem to figure out how far apart the ships in MTW2 have to be to get the trade route secured! I also seem to have lost a few merchants! I have about 7 towns but can only see 3 merchants on the playing area, any ideas how I can see where they are?

Damn good game this

Richard

[katank]

Ships are no longer required to get trade routes. They happen automatically now given a port.

However, building a strong navy is still necessary for trade to prevent blockades of the ports which would choke off the trade income.

[Foz]

You can find all of your agents, armies/generals, and settlements from the appropriate Roster screen. The easiest way (there may be others) is to right-click the UI Button for whichever sort of unit you are trying to find. You'll find the 3 buttons I'm talking about in the center of the interface at the bottom of the screen. They are typically marked "Army" "Town" and "Agents", though the middle one may be "Castle" if you last had a castle highlighted. The first summarizes any armies and generals in your command, the second shows all settlements you control, and the third displays all of your agents. All of them show information like location and skill rank for units, and the summary stats for settlements (income, population, and indicators for growth, public order, recruitment, and construction) IIRC. This is actually my favorite part of the interface, as it's easy to manage your entire empire at a glance. Oh and did I mention clicking any of the entries on the roster zips you right to the unit/settlement on the map? It's genius

[Mr Frost]

Ships are no longer required to get trade routes. They happen automatically now given a port.

However, building a strong navy is still necessary for trade to prevent blockades of the ports which would choke off the trade income.

You also need to keep pirates and enemy fleets away from your trade routes {the dotted lines with tiny ships moving along them} as they can reduce trade flow the same way parking a hostile army on a road can choke the trade flow on that road ; unless they changed it from the way it worked in RTW .

[katank]

Hmm, really? I typically pirate hunt anyhow to boost experience for my fleets.

[Doug-Thompson]

Watchtowers on coasts and islands are great for watching out for pirates, and invasion fleets. Very helpful. For instance, put one watchtower at the west end of Cyprus, a few in northern Egypt and north Africa, one on Crete (you can't build on the mountainous east end, and Rhodes has no space left either due to the harbor and the city), one or two in the Acre area and one on the south shore of Asia Minor. You'll see the whole Eastern half of the Mediterranean except for one dark spot, and that's where you leave your fleet.

Also, do spies extend the vision range of fleets? They seem to.

[Gorm]

Watchtowers on coasts and islands are great for watching out for pirates, and invasion fleets. Very helpful. For instance, put one watchtower at the west end of Cyprus, a few in northern Egypt and north Africa, one on Crete (you can't build on the mountainous east end, and Rhodes has no space left either due to the harbor and the city), one or two in the Acre area and one on the south shore of Asia Minor. You'll see the whole Eastern half of the Mediterranean except for one dark spot, and that's where you leave your fleet.

Great tip! Was not aware that watchtowers were effective on the coasts to see enemy warships.

[elbasto]

Quick tip:

- Place a spy in your fleet (with or without an army with siege equipment on it)
- Select the fleet
- Press CTRL + A
- Voilà!

;)

[Doug-Thompson]

Quick tip:

- Place a spy in your fleet (with or without an army with siege equipment on it)
- Select the fleet
- Press CTRL + A
- Voilà!

;)

Well, that explains it.

If a spy is selected, you get his line of sight.

If the ship is selected, you get it's (shorter) line of sight.

If both are selected (Ctrl +A), you get the longer (spy) LOS.

Therefore, you should be able to go to your agent screen, select the spies "at sea" and select them that way. Will have to check this out, though. Was it that way in RTW?

[elbasto]

Well, that explains it.

If a spy is selected, you get his line of sight.

If the ship is selected, you get it's (shorter) line of sight.

If both are selected (Ctrl +A), you get the longer (spy) LOS.

Therefore, you should be able to go to your agent screen, select the spies "at sea" and select them that way. Will have to check this out, though. Was it that way in RTW?

You will also enjoy a far, far, far, faster movement rate for your fleets...

[Doug-Thompson]

You will also enjoy a far, far, far, faster movement rate for your fleets...

Owww. Nice find. You should post that on a "fix this" thread.