Questions on the use of merchants

[Magean]

Hi, I played the demo a couple of hours and I'm a bit confused with the new trade system.

Obviously, when you have no trade node in your empire, you want to send all of your merchants collecting money in foreign trade nodes.

And when you have at least one trade node, you want to have your merchant(s) collect money in your node(s). The thing is : is it better to send your remaining merchants steering trade in foreign nodes, or to send them collecting money there ? And a "middle ground" solution might eventually be the answer : collect money in your node(s) and in foreign node A, while steering trade from foreign node B.
Then, how can I figure out which trade is better steered, and which one is better collected ?

The tutorial and manual don't go deep enough on those questions. I guess I'm still thinking with the old EU3 system in mind.

Last thing : can we create new trade routes ? So that Venice or Antwerpen don't remain the privileged nodes forever, from which money never flees. The tutorial seemed to imply that this is impossible, but I'm not sure.

Thanks in advance

 

[Cymsdale]

You really shouldn't think of trade nodes as a specific province, the game really has trade regions. You will always have a home trade region based on where your capital resides.

In general, you want to do whatever you can to improve the flow of value into your home region (and prevent the outflow). Where you send your merchants depends on where they can do the most good. It would be rare that you'd want to have a merchant collect in a foreign node as oppose to steering trade. However, Austria in the demo is a good example of where collecting in a foreign node makes more sense, so this isn't a hard and fast rule.

 

[Ruben0251]

Cymsdale is right on every point, I just wanted to add that a merchant collecting from trade in a foreign node will collect 20% less money (IIRC).

 

[Cymsdale]

Cymsdale is right on every point, I just wanted to add that a merchant collecting from trade in a foreign node will collect 20% less money (IIRC).

This is not strictly true. What happens when collecting in a foreign trade node is you get a large penalty to your trade power (something like 66%).

If you have all the power in a foreign trade node, you will collect 100% of that node's value in trade income (+ appropriate trade modifiers).

 

[Magean]

Thanks guys.

Well, looks like I'll need more practice to understand the whole thing.

More questions : at some point of the tutorial, I was told that in the capital, trade was automatically collected. Does it really mean that I'll still reap some gold from it even without a merchant ?

Where you send your merchants depends on where they can do the most good.

But how can I calculate whether steering trade toward my trade region and collecting it there will prove more efficient than collecting it directly abroad ?

For example :

However, Austria in the demo is a good example of where collecting in a foreign node makes more sense, so this isn't a hard and fast rule.

How can I reckon that Austria doesn't follow that rule ?

Thanks again

 

[Brownbeard]

Does it ever pay to steer trade in a node you have a province in or is it alway better to collect?

Obvious examples, is it better to steer trade as Venice from Alexandria or to collect from Alexandria, and also, or if Portugal takes Yemen, is it better to collect in Gulf of Aden or steer trade to Zanzibar (presuming you have trade power there via colonies on Bourbon, Mauritius and Mahe).

 

[Ruben0251]

This is not strictly true. What happens when collecting in a foreign trade node is you get a large penalty to your trade power (something like 66%).

If you have all the power in a foreign trade node, you will collect 100% of that node's value in trade income (+ appropriate trade modifiers).

Hmmm, you're probably right... I thougt I saw a 20% malus in one of Quill18's England video's when he was collecting in Antwerp.

 

[Cymsdale]

Hmmm, you're probably right... I thougt I saw a 20% malus in one of Quill18's England video's when he was collecting in Antwerp.

It's different in the demo. I'm guessing they changed it since Quill's version.