Trade not important enough?

Playing as GB, I sacrificed a lot of my money to diplomatically isolate France. They don't have any allies anymore, and don't have any trade partners left.

So now I'm wondering whether or not my money was worth it. Personlly, I have a few tradepartners, but I only get like 3000 trade income. Losing such trade income wouldn't really hurt France, would it? What do you think?

In my current GB campaign I'm making 32K a turn from taxes and 25K from trade. It could easily be over 40K trade but I don't trade with Prussia, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, and a few others...so well over half the map.

Wow. Well I'm not very far into the game.

It's actually a lot more than "well over half the map"...I literally only have 2 trade partners right now: Russia and Belgium...however, Russia is more than 26K. I've pretty much monopolized all Atlantic/Mediterranean trade.

I think trade's vital to the game when you reach 1809 and onwards, the longer you have your trading partner, the more money you make, the larger the armies. Money made purely on tax and income from protectorates wouldn't supply me with half of the money I earn, actually.

I find that the importance placed on infrastructure and national industry isn't high enough, that's what bugs me about Total War games. The importance of national growth isn't all that high once you've improved all your home regions.

Honestly, trade is far too powerful in this game. Just ensure you are always producing trade ships and you will been making far more from trading than taxes from a reasonably early time. If you want a bit more of a challenge start a campaign with someone who has no navy, especially Austria or Russian, the Spanish and French fleets will raid your merchantment and stop trade being quite so effective.

Originally Posted by In3x

Honestly, trade is far too powerful in this game. Just ensure you are always producing trade ships and you will been making far more from trading than taxes from a reasonably early time. If you want a bit more of a challenge start a campaign with someone who has no navy, especially Austria or Russian, the Spanish and French fleets will raid your merchantment and stop trade being quite so effective.

I am playing as the Russians and am getting almost 30k in trade now - what French or Spanish fleets? The French don't have one and the Spanish are busily learning to speak Russian right now

I dominate the med and the ottomen are vanished into history... and I have a far more poerful fleet in the channel than GB has all-up

oh and its early 1809

Lucius

Originally Posted by ♔Lucius Verenus♔

I am playing as the Russians and am getting almost 30k in trade now - what French or Spanish fleets? The French don't have one and the Spanish are busily learning to speak Russian right now

I dominate the med and the ottomen are vanished into history... and I have a far more poerful fleet in the channel than GB has all-up

oh and its early 1809

Lucius

These are the fleets I am talking about. The French fleet is no threat to me but the Spanish one is preventing me from leaving the med.

I too have destroyed the Ottomans.

Oh, and it's early 1806.

Originally Posted by In3x

These are the fleets I am talking about. The French fleet is no threat to me but the Spanish one is preventing me from leaving the med.

I too have destroyed the Ottomans.

Oh, and it's early 1806.

Hmmm yeah that Spanish fleet should have (apart from the three >100 ships, a 74 and a 32 carronade IIRC.

When I had taken out the Ottomans (in 1806 as they declared war on me in turn 4), that gave me two more research centers making 4 in total. I pushed through research that would enable me to built the highest level port in Rumelia and Athens. Then built 6 or 7 86 SOL's - the biggest Russia can build and some 74's and frigates.

Took me a while but meantime I had been able to trade spices and furs, and sent trade ships to the NW of the map to trade tobacco and cotton - nobody bothered them at all.
I found that nasty old Spanish fleet sitting on the eastward of the two Trade Ivory spots and demolished it, immediately moving a five tradeship fleet onto it. As Ivory brings in the most money at the moment that was a big income hike.

As GB once you get the Steam Drydock you can build ships to match the big Spanish and French ones, you should have two research centers in England and two more if you Occupied Istanbul so push your research to getting that asap. Don't forget to put gentlemen into the 'Intellectual centers' as they spawn - they speed up research.

For right now - if you can build tradeships in Bristol or Ireland and sent them off to the NW corner of the map it should bring in some decent trade and usually they dont get bothered.

ohYeah - IMPORTANT - Demolish the trade port the French are blockading, your trade will then switch to one of the other trade ports, with any luck the dumb Ai will continue to block the destroyed one

Lucius

Edit: You can turn some of those trade ports in the med into Dockyards of course, I expect you knew that but just in case...

