Benefits of Multiple Markets

[HalfLotus]

Or you can invest some lumber in Markets which pay off for the rest of the game.

[Flubber]

Just bought the game yesterday and I have a related question . .

If I have only one market among my 5 cities and was pumping out caravans from it , could those caravans link all my cities?? . . . What I am asking is whether a carvan can be produced at City "A" that will create a trade route between cities B and C, B and D , etc.

[Sava]

multiple markets is useful because each one gives you wealth over time... more cities = more wealth accumulation... +10 doesn't seem like much, but if you have 4 or 5 cities, +40 or +50 is significant. Especially when you are doing other things, the wealth just keeps going up It's definitely worth the 100-150 timber you spend.

[Jaybe]

Flubber, you NEED only 1 market for your caravans.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Jaybe
Flubber, you NEED only 1 market for your caravans.

Thanks . . . I appreciate that additional markets make sense for the reasons given earlier in this thread.

so 5 cities will mean 4+3+2+1=10 trade routes.

[Chuckles]

Except that the number of caravans you can have is also limited by your commerce research, otherwise in the late game people would have more caravans on the map than military units.

In an case if you have clicked on the 3 arrows at the top left of your screen you can always see how many caravans you have and how many you are allowed.

[tetleytea]

I'm avoiding multiple Markets right now as Egyptians. I need the real estate for 2 Wonders.

[Sava]

real estate? did you know your city building possibilities increase if you have larger cities? and you get larger cities by building more types of buildings. Hence... more room for wonders.

[JeffS]

I think it's worth pointing out that in Rise of Nations (as in most good strategy games) everything you build is built instead of building something else. You are rarely in a position where you can build everything you might like to have, so you are making decisions as to what is the best way to use your limited resources, because you can't do everything (at least not all at once). The question is not whether multiple markets are good in the abstract, but rather whether they are better that something else you might build (or save up to build) with the same resources.

Concerning multiple markets, the first question would be whether you need more wealth, and if so how important that need is compared to other needs. If you determine that wealth is a high priority (for me, in most of my games, it doesn't usually seem to be much of a problem) then the question is how to increase it. Caravan's or fishing fleets are my first choices, if practicable. Other options are increased taxation, building (or upgrading) forts, or cities, or temples, or researching Civics (to increase my territory and therefore taxation income) building other needed buildings to increase city size and therefore caravan income, or building a merchant if there is an appropriate rare resource available. If you've built the Porcelin Tower (which is a very attractive option on water maps) it will double the income from markets and make them more attractive. The best approach will, of course, vary somewhat depending on the exact game circumstances, but I do not think it's usually wise to build anything "automatically", not even temples.

Note though, that this applies only to the single player, "quasi turn based" style of play. It may be that in multi-player games, or single player games played without pausing, the need to save time might make automatic build sequences necessary. That style of play isn't my "cup of tea" so I can't comment intelligently on it.

[tetley]

As Indians I'd say definitely build a market in every city.

[JeffS]

Tetley:

It seems to me that the Indian advantage of lower cost for multiple buildings makes it more attractive to construct buildings (including markets) to meet your needs, as compared to other possible ways to do so. Note however, that the Indians also have increased income from caravans, which reduces the need for the extra revenue that markets provide. If you do need extra revenue, markets provide a small benefit at a small cost, and are worth considering. In general, I think you have to consider what your resources you have and what is the best thing to spend them on. Keep in mind that this is largely a resource management game. However you spend your resources it is instead of spending them on something else, so you have to prioritize.

[tetley]

I never seem to have a problem hitting commerce limit on gold on land maps. On water maps it's a no-brainer...use your timber on boats, not extra markets. On water I have a way of my food & gold flashing yellow before my wood & metal, and I'm starving for wood. On land, though, I eat gold like mad, and as Indians I'm going for elephants, which want gold.

Another interesting twist: Porcelain Tower gives you +30 from multiple markets instead of +10. I think the consensus is that Porcelain Tower is crap, but from the times I captured one from an AI player it sure was nice not having to worry about raiders or micro'ing merchants. I think I'm gaining a new appreciation for it, on team LAND maps. On team games those resources seem to really add up. And it can get hard winning the wonder races when playing 3 other humans. With Porcelain Tower they're like, who cares.

[JeffS]

Tetley:

I don't have much experience with the Porcelain Tower but it seems like it should be quite useful on water maps, and it does make multiple markets look attractive.

[tetley]

Actually, I don't like Porcelain Tower on water maps. +50% boat build speed, who cares. What's sweet about it is you don't have to worry about raiders killing your merchants.

[JeffS]

Tetley:

I had assumed that the Porcelain tower was good on water maps (I have a game going currently where I am planing to build it), so I appreciate your observation that the faster ship build time is really not that helpful. I also like your point about the merchants. Presumably you could disband all the merchants in your territory to decrease your unit count and still have the benefit of all those rare resources. It appears that the Poreclain Tower is more versatile than I had first thought.