Discussion: Pros/Cons for Western European Trade Node

[Spartan_One]

Hey folks! One of the biggest changes to 1.4 (for me at least) is the introduction of the Western European consolidated trade node! I have flip flopped several times on whether or not I liked this change and have considered modding in a new system myself, however it's complicated and we may not have grasped the whole implications yet.

I would love if we could use this thread to list our pros/cons for having the node (There are both!) with the goal of helping to form a constructive idea of whether or not this system works or needs some changing!

Allow me to start:

PRO:
-Allows all WE nations to compete for African and Far East trade! (big one for me)
-Increases flexibility in colonization areas (Spanish Canada anyone?)

CON:
-reduces incentive to actually have colonies in the New World: save your money and just buy light ships to control the new trade node!
-Unfair to nations who can't get in range of trade node (my Netherlands game broke as soon as France annexed Brittany and I lost my basing rights)

 

[Olaf the Unsure]

I'm still getting a handle on how it works but so far it seems to be a major step backwards.

The only real pro is the first one you mention - allowing more nations to compete - but even that advantage is greatly limited by the last con you mention - the need to be within range of the node. In practice, it really doesn't open trade to everyone.

On the other hand, it largely neuters the whole trade node system from the earlier versions of the game. Instead of a series of interlocking nodes, where even remote corners of the world had value, we now have one uber-node. Where the only way to dominate trade is to do one thing, and one thing only: build ships. Which means the traditional ship-building nations retain their advantage. Which means the node ultimately doesn't even do what it was designed to do.

I would have thought that, at this point in the game's development, they would be looking to enhance the trade system, to add features to what was already a robust and interesting game element. Instead, it's like they suddenly just gave up on this aspect of the game completely. With WE ship-spamming, we're almost back the merchant-spamming boredom of EU-EU3. It's like they suddenly lost confidence in their own game. Weird.