How to build a global British Trade Empire?

[calvinhobbeslik]

When I eventually play England, I want to conquer the British Isles (obviously), all of Canada/USA/Caribbean, some of West and South Africa, all of India, and the East Indies. But how do I get the most trade income out of that. I will only have 7 merchants (2+3 from trade ideas+1 from expansion ideas+1 from East India Trade Co.). Where should I place them? Also, how will I get any trade income from Asia? If I try to divert it back to Europe, it'll go through Sevilla and Bordeaux, so France/Portugal/Spain will take most of it...do I have to collect in India and incur the 50% penalty?

 

[Cynical Dreamer]

Hello,

Hmm your post brings up a potential flaw of the trade system. Britain (and other nations) should be able to bypass Bordeaux, at least of it's oceanic trade. Having it's Indian trade intercepted there or at Seville wouldn't make much sense.

 

[unmerged(777522)]

at 1 of the nodes along the west african coast you could put one to steer it towards the americas, not sure which but 1 of them is possible, then steer it back over the atlantic towards the UK..

looked this up because i wanted to do just about the same with Denmark just..

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

at 1 of the nodes along the west african coast you could put one to steer it towards the americas, not sure which but 1 of them is possible, then steer it back over the atlantic towards the UK..

looked this up because i wanted to do just about the same with Denmark just..

Oh, that's clever. But how to I set it to transfer trade power away from my capital?

 

[Heatth]

Remember you are not alone in the world. If, for example, Portugal is steering trade from Asia to Europe around Africa, you don't need to do the same. Just let them do the dirt work and try to steal the trade directly from Seville.

You only need merchants in key strategic points. If the trade is already going in the desirable then you don't need to send anyone there. Use the merchants only when you need to steer directly to avoid undesirable routes or where you want to collect trade.

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

Remember you are not alone in the world. If, for example, Portugal is steering trade from Asia to Europe around Africa, you don't need to do the same. Just let them do the dirt work and try to steal the trade directly from Seville.

You only need merchants in key strategic points. If the trade is already going in the desirable then you don't need to send anyone there. Use the merchants only when you need to steer directly to avoid undesirable routes or where you want to collect trade.

Wouldn't it be impossible to get much from Seville, since I won't own any provinces there?

Also, do you know how I can transfer trade from, say, West Africa to the Americas, instead of it going toward London?

 

[Pelican Sam]

London's trade node and the North Sea trade node also run from the New World, in a much more direct route towards English lands and the North Sea that is contested by many fewer nations than the continental European trade nodes.

 

[Heatth]

Wouldn't it be impossible to get much from Seville, since I won't own any provinces there?

Well, you should try to get Gibraltar for yourself, no.? It is not impossible, anyway, you only need a merchant. But, yeah, you capacity of stealing trade from the Iberians is severely limited by that, but this is unavoidable. You can't stop the Asian trade to from going there. It is them or Genoa/all central Europe. You can try to mitigate that being having a vastly superior fleet. And by beating them down in trade wars to force them to give you half of their trade power.

Another strategy is to try to cut the route in the middle. If you own all of South Africa, you might be able to collect the trade directly from there. You get penalties from collecting trade outside your capital, however.

Also, do you know how I can transfer trade from, say, West Africa to the Americas, instead of it going toward London?

No, you can't. Trade routes are fixed, and there is no route that goes from Africa to America.

 

[unmerged(777522)]

Use the one at ivory coast to steer it to carabbean from there to chesapeak bay then from there back to london..

 

[unmerged(777522)]

No, you can't. Trade routes are fixed, and there is no route that goes from Africa to America.

check out the Ivory coast node.. it goes to carabbean so YES indeed there is

 

[unperson]

No, you can't. Trade routes are fixed, and there is no route that goes from Africa to America.

There is, Ivory Coast -> Caribbean -> North america -> London

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

Use the one at ivory coast to steer it to carabbean from there to chesapeak bay then from there back to london..

