Single biggest trade node value you've seen/achieved?

[Deo89]

Right now, I'm playing a trade-focused Portugal game where I set out to dominate the Indian Ocean trade routes to see how much I can get out of the trade there. My plan was to colonize and conquer all of Sub-Saharan Africa except the Mali so that I could freely collect my trade on the Cape Trade node without anyone disturbing me. I completely ignored the Americas after I colonized the Caribbean and focused my attention on the eastern hemisphere while my alliance with Castile, who formed Spain, kept me safe from any European threats.

But just before the turn of the 17th century, I got a PU with Spain. Now, the outlook is that I will completely inherit the Sevilla end-node without any other disturbance since Spain has conquered all those Moroccan and Algerian provinces in it. This has got me thinking that it might be a good idea to try and conquer all of Mali, Morocco, Algiers, Tunisia and Tripoli and try to direct all the trade through the Ivory Coast->Timbuktu->Safi->Sevilla, and see what I get in the end.

This got me thinking, what's the highest node-value one has ever achieved in a game? Of course, I'm talking about recent patches, not those early days where you could stack massive bonuses from China all the way to Antwerpen. I'm assuming somebody who managed a WC recently must have quite the trade values in Sevilla/Antwerpen/Venice. I'm guessing that Antwerpen has the biggest potential due to Lubeck and the HRE provinces, but I'm curious to see the highest value anyone has gotten in one single node.

 

[solidprice]

i would like to know too, playing Denmark and my goal is to eat my way through the northern hre/british isles to dominate trade in the Baltic/NA/Antwerp.

i bet another colonizer/ck2 WC map could do better though.

 

[arthurs towel]

Not exactly a trade node, but here are some general records. It hasn't been updated in a few weeks, but it should give an idea.
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...f-Fame&highlight=europa+universalis+4+records

 

[Incompetent]

i would like to know too, playing Denmark and my goal is to eat my way through the northern hre/british isles to dominate trade in the Baltic/NA/Antwerp.

Same here. It's a nice feeling when you control all the ports around the Baltic, North and White Seas, because the trade cannot escape anywhere and you don't even need any merchants once your capital is in Antwerp. Still, I'm sure Asian trade is more lucrative.

 

[AltarofScience]

Well as you said, no more 8000 ducats a month from old patches. I've gotten a couple hundred as Denmark with Lubeck or Antwerpen controlling all of the Baltic plus some other stuff, more if you build trade value buildings.

 

[smellymummy]

I think if/when you manage to inherit Spain it's a worthwhile effort and goal to dominate all the trade from Cape to Sevilla.

I love Portugal games though I haven't ran them in latest patch, I did do a Dutch game. Granted Antwerpen is much easier, but I was getting a base of 140 in Antwerpen and also collecting in Cape around 50 and collecting at Ceylon around 60.

I could imagine an extra 30 if not more if Cape was going all the way to Sevilla through north africa with improved provinces. Probably a lot more if more attention was spent in India not collecting and just pushing upstream.

All in all end nodes are so amazingly awesome I think the sky is really the limit, with the exception of Venice which I've yet given a go, but then again in the hands of a player it shouldn't be so hard.

 

[moyang]

140+ base value in Bordeaux as France, collecting 200+ per month. But this didn't lasted long, when I pulled all the value from Western Europe AIs changed their ways of steering trade. Also England re-built huge fleet every time I sunk them.

 

[Incompetent]

Cape to Seville doesn't get you that much by itself. But from there, it's a short step to Zanzibar and then Asia, which is where the real money starts coming in.

In my current Denmark/Scandinavia game, Spain has gone east in an interesting way, with a bunch of colonies in South Africa to lock down the Cape trade region, scattered bases all over the Indian Ocean (including the important CoT of Ceylon), some protectorates in the Malacca area and then colonising the Philippines (presumably because Spain's AI has this set as a priority region for historical reasons). It looks like a reasonably efficient trade empire of the kind a human would make if they didn't feel like doing much conquering, so bravo to the AI on that. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the AI that you need to a) send light ships to get a decent trade share out of your scattered outposts and b) have a collection strategy in case sending the trade all the way back to Europe is not feasible. So the result is that only a trickle of trade is flowing West, and even that trickle is making no money for Spain because they're letting me collect it in Ivory Coast (and even if nobody collected it there, Spain seems to think sending the trade to the Caribbean is a good idea despite its weakness in that region). With a few AI tweaks, the trade game could get a lot more interesting.

