Can someone clarify to me about Caravans and Science Beakers please?

[haraza]

I always play as Romans, and Rome is my Super Science City with around 300 beakers (Colossus + Newton + Copernicus + Library + University).

I have TONS of caravans surrounding it but when they establish trade routes (demand/ not demand), the total beakers accumulated is very small, not the massive long science beaker bar in the Rome city window.

I am in Democracy and I take 2 turns to research something, but I want to make it 1/turn.

To test out the reverse, I make caravans in Rome and establish trade routes in other cities. The beakers still increase pettily.

What am I missing out on? What can I do so I can get an advance per turn just like others describe?

Thank you in advance and I apologize for my ignorance.

[rjmatsleepers]

Re: Can someone clarify to me about Caravans and Science Beakers please?

Originally posted by haraza
I always play as Romans, and Rome is my Super Science City with around 300 beakers (Colossus + Newton + Copernicus + Library + University).

I have TONS of caravans surrounding it but when they establish trade routes (demand/ not demand), the total beakers accumulated is very small, not the massive long science beaker bar in the Rome city window.

I am in Democracy and I take 2 turns to research something, but I want to make it 1/turn.

To test out the reverse, I make caravans in Rome and establish trade routes in other cities. The beakers still increase pettily.

What am I missing out on? What can I do so I can get an advance per turn just like others describe?

Thank you in advance and I apologize for my ignorance.

Delivering the caravan gives you money - IIRC, there is a pop-up that tells you how much. At the same time you get as many beakers as you got gold ie a delivery that gives you 100 gold also gives you 100 beakers. This bonus does not appear in the city window, but is added directly. It is this bonus that can give you the extra advance. But beware, the advance happens at the begining of the next turn, when the first city is processed. And any surplus beakers are lost, so don't deliver too many vans.

The size of this bonus depends on a number of factors including whether the goods are demanded and the trade arrows in the 2 cities. A couple of demanded vans delivered to an overseas destination will often give you enough beakers for an advance.

The bonus for undemanded goods from a nearby city to your SSC may be quite small. The big bucks come from deliveries originating in your SSC delivered overseas.

RJM

[haraza]

Thank you for your reply. I have a few more questions regarding the trade routes:

1. Will a non-demand trade route from Rome to Verona (50 squares away on same continent) yield significantly more gold/beakers than Rome and Veii (5 squares away)??

2. Why is the trade route starting from the SSC yielding more gold/beakers? Would it actually be the city with more trade overall?

3. Do Freights give more revenue than Caravans for the same good and same route?

Thank you again.

[Boco]

Search for Caravans/Freights in Great Library Index 2 by Slowthinker, and you'll find the accumulated treasure for this topic. Someone wrote an excellent calculator for this as well, but I lack the time to find it at this moment.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by haraza
Thank you for your reply. I have a few more questions regarding the trade routes:

1. Will a non-demand trade route from Rome to Verona (50 squares away on same continent) yield significantly more gold/beakers than Rome and Veii (5 squares away)??

The bonus will normally be greater, but is affected by city size and buildings. It might be possible to construct an example where the nearer city gave a better result. The ongoing value of the trade route will depend on the commerce of Verona and Veii and can be affected by buildings.

Originally posted by haraza

2. Why is the trade route starting from the SSC yielding more gold/beakers? Would it actually be the city with more trade overall?

The ongoing value of the trade route depends on the combined commerce of the 2 cities. This normaly means that the best routes are from the SSC.

Originally posted by haraza

3. Do Freights give more revenue than Caravans for the same good and same route?

Yes.

Originally posted by haraza

Thank you again.

RJM

[Elephant]

Read, digest, meditate upon, and experiment with the formulas in this thread on delivering caravans and freight:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64729