How to think about imports?

[Iron Marshal]

In my current USA game, it's 1939 and I'm in Free Trade and importing gobs of steel and aluminum. This is costing me significant amounts of CIC. But if I'm buying the stuff from AI UK and France, is that really a loss for the Allies (assuming I plan to join them)? Should I think about imports as a way to Lend-Lease industrial capacity before the war even starts?

 

[OnvreOrrivle]

if you are importing resources as USA you are doing something wrong pal

 

[Iron Marshal]

Thanks for the reply, that's helpful. But at this point I have significant industrial capacity that needs resources to produce useful stuff. I don't see how to build ~10 light cruisers and ~60 factories' worth of planes without either importing resources or changing from Free Trade. So my first thought was to change to Export Focus, which immediately resolved my import problem. But then I started thinking that perhaps I made a mistake -- that switching from Free Trade to Export Focus simply moves CIC production from the UK (where I was buying all my stuff) to the USA, with no net improvement for the Allies. And then there's a smaller research bonus and factory production bonus with Export Focus.

What am I missing? What's the upside of Export Focus compared to Free Trade if the resources you're importing are coming from allies?

 

[MechaThumper]

If it's Single-Player it's a waste cause the AI is probably not using the civs its getting very wisely, but it theoretically is helping them. In multiplayer I know its a tactic to switch to free trade and everyone trades with each other to net civs to 0 while getting the research and production boosts for free from the law. Not sure how often it is used caused I dont play multiplayer.

 

[HugsAndSnuggles]

What's the upside of Export Focus compared to Free Trade if the resources you're importing are coming from allies?

Imported resources tend to use convoys that can be intercepted.

 

[Secret Master]

In SP, the correct question to ask about trade is this:

"Am I spending more CIC than the value of the Factory Output boost that comes from my current trade law?"

If you are spending 30% of your CIC on imports (after deducting the value of exports!) while on Free Trade, that's effectively nerfing your economic growth since you are not getting as much mileage out of the Free Trade boost.

In MP, the equation is very different, because humans, unlike the AI, will organize world trade to be far more efficient.

The question then becomes:

"Am I at the point where I am spending more CIC outside of human controlled allies that are on War Economy or Total Mobilization than the benefit I am getting from the current trade law?"


If you are the US, and you are spending 30 CIC buying human Soviet resources, and the Soviet Union is on war economy, and it's 1937, then even if the US is nerfing its own economic growth some, you are boosting the Soviet Union while they are being pretty damn efficient. In that case, keep the law and benefits of Free Trade. But if you have to spend CIC on some AI minor like Portugal or something, and it's consuming 30 CIC a day, and changing your trade law could fix this, it's probably time to do it. You're throwing CIC away.