Access to the sea

[EUnderhill]

Need to be careful here. The Rhine was opened to free navigation for nations bordering it as a result of the Mainz Convention of 1832, with a similar convention for the Danube signed at Paris in 1856 after the Crimean War.

Nations like Switzerland, or Austria, Hungary and Czech post WWI were not "Cut off from the sea" in the sense that they could ship their goods down and import goods up these main commercial arteries without paying any tariffs from countries further downstream.

And Switzerland was already well industrialized by the 1880s, so yes well within the Victoria timeframe Switzerland was an industrial power, taking advantage of its neutral status and its free access to the Rhine to develop its industrial potential.

Now, during wartime access to the sea is a vital question, and treaties such as the ones regulating the Danube and Rhine were not in effect if nations along their routes came into conflict, but during times of peace I don't think there should be any maluses regarding access to the world market for landlocked nations. Systems for ensuring access in peacetime were in place.

The importance of rivers is a subject that I hope sees greater attention paid in V2. In this time, the Danube was a greater means of internal, rather than international commerce due to tariffs at the Iron Gates and the CED tariffs at the mouth, nevermind the silting that limited ocean access to empty vessels. I will be pleasantly surprised if the game engine can handle these matters.

 

[Red_Communist]

I like this idea. Severing trade should give some cause for war.

+1

Always need an excuse to have war!

 

[Garuda]

If you give bonuses to trade for access to ports then you also have to consider the actions of blockades. Example: Britain blockaded the Dardenelles during the Crimean as this cut of a massive proportion of Russia's grain export.

Major navigable rivers would also have to be taken into consideration. Prior to sufficient railraods, a nation like Austria for example would rely heavily on the Danube. If you give a nation a bonus for having a port, you need to also consider bonuses for nations using major rivers too.


EDIT: Maybe I should have read the above posts before rambling on about rivers. *oops*

 

[unmerged(20908)]

I can imagine a solution where certain rivers (Daunube, Rhine, Nile) get province IDs (mostly to handle them sensibly database-wise) and connect the land provinces they run through to whatever sea zones they end up in. If the sea zones are blocked world trade via the river would be blocked aswell. Nations owning said land provinces could then create various usage deals.

This way a Boliva could trade via the Parana river only to be blockaded by the insidious Uruguayans.