Resource Buildings - Resource or Commerce Specialization

[Fredz]

Hi all,

I've found it hard to figure out what is more profitable - specializing down the resource path or the commerce version of the resource building.

I'm referring to the extra building option that usually coincides with a resource based settlement.

Any help?

[Deus ret.]

You may want to have a look at this thread: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...income-bonuses

[Fredz]

Didn't see any answers there...

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[Deus ret.]

Sorry, I meant this one: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...me-translation

[gornoviceanu]

OK so on the topic of commerce vs. resource building: commerce gives more raw income, while the resource building chain has lower income but helps your trade agreements. More units of any resource will increase your trade agreement gains.

On how and where to use each type.. obviously in areas with many coast cities (or any other region that is predisposed or you want to design as commerce province) the best choice is commerce. You can gain build a few +X% commerce wealth buildings that will get those high commerce numbers even bigger.

When not going for a commerce province, pick the resource building IF it's raw income type helps your province. For example, an agriculture / industry province should not have the Slave resource chain that gives culture income. If the same province has marble or wine, the resource building is good for said province because that extra agri / industry income will benefit from you +% buildings. At least that's how I judge my resources

[Fredz]

Awesome. Thanks for the good info

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[lordamion]

You can also take a look at the start bonus from each regions. Its on the left side of the ui, when you highlight a settlement. Some regions give bonus or penalties to different type of resources and local comerce, some provinces have global bonus for all settlement inside it, and then some have wonder, historical ports and/or historical settlement/capital; aegypt for instance have all three of them.
Again, we are talking about regions that do not get building that give bonus already, so you can take advantage of it.

[Ygraine]

Commerce is almost always better from my experience, unless you play with lots of friendly and passive AIs all around you that all want trade agreements. They also need to be larger than one region, because the more regions the AI has the more resources they want to import from you, increasing your income.
Price per resource unit should probably be increased slightly for it to be able to compete with the commerce versions.

[popovic]

Commerce is almost always better from my experience, unless you play with lots of friendly and passive AIs all around you that all want trade agreements. They also need to be larger than one region, because the more regions the AI has the more resources they want to import from you, increasing your income.
Price per resource unit should probably be increased slightly for it to be able to compete with the commerce versions.

I concur with the above. Commerce is almost ALWAYS the better deal, especially if you are playing on harder difficulties (i.e. with very little to no trade).

However, instead of increasing the resource price, I would probably just increase the cash amount you get from the non-commerce option (because otherwise nothing would really change for people playing harder difficulties).

P.S. I`m not complaining, just considering balance.

[Dresden]

I appreciate the feedback on these buildings because when I created them I had to sort of come up with a lot of these effects in a vacuum - so feedback is always welcome.

[Fredz]

Sweet, thanks for the tips. Yeah im aware of the UI province buffs and debuffs but i could never quantitatively look at the higher trade resource building and go 'oh it will give me x amount of gold' it seems like a huge gamble.

So it seems I'll stick with the commerce option as i always find i can trade with almost every faction by early/mid game but commerce seems to be the 'safe' option.

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[Noone likes Thebes:(]

I have actually been going full resource specialization if I'm surrounded by lost of hostile little factions to make trade agreements more enticing.
I've been using it as a diplomatic tool rather than an economic one.
Its always been my hunch that AI cares most about pure export import when it comes to trade agreements, they're not going to want to trade if you've got nothing to trade.

[gornoviceanu]

Since you mentioned looking for feedback on these buildings, might I suggest giving the resource chain some effects on higher tiers, to mimic the options extensive access to the said resource offers? Tier 3 marble could give +% industrial income or -building cost, the Wineyard could give +public order, slave culture chain +1 to agent level and public order and so on. I know I might not have the most inspired examples, but that is the general direction I would go towards

[Ygraine]

Have to be careful when adding x% because it can sometimes add up to extremely high values which wasn't intended by the modder. We had this issue before with units getting too many bonuses from barracks/general traits/army traditions/techs etc~
T

[gornoviceanu]

Not necessarily x%, but something.. like Dye giving public order, maybe the Grain resource building can generate more supplies and even act as a Supply Depot on higher tiers. My logic would that the commerce chain reflects extensive selling of the resource, while the resource chain puts the said resource to use for your empire.

[VektorT]

Hey, I will necro this thread instead of creating a new one.

So, 3 years ago it seens the commerce path was almost ALWAYS the better option, but where does it stand now? In my current playthrough I have a LOT of trade deals, so should I focus on the resource path? Also, where do I see the price of each resource?

[Artannis Wolfrunner]

Nothing has changed in this regard over the past 3 years. Better to be self sufficient with commerce than dependent on unreliable AI for trade agreements. However you can double dip. The way I do it: if the commerce building for the resource is worth 1250 or 1400 income, I build that. The 800 income resources like fish and timber, 800 isn't worth the public order and banditry cost. Usually you'll be better off not constructing that resource at all and focusing on yellow buildings or +%income temples instead, like building a bunch of 400 or 600 culture income public order buildings and +%culture income temples with them. In some provinces the 800 resource buldings can be worthwhile, for example Baktria has timber which is worth only 800 but it also has gold which is worth 1400, so you may as well just maximize it for commerce by building both.

For the second dip, certain resources like wine and copper have the option to build a base settlement building that offers very high trade good quantity, allowing you to get the best of commerce and trade. Wine also has a global public order bonus for all cities making it by far the most valuable resource, a hand full of tier 3 wine cities will make public order never a problem again anywhere and allow you to maximize commerce income further across your empire.

If you focus on commerce and building everything in your commerce provinces to maximize income, you can reach some truly horribly disgusting results that trivialize the game's economy. Just 2 or 3 minmaxed commerce provinces can fund you for the rest of your campaign. Some examples of what commerce can achieve: 01 02 03

Even early game commerce is the best bet, for example here is Bosphorus making almost 10k on turn 63 and paying for 3 full armies with plenty of income left over, while it's still half-built for growth and recruitment as well.

Overall, trade agreements just aren't worth that much in Rome 2. In Attila, you can get trade agreements worth over 10k per turn with big factions like the ERE or Sassanids, but in Rome 2 trade agreements are rarely worth more than one hundred to a few hundred gold per turn, which can be valuable early on. Meanwhile later in the campaign just one fully maxed commerce province can make tens of thousands of gold per turn.

edit: Also you can see resource values in the treasure chest at the bottom of the screen. You'll have to do some adding and subtracting though with the resources and tariffs, to my knowledge Rome 2 doesn't give you a receipt like later games.

[tndgu]

// Are your kingdom on it's own? Are you planning to become an Empire? Will you be under attack by most of the factions around you? Are you playing on Hard or higher difficulty? Then go for the COMMERCE.

// Will you choose peace over chaos? Are you going to slowly expand? Are you dependent to other factions in order to deal with superpowers around you? Then go for the RESOURCES.

[SpardaSon21]

Thrace can and will print money for you. Build stuff that drops slave unrest, slap on Commercial Stimulation, and let the money flow in, especially since slaves boost all income just by themselves.