Now we have invented trade, a new part of the game opens up for us. We can now start building Caravans and establish trade routes with those, thus increasing our income (in Gold).
It takes between 4 and 9 turns to build a Caravan, depending on where we build it. Below is a screen that displays the costs of Caravans if we were to switch *right now* (overwriting existing build queues). Switching to Caravans right now may not be a good idea (that's for the Minister of Domestic Affairs to decide), but it gives an impression of the cost in each city.
In the other two screens you see the cost in Caravans to establish trade routes. For the domestic routes, 1 option per trade good is displayed, as there are no better alternatives available. For the foreign routes, two alternatives are displayed per trade good: some give less income but cost less Caravans to establish (once again, no better alternatives are available).
This poll is to determine how many Caravans we should build in the short to medium term. When and where exactly Caravans are built is to be decided by the Minister of Domestic Affairs, but this thread is to decide how much of our production capacity we wish to invest in trade in the next turn chat(s).
Note that if we restrict ourselves to domestic trade, we greatly reduce the risk of loosing income due to piracy. The downside of this is obvious from the screenshots: domestic routes are less profitable. Routes to Muir of Ord and Dunbar are likely to run through Austrian territory and therefore have a very high risk of being pirated. The other international routes are all likely to run through German (possibly Indian) territory, whose attitude to piracy is difficult to gauge at this point.
If we restrict ourselves to domestic trade, 7 Caravans will suffice for a full trade network. If we want to maximize profits (assuming piracy will not become a major problem), we would need 28 Caravans. Of course, we don't have to maximize the profits and we don't have to utilize all goods at this point (or at all). Also note that we have two Settlers, which are likely to found cities near trade goods and with that increase the number of tradable goods available in the near future.
So vote here on how many Caravans we should ideally build in the not-too-distant future. Of course, you can also vote not to trade at all in the near future by voting 0. This poll will remain open for 5 days (until 22 March, 20:00ish GMT), though the first effects of the vote might already affect the next turn chat, in 2 days. Please also feel free to post if we should focus on foreign or domestic trade, to suggest what routes specifically we should try to establish and/or to discuss any other trade related issues here.
It takes between 4 and 9 turns to build a Caravan, depending on where we build it. Below is a screen that displays the costs of Caravans if we were to switch *right now* (overwriting existing build queues). Switching to Caravans right now may not be a good idea (that's for the Minister of Domestic Affairs to decide), but it gives an impression of the cost in each city.
In the other two screens you see the cost in Caravans to establish trade routes. For the domestic routes, 1 option per trade good is displayed, as there are no better alternatives available. For the foreign routes, two alternatives are displayed per trade good: some give less income but cost less Caravans to establish (once again, no better alternatives are available).
This poll is to determine how many Caravans we should build in the short to medium term. When and where exactly Caravans are built is to be decided by the Minister of Domestic Affairs, but this thread is to decide how much of our production capacity we wish to invest in trade in the next turn chat(s).
Note that if we restrict ourselves to domestic trade, we greatly reduce the risk of loosing income due to piracy. The downside of this is obvious from the screenshots: domestic routes are less profitable. Routes to Muir of Ord and Dunbar are likely to run through Austrian territory and therefore have a very high risk of being pirated. The other international routes are all likely to run through German (possibly Indian) territory, whose attitude to piracy is difficult to gauge at this point.
If we restrict ourselves to domestic trade, 7 Caravans will suffice for a full trade network. If we want to maximize profits (assuming piracy will not become a major problem), we would need 28 Caravans. Of course, we don't have to maximize the profits and we don't have to utilize all goods at this point (or at all). Also note that we have two Settlers, which are likely to found cities near trade goods and with that increase the number of tradable goods available in the near future.
So vote here on how many Caravans we should ideally build in the not-too-distant future. Of course, you can also vote not to trade at all in the near future by voting 0. This poll will remain open for 5 days (until 22 March, 20:00ish GMT), though the first effects of the vote might already affect the next turn chat, in 2 days. Please also feel free to post if we should focus on foreign or domestic trade, to suggest what routes specifically we should try to establish and/or to discuss any other trade related issues here.
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