Exclusive trade routes?

[Father Beast]

I was reading that to trade with another civ, you have to have a road connecting your capitol with theirs (unconfirmed). I wonder if that means you could make situations where one civ would have an exclusive trade route connecing 2 parts of the world?

suppose you have a map like the Wheel Of Time books and cairhen stands astride the only decent path through the mountains and across the desert to lands on the other side. would Cairhen be able to hold exclusive trade relations with the other side? or would building a road to cairhen automatically connect you with civs across the gulf?

or, best yet, could cairhen block you from access (Unless you built a costly road across the mountains of your own) by not allowing passage rights?

[Tventano]

Having a connection by road, sea or air is enough. So if both civilizations build a harbor which is connected by road to their capital, they can trade.

[saracen31]

I am very interested to see what implications the new trade system has on the game. To me, it was an underused aspect of Civ II, and it seems like they're working on a robust improvement. It would be pretty neat if you could cut off trade access from one civ to another by pillaging roads.

[korn469]

Father Beast

lets say we have three landlocked civs in the ancient era with a road that runs through all three civ's territory

before the two civs on the end could trade i think that at least one of them would have to establish a rights of passage treaty through the civs territory in the center of the map, and if the civ in the center of the map wanted to charge a couple of gold per turn i'm sure they could

or, best yet, could cairhen block you from access (Unless you built a costly road across the mountains of your own) by not allowing passage rights?

i would assume so

[jsw363]

Do rights of passage refer to trade as well as military units?

[TechWins]

before the two civs on the end could trade i think that at least one of them would have to establish a rights of passage treaty through the civs territory in the center of the map, and if the civ in the center of the map wanted to charge a couple of gold per turn i'm sure they could

I never really thought of that. Your example sounds very interesting. This makes me want to play Civ3 even more now.

[korn469]

jsw363

one of the interviews claimed that you couldn't use enemy infrastructure during an invasion, if that is true this leads me to believe that without a rights of passage agreement trade couldn't occur between two civs linked by a road that travels through that civ's territory

[gremalkin]

Trade is going to be fascinating in civ3.. Roads & Harbors become so much more important. Pillaging a road could really mess up an enemies plans.. As long as the AI knows this you'll have to keep units guarding your trade routes, fun fun fun.

I seriously hope that you do need rights of passage to utilise opponents roads for trade..

I'm really looking forward to this game!

[Provost Harrison]

Yeah, initially you will be in need of a road connection to trade, but as the game goes along, a harbour will be more important for overseas trade. Eventually you will also have access to airports which should make things a bit easier going still, but I have never been convinced of the value of airports in the trading of bulky commodities (such as oil or coal which are invariably shipped or transported by pipeline; flying them around would be ridiculously expensive).

[Father Beast]

I like to think of things I think should be possible, then find out if they are.

but the trade business as stated could get interesting. When going to war with a civ, you might pillage the roads connecting them to a civ supplying them with luxury items, and watch their cities go into disorder. Or cut them off from a civ supplying some needed rubber, and they can't make any more tanks to oppose you.

I think that is pretty much in. I remember seeing a diplomacy screen with 6 of the 8 world leaders listed, and a note that you could only trade with one of them. so obviously, something more than contact is needed for trade.

I wonder if you could become a trading magnate. get early trade across the ocean, and get trade of more silk than you need, and resell it at a profit to your less seaworthy neighbors. (it has been revealed that oceans are more dangerous to travel than seas) That would be great!
But I don't know if you can resell, or if the AI would make it unprofitable.