Trade Advisor Campaign thread

[Inverse Icarus]

umm, we dont have a Trade Advisor candidate yet... anyone want to run? if so explain your platform.

[Spiffor]

I might run, if nobody else does.

My platform is simple :
- get the minimum required luxuries from trade, so that we don't get unhappiness in our cities.
- get strategic resources if our military cannot secure them shortly
- Export luxuries agressively to get techs or money
- No resource exports to our neighbours, except if they are very good friends or very weak. I have no problems with trading resources with empires at the other side of the world.
- most buyings from the AI will be payed with gold per turn : if we break the trade by declaring war, it would have been cheaper for us than buying a lump sum.
- most sellings to the AI risk being gold per turn / other resources per turn. It's probable we'll hurt our reputation, and the AI doesn't deal techs-lump for luxuries in this case.
- I'll take care that we sell at highest prices, and buy at the lowest. I'm not going to be a nice negociator, except if the foreign advisor tells me we need good relationships.
- My priority will be to cover the resource / luxury needs of our empire, as the war minister and the happiness minister will dictate me.

Overall, I consider my post as an administrative one, with very few decision taking.

Any questions ?

[Spiffor]

Ooops, I forgot to translate it into Politicese

Erm.
For this harsh but noble task, I shall stand as candidacy. I accept to be the only one to do this kind of sacrifice, for it is for the gretest glory of our holy empire.

The way I shall trade with our neighbours, will follow these basic, but still efficient, principles :

- We will need to keep our common people happy, and that explains why we will need to buy luxuries from our friedly neighbours. However, the people should not get excessive luxuries, for it would be the beginning of the decay in our empire. I will lead a reasonable policy in acquiring luxuries, which fit our needs.

- Sometimes, our great armies will be unable to reach the resources we'll need to make it even greater. In these few occurences, I shall buy resources from friendly tribes. Should the army have great urge, I shall put all my resources to buy these resources, making them the highest priority of my ministry.

- The pathetic tribes we call neighbours have gold, and it is a part of our destiny to take it. I shall sell them luxuries very agressively, to let these poor people profit from the wonderful products of our craftspeople.

- Our neighbours will need resources to fight, too. I will never betray my homeland by selling resources to foreign threateners. But, for the glory of our treasury, I can sell them to tribes in awe of our greatness, which are very close friends. I might also trade them with tribes far away enough not to threaten us in the near future.

- Alas, we'll rarely be able to exchange something else than gold, and more specifically gold per turn. I will try to buy from foreigners mostly with gold per turn, as we all know we cannot trust Barbarians. That way, if the Barbarians force our glorious armies to rightfully punish them, they wouldn't profit from our genius anymore, contrary to a gift of technology.

- I will try to sell our luxuries for primitive advances or lump sums of gold. But the barbaric foreigners will project their evil intensions at ourselves, and will give us a bad reputation quickly. The only way I shall deal with them will probably be to ask for gold per turn.

- The foreigners know to count, and will try to trick our empire into unfair trades. I shall be aware that our trades are the best for our interests. The foreigners will not keep a mere coin they could tolerate giving to us. They will also not earn any coin they could tolerate not to earn.

- I shall be the efficient and zealous realys of the demands of our empire. As government is all about teamwork, I'll listen each sound the military and foreign ministers will say.

I shall lead my ministry with these constraints in mind. This post will not be a stairways to power for me, but the daily administrative work which makes the strength of empires !
Vote for me

[Spiffor]

(End of the politicese, it takes horrible time to write)

Ah, about my participation in other government affairs :
I will mostly abstain in government decisions, as very few will be of my concerns.
I will lobby the city planner to build marketplaces and banks when money will begin to lack.
I will strongly demand a harbor to the city planner as soon as possible, to have easy trade routes.
I will ask the public works minister to connect luxuries / resources as soon as possible, and to connect extra luxuries pretty quickly.
I will ask the public works minister to put roads on every currently used square to maximize the output also.

Overall, I'm a builder, but I won't interfere in expansion decisions.
My motto is "more productivity", meaning that one of our citizens produces much more than one of another Civ's citizen. I'll mildly lobby in this direction, but I won't hinder the government to go in a more warlike direction.

[Trevman]

How liberal are you with tech trading?

[Spiffor]

As the AI is a tech whore, I wil either be very prudent, or very liberal when I'll trade techs. I'll sell techs only when our empire has significant lead. Plus, I need the explicit allowance of the minister of science to trade a tech. Once I sell a tech (say, writing when we almost finished the Great Library) to someone, I'll sell it to all others who can afford it : this way, all the gold will come into our purse rather than the AI's.
I'll try to acquire techs if there is an urge (say, we need Iron working because our neighbour just started an uncalled war against us), or if they're cheap and won't be researched anytime soon.
I'll also try to acquire techs if there is a disagreement between the science minister and other ministers.

But, as tech acquiring is expansive, I won't take any decision alone, and I'll ask other ministers for their needs, and I'll see if we have something (gold, luxuries, even resources in some cases) to buy these techs.


By the way, thanks for showing interest in my campaign ! You sure are a responsible citizen !
That's why I favour having a good reputation, because we could trade luxuries or gold per turn for techs, rather than a lump sum.

[Alex]

Do you consider important to gift the AI if/when needed? How would you deal with this situation?

[Spiffor]

Alexnm :
Thanks for your question. I think gifts to the AI must be decided by the foreign minister, as their purpose is to have a better relationship with a partner.
When the foreign minister has decided, my role will be to make deals which actually raise the politeness of our partner. I'll favor a gold per turn / luxury gift then, as it's the most efficient way I know to bribe our partners, from my SP experience.