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Trade Minister's report:
I recommend our foreign trade be focused on the Japanese and Chinese for a number of reasons:
First, they're closest. Our transports can move from Freeport harbour to a point where they can offload Freight in Chinese/Japanese territory in one move. In other words, it's fast. The longer transports are at sea, the more risks they face (sneak attack) and the harder they are to defend. A long ship chain to Mongolia, say, would require a number of Aegis/Battleships to defend. Even assuming that we lose a Transport to enemy action after offloading Freight, the bonuses would easily pay for a new one to be rushbuilt. Freight lost en route, OTOH, is a dead loss.
Second, both the Chinese and Japanese have republican governments, meaning that the base trade will be fairly high and the bonuses better than those from trade with a fundamentalist state, all other things being equal.
Third, the Chinese and Japanese cities within range are almost all large, well developed cities. They're all around size 12, with the surrounding terrain thoroughly roaded and railroaded. Not only does this mean fairly good trade bonuses, but it also means that if we land a Freight on a road or RR, there's a good chance we could move it to any one of several cities that same turn.
Fourth, the analysis below suggests that there are no greater benefits to be gained by trading with other nations (only greater risks, as outlined in point #1)
ANALYSIS of foreign cities close to Freeport
====================================
Chinese cities demanding:
Copper 7
Coal 6
Dye 6
Silver
Spice
Japanese cities demanding:
Coal 9
Dye 7
Silk 6
Copper 4
Spice
Wool
Wine
We have:
No Copper suppliers
Coal - Capua, Port Easton
Dye - Amazon Island, Kerman
Silk - a number of cities, notably Vigo, Darkness's Fort, Cavebear City, Turin
Most of these suppliers are fairly small, trade-poor cities. The upshot is that we're not going to do extraordinarily well trading demanded commodities with China and Japan.
However - our cities richest in arrows supply Hides, Oil, Gold, Uranium (St Praski, Cadiz), Salt, Cloth, and Silk (Vigo). Of these commodities, there is some domestic demand for Oil, Gold (Vigo), Uranium (Capitol and many others), and much overseas demand for Silk. But there aren't many large cities in any foreign civilization demanding any of Hides, Oil, Gold, Uranium, Salt and Cloth. Certainly there is not enough demand in the Celtic and Mongol lands to justify the risks of a long sea voyage.
On this basis, the trading we do should be:
a) domestic - demanded commodities, especially Uranium for the huge bonuses, and Oil.
b) foreign - with China and Japan, demanded and undemanded commodities.
I recommend building Uranium Freights in St. Pratski ASAP, and completing the one in Cadiz. If these repeat, they could be very lucrative when delivered to CAPITOL, Valencia, Cadiz, WIAT, Vigo, Avila, and Leon.
As for Oil - we have a number of smaller cities supplying oil and a lot of larger ones demanding it. Thus, trade in Oil should be largely domestic. Our bigger cities that produce undemanded Freight should ship them to China/Japan - the foreign and overseas bonuses should help us greatly. I'd be willing to bet that the bonuses are 200g+ - which makes delivering Freight a better deal than using Freight to build SS parts.
I recommend our foreign trade be focused on the Japanese and Chinese for a number of reasons:
First, they're closest. Our transports can move from Freeport harbour to a point where they can offload Freight in Chinese/Japanese territory in one move. In other words, it's fast. The longer transports are at sea, the more risks they face (sneak attack) and the harder they are to defend. A long ship chain to Mongolia, say, would require a number of Aegis/Battleships to defend. Even assuming that we lose a Transport to enemy action after offloading Freight, the bonuses would easily pay for a new one to be rushbuilt. Freight lost en route, OTOH, is a dead loss.
Second, both the Chinese and Japanese have republican governments, meaning that the base trade will be fairly high and the bonuses better than those from trade with a fundamentalist state, all other things being equal.
Third, the Chinese and Japanese cities within range are almost all large, well developed cities. They're all around size 12, with the surrounding terrain thoroughly roaded and railroaded. Not only does this mean fairly good trade bonuses, but it also means that if we land a Freight on a road or RR, there's a good chance we could move it to any one of several cities that same turn.
Fourth, the analysis below suggests that there are no greater benefits to be gained by trading with other nations (only greater risks, as outlined in point #1)
ANALYSIS of foreign cities close to Freeport
====================================
Chinese cities demanding:
Copper 7
Coal 6
Dye 6
Silver
Spice
Japanese cities demanding:
Coal 9
Dye 7
Silk 6
Copper 4
Spice
Wool
Wine
We have:
No Copper suppliers
Coal - Capua, Port Easton
Dye - Amazon Island, Kerman
Silk - a number of cities, notably Vigo, Darkness's Fort, Cavebear City, Turin
Most of these suppliers are fairly small, trade-poor cities. The upshot is that we're not going to do extraordinarily well trading demanded commodities with China and Japan.
However - our cities richest in arrows supply Hides, Oil, Gold, Uranium (St Praski, Cadiz), Salt, Cloth, and Silk (Vigo). Of these commodities, there is some domestic demand for Oil, Gold (Vigo), Uranium (Capitol and many others), and much overseas demand for Silk. But there aren't many large cities in any foreign civilization demanding any of Hides, Oil, Gold, Uranium, Salt and Cloth. Certainly there is not enough demand in the Celtic and Mongol lands to justify the risks of a long sea voyage.
On this basis, the trading we do should be:
a) domestic - demanded commodities, especially Uranium for the huge bonuses, and Oil.
b) foreign - with China and Japan, demanded and undemanded commodities.
I recommend building Uranium Freights in St. Pratski ASAP, and completing the one in Cadiz. If these repeat, they could be very lucrative when delivered to CAPITOL, Valencia, Cadiz, WIAT, Vigo, Avila, and Leon.
As for Oil - we have a number of smaller cities supplying oil and a lot of larger ones demanding it. Thus, trade in Oil should be largely domestic. Our bigger cities that produce undemanded Freight should ship them to China/Japan - the foreign and overseas bonuses should help us greatly. I'd be willing to bet that the bonuses are 200g+ - which makes delivering Freight a better deal than using Freight to build SS parts.
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