trade routes

[Flavor Dave]

Campo--you get bigger bonuses trading with a foreign city, and a bigger bonus for trading overseas.

It can be very useful to build a city on a nearby island, and home all caravans to your colossus city, then send them to this island. (This is during the trireme era, when it may not be practical toget to foreign civs.)

[Winston]

Yes, Campo, you've got it right.

The figures for the units only apply if you use incremental buying, however. That is, instead of buying, say, a settler outright, you generate a few shields towards a warrior, buy the warrior, change to horsemen, buy that and so on. It's cheeper than buying the unit you're really after outright.

Some consider this a cheat, but I'm all for it.

[geofelt]

I like to build lots of wonders, and early on, I have more problem getting the shields to produce the wonders than getting the prerequisite techs. For the cost of a caravan, you can build a new city, and I think this is better to do early in the game. Early caravans are not that effective because the bonus and the continuing income is dependent on the trade of both cities, and that is small, early on. If I am trying to build a science city, I build the wonders first, I can always build trade routes later.

[Matthew]

very early, yes, go for the settler. But once you have enough cities that the extra unhappiness starts to become a factor It can really pay off to build the caravan to get that extra bit of thech to get MC or JSB sooner or some cash to rush buy a couple of temples in new cities. A size 5 or 6 city early on, especially with a couple of trade specials, can produce a surprisingly large bonus before invention and navigation are discovered.

[War4ever]

i have to agree with geofelt here.... i build alot of wonders too and i don't think i ever deliver a caravan for a trade route until well after AD. However I am a militaristic expansionist did I mention aggresive as well ... I do launch to AC in some games but often i just grind it out with large wars. However when i am AC bound... trade routes are important but not until later.... this is probably why i never come close to the record and why my bank stagnates in the middle game.

[Jefferson Davis]

great insight
I love this site

[Scouse Gits]

To all Micromanagers and Trade Route Sceptics!

Greetings - I have recently discovered a fantastic tool that is of immense help for micromanagement and will instantly convince those sceptics out there that Trade Routes rule!
It's a widget called the Cool Rule - an on-screen ruler (the straight edged variety - not one that is feted on WLT*D) and can be used to clearly measure the gains from each trade route going in on the beaker collection of the Science Advisor.
I wouldn't be without it and it can be downloaded free from www.fabsoft.com
Enjoy, Scouse Git[1]