Trade Fix

[Pontifex Maximus]

The average income is now, not adjusting for any modifiers, traits, etc, at 50k. In the past we've had an average income as high as 60k but not in this setting. So. With two trade routes that's 40k easy, almost doubling someone's income. What we need to do is reduce the prices of buildings by 30% and the price of troops by probably 20% to reflect the loss of income (recruitment and upkeep).

We can eliminate trade for this setting and adjust the prices of things across the board.

[Pontifex Maximus]

On second thought, an easy -25% cost to everything might be easier to implement.

[Poach]

Trade routes provide 10k income a year, where is this 40k income coming from?

[Pontifex Maximus]

Just bad memory I guess. So if we're losing ~20k per year, then a 25-35% reduction for everything across the board ought to fix that.

[Poach]

What's the point in removing trade only to lower the price of everything to match it? It's obviously not about money because the proposal will just compensate everyone for the loss anyway.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Trade was only ever about financial balancing. This proposal is to remove a mechanic that has long been vexatious and clunky and doing so makes the game a little more simple. Working out trade routes has been nothing but a game start chore to ensure you don't get financially left behind by your rivals and little else. It doesn't do anything for RP. I'd rather either see someone come up with a better way to implement it (the current system is largely my creation, and I hate it) or some other system entirely. Maybe we make merchants the sole arbiters of trade and therefore make them substantially more sought after? Something along those lines would be better

[Poach]

Trade also allows some customisation by having each resource offer a bonus, and allowing you to pick only 2. It's not solely about giving people extra money.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Which means exactly nothing in this setting.