Again, how do I do that? When I select to transfer trade, doesn't it automatically go towards my capital?

 

[calvinhobbeslik]

London's trade node and the North Sea trade node also run from the New World, in a much more direct route towards English lands and the North Sea that is contested by many fewer nations than the continental European trade nodes.

Right, collecting trade from the Americas is not a problem. I want to know how to do it from Asia.

 

[unmerged(777522)]

Use the one at ivory coast to steer it to carabbean from there to chesapeak bay then from there back to london..

doing this you also pick up most of your american trade and direct it to london while avoiding seville and bordeaux entirely, as well as indian trade goes along this route also..

 

[unperson]

Again, how do I do that? When I select to transfer trade, doesn't it automatically go towards my capital?

No, you can select the direction you wish to steer it by clicking the small ticks inside the boxes.

 

[unmerged(777522)]

Again, how do I do that? When I select to transfer trade, doesn't it automatically go towards my capital?

you use the small ticks to change the direction.. theyre around the node

 

[Hootieleece]

Also place Squadrons of light ships in the nodes you want to steer trade from. in Demo each barque was worth 3 tradepower in the node it was stationed in. Which if done correctly will magnify the effects of Steering and Collection.

I played as Portugal and Venice and just sent those Trade fleets to each node and then looked at what the ledger said. Basically you want "Trade Fleets" in each node that you have a merchant placed. With the biggest in your Capital node.(I'm not a number cruncher but those were my observations)

Remember these squadrons will be easy to defeat piecemeal like the Pirate Patrols in EU3 and the fact that they can't just stay in port and work, must patrol (as far as I can tell)

 

[Heatth]

check out the Ivory coast node.. it goes to carabbean so YES indeed there is

Indeed, there is. I suppose this will be a very contested node in the middle-late game.

I played as Portugal and Venice and just sent those Trade fleets to each node and then looked at what the ledger said. Basically you want "Trade Fleets" in each node that you have a merchant placed. With the biggest in your Capital node.(I'm not a number cruncher but those were my observations)

Actually, playing as Portugal I noticed I would earn more with my main fleet on Genoa instead. I needed some ships on Seville, of course, but most of them were paroling the Mediterranean instead. It goes case by case, I suppose. Fortunately, there is no risk in reassigning your ships, so trial and error is a viable strategy.

 

[Lord Canterbury]

When I eventually play England, I want to conquer the British Isles (obviously), all of Canada/USA/Caribbean, some of West and South Africa, all of India, and the East Indies. But how do I get the most trade income out of that. I will only have 7 merchants (2+3 from trade ideas+1 from expansion ideas+1 from East India Trade Co.). Where should I place them? Also, how will I get any trade income from Asia? If I try to divert it back to Europe, it'll go through Sevilla and Bordeaux, so France/Portugal/Spain will take most of it...do I have to collect in India and incur the 50% penalty?

Conquering India (for example) doesn't have much to do with trade (in the game). The main financial advantage in the game is an enormous overseas income from it.

For the trade (which takes no notice of who owned the original province), it has little impact - apart from making it easier to shuffle Indian trade onwards. You will indeed probably find that you lose out to Western European traders like Portugal and the Netherlands if you are focusing on colonisation and conquest.

 

[Heatth]

Conquering India (for example) doesn't have much to do with trade (in the game). The main financial advantage in the game is an enormous overseas income from it.

For the trade (which takes no notice of who owned the original province), it has little impact - apart from making it easier to shuffle Indian trade onwards. You will indeed probably find that you lose out to Western European traders like Portugal and the Netherlands if you are focusing on colonisation and conquest.

Actually, no. Owning India does have a huge impact on trade. You will be able to monopolize all the trade income there, which will all be diverted towards Europe, instead of being consumed by the local powers. It is rather fallacious to say trade takes no notice of who originally owned the province as a good portion of your trade power comes from there. It is possible to dominate trade without a single province in a node, but it is much easier if you just own the whole thing.