 

[Yxklyx]

I would need to double check but the 1.5 game I just finished as Ethiopia I was collecting 236 (entire node value) or something like that in Zanzibar - no fleet protection in the node itself needed.

 

[Deo89]

Cape to Seville doesn't get you that much by itself. But from there, it's a short step to Zanzibar and then Asia, which is where the real money starts coming in.

Indeed, and that's what I'm doing right now with Portugal. But Seville has access to the WE node and the Mediterranean, which will further add to all the value I'll be pulling from Asia. It currently has a 30 base value without me directing any trade into it at all, just Spain. When I inherit Spain, I'll have the ability to steer the trade much better than them due to my ideas, I currently have Exploration, Naval, Trade and Expansion. It doesn't get better than that I guess.

Dealing with the OE will be a pain though, I really need more military ideas now.

In my current Denmark/Scandinavia game, Spain has gone east in an interesting way, with a bunch of colonies in South Africa to lock down the Cape trade region, scattered bases all over the Indian Ocean (including the important CoT of Ceylon), some protectorates in the Malacca area and then colonising the Philippines (presumably because Spain's AI has this set as a priority region for historical reasons). It looks like a reasonably efficient trade empire of the kind a human would make if they didn't feel like doing much conquering, so bravo to the AI on that. Unfortunately, somebody forgot to tell the AI that you need to a) send light ships to get a decent trade share out of your scattered outposts and b) have a collection strategy in case sending the trade all the way back to Europe is not feasible. So the result is that only a trickle of trade is flowing West, and even that trickle is making no money for Spain because they're letting me collect it in Ivory Coast (and even if nobody collected it there, Spain seems to think sending the trade to the Caribbean is a good idea despite its weakness in that region). With a few AI tweaks, the trade game could get a lot more interesting.

Yeah, trade AI definitely needs some overhaul. Perhaps now that we're getting a trade-focused DLC, it might happen. The AI in general is getting better and better with each update.

 

[Yxklyx]

Indeed, and that's what I'm doing right now with Portugal. But Seville has access to the WE node and the Mediterranean, which will further add to all the value I'll be pulling from Asia. It currently has a 30 base value without me directing any trade into it at all, just Spain. When I inherit Spain, I'll have the ability to steer the trade much better than them due to my ideas, I currently have Exploration, Naval, Trade and Expansion. It doesn't get better than that I guess.

Dealing with the OE will be a pain though, I really need more military ideas now.



Yeah, trade AI definitely needs some overhaul. Perhaps now that we're getting a trade-focused DLC, it might happen. The AI in general is getting better and better with each update.

Though when you inherit Spain the number of merchants (and military commanders) between the two of you will halve - maybe it's better to not inherit?

 

[Deo89]

Though when you inherit Spain the number of merchants (and military commanders) between the two of you will halve - maybe it's better to not inherit?

You can't pass the Seville trade node for that. Also, things won't halve, I have events, NI and trade ideas that give me more than enough Merchants, so a unified Iberia stands to lose about 25-30%.

Besides, my main focus in this game was to dominate trade, not to 'win' or something like that.

 

[Deo89]

So, I just integrated Spain (and subsequently reformed it) and steered all of the trade from Asia to Seville:

So, 1693 and I'm steering 200 base into it. My current merchants are as follows: (Hangzhou -> Malaca) + (Ceylon -> Gulf of Aden) -> Zanzibar... -> Gold Coast -> Timbuktu -> Safi + Carribean -> WE + Genoa -> Sevilla.

What Now? What would be the best way to increase it besides spamming light ships all over the world? Currently I have a 700 force limit which I will probably be able to increase to over 1000 in the next few decades, but I'm guessing that the best thing would be to protectorate as much as I can, and build buildings that add to production, right?