Originally Posted by ♔Lucius Verenus♔

Hmmm yeah that Spanish fleet should have (apart from the three >100 ships, a 74 and a 32 carronade IIRC.

When I had taken out the Ottomans (in 1806 as they declared war on me in turn 4), that gave me two more research centers making 4 in total. I pushed through research that would enable me to built the highest level port in Rumelia and Athens. Then built 6 or 7 86 SOL's - the biggest Russia can build and some 74's and frigates.

Took me a while but meantime I had been able to trade spices and furs, and sent trade ships to the NW of the map to trade tobacco and cotton - nobody bothered them at all.
I found that nasty old Spanish fleet sitting on the eastward of the two Trade Ivory spots and demolished it, immediately moving a five tradeship fleet onto it. As Ivory brings in the most money at the moment that was a big income hike.

As GB once you get the Steam Drydock you can build ships to match the big Spanish and French ones, you should have two research centers in England and two more if you Occupied Istanbul so push your research to getting that asap. Don't forget to put gentlemen into the 'Intellectual centers' as they spawn - they speed up research.

For right now - if you can build tradeships in Bristol or Ireland and sent them off to the NW corner of the map it should bring in some decent trade and usually they dont get bothered.

ohYeah - IMPORTANT - Demolish the trade port the French are blockading, your trade will then switch to one of the other trade ports, with any luck the dumb Ai will continue to block the destroyed one

Lucius

Edit: You can turn some of those trade ports in the med into Dockyards of course, I expect you knew that but just in case...

I am Russia not GB. I my GB campaigns you guys are right, there are no French or Spanish fleets.

To be honest, I am fairly close to wiping France and Spain off the map and then their fleets will just dissipate into the air. I do not think I could have reached SOL this early unless I was just researching toward that area, unfortunately I have been concentrating on the speeding up research and economic upgrades.

As long as these fleets do not move I am happy, considering I control the cotton and furs in the north and all the med trading ports I have plenty of trade still to exploit while I polish off Nappy and his cronies.

Originally Posted by In3x

Honestly, trade is far too powerful in this game. Just ensure you are always producing trade ships and you will been making far more from trading than taxes from a reasonably early time. If you want a bit more of a challenge start a campaign with someone who has no navy, especially Austria or Russian, the Spanish and French fleets will raid your merchantment and stop trade being quite so effective.

Yeah right, as if the AI could even figure out how to use its fleet (if it has one left after the first couple turns). Just build a hand full of frigates and 3rd rates and go spank the AI silly. That'll be enough to rule the seas for the rest of the campaign and allow you to spam trade ships all over the place.

Originally Posted by antred

Yeah right, as if the AI could even figure out how to use its fleet (if it has one left after the first couple turns). Just build a hand full of frigates and 3rd rates and go spank the AI silly. That'll be enough to rule the seas for the rest of the campaign and allow you to spam trade ships all over the place.

Obviously in my game the Brits lost Trafalgar, the French are blockading most British ports and control the channel. The Spanish have a navy at the straights of Gibraltar that has 2 122 Gun Ships of the Line and a 106 Gun ship of the line, my frigates stand no chance, I have just taken all the provinces in France bar Paris and am upgrading ports. I simply cannot build a navy at this time that can tackle these ships, most of my Mediterranean ports can only build merchantmen. I guess it is not that big a problem since France is almost gone and Spain has only 2 regions but it is still enough to keep my from getting trade routes to India and Brazil in the South Atlantic.

It's May 1806 and I control 3 of the North Atlantic trade routes and all the Mediterranean ones until Gibraltar, this nets me 15k, equal to my tax income.

Playing as the GB is so easy, trade wise. You basically have four trade nodes just for yourself and two nearby ones just outside Portugal.

GB campaign, Hard, I managed to ramp up around 45K just from trade. Passed 60K when I played with the French.

Trade is so important I realised in a game today. Playing as Prussia, I decided to delay an alliance with Russia and Austria to muster my forces. They ended up declaring war on me in fear that I'd turn to help the French. The consequence was -1,000 debt per turn. Russia, Austria, Britain and Sweden ended up fighting me... then the French too. So, yeah, fair to say I got screwed over and trade is vital to every early, middle and end of a game to fund your armies, more so at the beginning when you mostly have tax offices, no protectorates and few trade nodes.