Can someone explain trade to me?

[Smokahontuss]

I see screenshots of people having huge trade incomes, but every time I have a large colonial empire my trade seems so be producing like 20 ducats a month. I'm really having a hard time understanding it and if anyone could explain the basics and how to make large amounts of income off of it I would be greatly appreciative.

 

[unmerged(815621)]

The way people get the rediculous trade incomes is they send it all the way around the world first, and then ending up at your capital. Mexico -> Asia -> India -> Africa -> Europe in as many steps as possible with huge trade fleets.

 

[Smokahontuss]

I realize that's how it works, but it seems I run out of trade ships to keep max power in the node to push it forward. I was looking for more of an in-depth answer than that.

 

[Comes Imperii]

Well a screenshot of your colonial empire making only 20 ducats would be very welcome, as it seems you must be doing something very wrong to get so little money.
Are you collecting in a profitable trade node?
Are you using your light ships to protect trade there?
Are you steering trade towards said node?
Just some basic questions but it's hard to go beyond that without knowing more about your empire.

 

[Yenzen]

- In each node, trade value is produced.
- Nodes can drain from other nodes and to other nodes. You need to send a merchant to drain to other nodes.
- Collection in your capital province is done automatically, otherwise you need to send a merchant, but in general it's not worth it since you'll collect at a penalty in a non-capital province.

Thus, if possible, the best idea is to use your merchants to steer trade from your colonies to your capital province, though if you have a weak place in the trade chain, you may have to collect elsewhere. Experiment with placement of merchants to see what works.

You can increase trade power in nodes with buildings, expanding to the provinces there, technology/ideas or sending light ships there to protect trade.

 

[AndrewT]

You'll need to register EU4 here to read these guides:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?710484-Guide-Trading-in-EUIV-for-Dummies
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?707109-How-Trade-Works-(with-formulae)

 

[Smokahontuss]

It was more of just an example, but I was collecting in Antwerp as I formed the Netherlands as Friesland. I'm not really sure how to post screenshots, but I can if you could tell me how. I don't really care about that game in particular, I kind of wanted an explanation on which areas are key to colonize, which nodes are good to steer at, how to get a huge trade fleet, etc. Would England be an easier game to get a mass trade empire instead?

 

[Communazi]

Caribbean is important if you're a colonizer. Gulf of Aden is important if you're any other euro nation (otherwise all the trade goes to Egypt, instead of down around africa).

Some trade zones have provinces which provide you with a trade power bonus in that node which are useful to grab if you can't colonize the whole zone. (http://www.eu4wiki.com/Trade_nodes) scroll down to the table to see key provinces.

Also in the beginning of the game, trade range is limitted, so merchants get spammed. For every extra merchant forwarding trade, their power diminishes.

It's important to have a strong fleet presence in Sevilla forwarding trade because that's where the majority of it will bottleneck. I like to take Tangiers from Morocco for that reason, even if it costs a ton to core.

 

[Rey]

I'm not really sure how to post screenshots, but I can if you could tell me how.

The easiest way: in game press "Print Screen", go to MsPaint, Ctrl+V, save as .jpeg, upload to an hosting site (e.g. http://postimage.org/), copy the URL of the image into your reply and put it as [img ]image_url_here[/img ] without the spaces. And welcome to the forums

 

[Stategem161803]

You must increase naval forcelimit by building naval bases. Also understand that optimal trade power in a node is usually below 80%. It varies depending on a variety of factors, but the rule of thumb is no more than 70% in a node. Ever. Learning the optimal TP takes practice.

I will repeat that one more time. It you are spamming ships trying to get 90%+ trade power you will make a pittance in trade.

 

[Smokahontuss]

Thanks for the warm welcome to the forums and the advice. Those guides helped and I'll make sure not to exceed that much trade power now. I also love your quote from Tallyrand Rey.

 

[Incompetent]

The way people get the rediculous trade incomes is they send it all the way around the world first, and then ending up at your capital. Mexico -> Asia -> India -> Africa -> Europe in as many steps as possible with huge trade fleets.

This used to be the best strategy, but after the merchant steering bonus got nerfed, long chains only make sense when you've pretty much entirely removed any possibility of competition (spamming fleets by itself is not efficient, you also need to conquer all over the place to destroy your competitors' trade power). In the current version, it's generally more practical to have a diversified collection strategy. We'll need to see the OP's situation to give specific advice, though.

 

[sinkingmist]

The easiest way: in game press "Print Screen", go to MsPaint, Ctrl+V, save as .jpeg

Why on earth would you do that when both Steam and EU4 itself have built-in screenshot capabilities.
Not to mention, if you save it using steam, you can just have it upload to your steam profile and make it public, which gets around having to fiddle with a hosting site.

 

[xyra]

If you are netherlands your capital is probaly in the antwerpen node. You have to make sure the tradevalue you are generating in your colonies comes to antwerpen:
Incoming tradenodes are:
Genoa
Frankfurt
Bordeaux
Lübeck
London
Most interesting tradenodes of these are probably: London, Lübeck and Bordeaux.
If you colonized Afrika or Amerika London and Bordeaux are the most interessting.

Make sure you have a decent trade share in at least one of the mentioned nodes. I'd prefere Bordeaux as it is possible to expand your Empire in this direction with a land connection (thought against france probably)if you have achieved a good portion of the trade power in bordeaux - either by ships or by conquering land - make sure you get a decend share trade power in at least on of the following tradenodes to make sure you can increase the tradevalue of bordeaux and thus the tradevalue of antwerp:
Caribbean
Chesapeake Bay
Sevilla
and so on.

if you are not able to get a decent share in antwerpen or London, Lübeck and Bordeaux. it probably is better to collect outside your capital. This requires a lot of tradepower in that node thought (usually you have to own almost all provinces there.

For a more detailed answer we need to know the map, the military strength of you and the neighboors on the coast of the London, Lübeck and Bordeaux nodes. i need to know where your colonies are and where you have a good share of tradepower and what your general trade rivals are regarding steering tradevalue to your capital (probably GB, france, spain and portugal - maybe denmark because of lübeck)

 

[Rey]

Thanks for the warm welcome to the forums and the advice. Those guides helped and I'll make sure not to exceed that much trade power now. I also love your quote from Tallyrand Rey.

Why on earth would you do that when both Steam and EU4 itself have built-in screenshot capabilities.
Not to mention, if you save it using steam, you can just have it upload to your steam profile and make it public, which gets around having to fiddle with a hosting site.

Because it's simple and works for any situation, EU4 or not EU4, steam or not steam....