Trade deficit and Holy Orders

[FactionHeir]

You are both correct to some extent.

Ports increase trade base income by 2,3,4,5 respectively by level but do not increase trade fleets
Sea trade increases trade base income by 2,3,4 respectively by level and also increases trade fleets by 1,2,3

Note that I said trade base income. That means that if your region has little trade to begin with, increasing that won't do a lot, so its more profitable for regions with high amounts of tradable resources.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

You are both correct to some extent.

Ports increase trade base income by 2,3,4,5 respectively by level but do not increase trade fleets
Sea trade increases trade base income by 2,3,4 respectively by level and also increases trade fleets by 1,2,3

Note that I said trade base income. That means that if your region has little trade to begin with, increasing that won't do a lot, so its more profitable for regions with high amounts of tradable resources.

This is according to the EDB. But that is not correct. In my current campaign Antioch has a shipwright (level 2 port) and a docklands (level 3 warehouse). According to you Antioch should have three trade fleets. However Antioch is exporting (= trade fleet) to two other cities. Bologna has a port and is exporting to one city, Florence has a shipwright and no warehouse and is exporting to two cities. In the other thread it was reported that in this case the EDB is wrong. It is something hard coded.

[FactionHeir]

It needs some place to export to. Antioch is surrounded by castles, bologna and florence by cities.
Castles don't get trade fleets, cities do.

I think the way you want to be testing it is this:

Claim all regions around say Antioch. Now process_cq your way through to make all of them huge cities.
Destroy any ports you can find.
Now give each settlement there 1 port and nothing else. Note the trade income (check the breakdown screen for trade)

Save and exit.
Mod your EDB so that the wharf range does NOT increase trade base income but fleets only.
Up your game and build a wharf at antioch, going up the levels with this building only.
End turn after each build just in case.
Does the trade change as a result of those trade fleets?

[Monsieur Alphonse]

It needs some place to export to. Antioch is surrounded by castles, bologna and florence by cities.
Castles don't get trade fleets, cities do.

I think the way you want to be testing it is this:

Claim all regions around say Antioch. Now process_cq your way through to make all of them huge cities.
Destroy any ports you can find.
Now give each settlement there 1 port and nothing else. Note the trade income (check the breakdown screen for trade)

Save and exit.
Mod your EDB so that the wharf range does NOT increase trade base income but fleets only.
Up your game and build a wharf at antioch, going up the levels with this building only.
End turn after each build just in case.
Does the trade change as a result of those trade fleets?

I don't think it is necessary to test it. In my campaign Antioch is surrounded by Huge cities. All my huge cities have a shipwright and two trade fleets. Castles with a shipwright have also two trade fleets.

[FactionHeir]

My point is that it isn't about the lines and ships you see on the strat map, but the effect of the trade fleet (which may or may not be displayed on the strat map with a special graphic) on your actual trade income.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

I am not talking about the little ships on the campaign map, but about the trade details once you are in a settlement. According to the trade summary scroll all my cities and castles that have a shipwright have two trade fleets. They export to two other settlements. I build a level 2 warehouse in a city that had only a port and the sea export didn't increased much; there was no extra export to an other city /castle. when I build a shipwright an extra export destination appeared. Exporting to an other city (by sea) will boost your city's trade the most.

[FactionHeir]

Hmmm interesting. I don't have a lot of time to confirm, but its an interesting find.
But one thing I would like you to do before drawing any conclusions:
What if you don't build any sea trade buildings (only ports themselves). Do you still get 3 fleets with say a dockyard (and 1 with port, 2 with shipwright) without having any of the sea trade buildings?

Also, can you please test this while not running any mods?