Does anyone know how/if convoys work?

[s4098429]

Just finished a New South Wales game, got destroyed by convoys, or lack there of.
A sudden reduction in British market access from 100 to 0% sent my GDP from 200 to 30 - greatest depression of all time.
The reduction in market access was caused by Britain’s war with France.
My huge navy sent to Britain to ‘protect convoys’ didn’t help. - didn’t find or fight any convoy raiders.
The war is over, but market access hasn’t returned.
Now the nation is disintegrating into revolution.

Is anyone out there a pro on the VIC 3 trade/convoy system?

 

[paulxiep]

Were you a puppet and a war participant? If not then that might be why you didn't get to fight. The convoy and market access does take time to replenish too. This is one of the drawbacks of being in someone else's market.

 

[Chiozzo_B]

Does Britain have still their ports? Sometimes it just deletes them.

 

[Silens]

The problem is when you're a subject of someone, you don't have your own market capital. You're dependent on your overlord's market, in this case London.

The way it works in game is that everything that is produced within a market first has to go to the market capital, then is distributed within the market wherever it's needed. Since London is on an island, basically everything has to go there by ship.

You don't use your own ships for that, it's GB's ships that are used here. You as a subject have the capacity to have a little bit of trade on your own, but you give away 75% of all of your convoys for GB to use. It's those convoys that are getting sunk, which in turn reduces your own market access (since GB maintains market access for its own market using their own convoys).

As your convoys aren't getting sunk, nor are used for maintaining your market access to the market capital, escorting convoys with your own fleets doesn't have any effect as far as I know.

This whole thing is a weakness in the current system. I mean, you can produce everything you need (i.e. as Canada or Australia), yet you can't use anything of it, because it first has to go through the market capital. Getting cut off crashes your economy needlessly.

What would help is the concept of local markets, but oh well, for now we have to deal with it. A pity.

 

[Oktobermensch]

The problem is when you're a subject of someone, you don't have your own market capital. You're dependent on your overlord's market, in this case London.

The way it works in game is that everything that is produced within a market first has to go to the market capital, then is distributed within the market wherever it's needed. Since London is on an island, basically everything has to go there by ship.

You don't use your own ships for that, it's GB's ships that are used here. You as a subject have the capacity to have a little bit of trade on your own, but you give away 75% of all of your convoys for GB to use. It's those convoys that are getting sunk, which in turn reduces your own market access (since GB maintains market access for its own market using their own convoys).

As your convoys aren't getting sunk, nor are used for maintaining your market access to the market capital, escorting convoys with your own fleets doesn't have any effect as far as I know.

This whole thing is a weakness in the current system. I mean, you can produce everything you need (i.e. as Canada or Australia), yet you can't use anything of it, because it first has to go through the market capital. Getting cut off crashes your economy needlessly.

What would help is the concept of local markets, but oh well, for now we have to deal with it. A pity.

Local markets do exist, but on a state by state basis, you need an intermediate tier if you are a subject nation, or the game ought to check every node connection and run each province for connection to a neighbouring place as opposed to cutting you off if you are on a different continent and ignoring local supplies.
Maybe they will fix it, maybe not.

 

[Silens]

Local markets do exist, but on a state by state basis

What I meant is a national local market, with a local market capital, for all subjects.

One could make a strong case for some kind of own markets for colonies as well, but for now subject's own markets would do.

 

[TitaniumMan91]

It does make sense for a majority of a subject colony's resources to go to Britain asap, and least under mercantilist economic models. Perhaps different trade policies could change how much access you have to your subjects resources before they do?