Stellaris - Subsidiaries Don't Give What They're Supposed To [Dick v3.0.4 (67e7)]

[zZander56]

Description
Subsidiaries Don't Give What They're Supposed To [Dick v3.0.4 (67e7)]

Game Version
3.0.4

What version do you use?
Steam

What expansions do you have installed?
Synthetic Dawn, Utopia, Leviathans Story Pack, Apocalypse, Megacorp, Distant Stars, Ancient Relics, Federations, Nemesis

Do you have mods enabled?
No

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
When an empire sends another empire a proposal to make them into a subsidiary, the message states that the subsidiary will pay their overlord 50% of their Trade Value if their trade routes are connected. As far as I can tell, there is no way to connect trade routes between empires, and so this 50% of trade cannot be paid. I attempted to fix this by making adjacent starbases in both the overlord's territory and the subsidiaries, both connected to their respective trade routes, both with trade hubs that reaches the capital of each other. This did not work.

(Also, it seems like Subsidiaries have other strange unlisted mechanics, like being able to build branch offices anywhere they want like a criminal syndicate despite the lack of any commercial pacts. Not sure if this is intended. Also, the subjugation seems to make an automatic commercial pact, both overlord and subject receiving 10% of each other's trade value, which isn't detailed anywhere)

Steps to reproduce the issue.
1. Have a Subsidiary.
2. Attempt to connect trade routes.
3. Fail.

The following is how I conducted my testing.

1. Spawn into a galaxy as a Megacorp empire with the Void Dweller origin.
2. Survey a system *two* jumps away from your capital.
3. Activate instant_build console command.
4. Provide self alloys and influence using console commands.
5. Build starbase in surveyed system.
6. Build habitat in surveyed system.
7. Colonize habitat.
8. Max out trade districts.
9. Resettle pops to habitat.
10. Create sector from habitat.
11. Release Sector as subject.
12. Survey system adjacent to subject's capital.
13. Build starbase in system.
14. Build trade hubs on starbase and route trade back to capital.
15. Watch in horror as you don't receive 50% of the subject's trade.

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[hart30]

As far I know you need an economic pact and open borders to connect trade routes. So thats probably the reason for the economic pact. But becoming an subsidary also means for the AI to be stripped of all ressource buffs, meaning the total amount of ressources you receive in the end is far lower (expecially because the stripping of the buffs usually addtionally causes an economic crash).
It is possible to get trade routes through another empires territory, if you own territory inside / or on the other side of the empire. Maybe It would gather 50% of the trade value from the other empire of all the systems the route passes through?
I have also seen the weird bug, where megacorp subsidaries get the ability to spread their branch offices like a criminal syndicate. I do not believe that is intented.

 

[zZander56]

As far I know you need an economic pact and open borders to connect trade routes. So thats probably the reason for the economic pact. But becoming an subsidary also means for the AI to be stripped of all ressource buffs, meaning the total amount of ressources you receive in the end is far lower (expecially because the stripping of the buffs usually addtionally causes an economic crash).
It is possible to get trade routes through another empires territory, if you own territory inside / or on the other side of the empire. Maybe It would gather 50% of the trade value from the other empire of all the systems the route passes through?
I have also seen the weird bug, where megacorp subsidaries get the ability to spread their branch offices like a criminal syndicate. I do not believe that is intented.

Using the console I was able to look at both the AI's production and how it routed its trade routes. I definitely wasn't getting 50% of its trade, and there was nothing in the UI allowing for trade routes to be connected. I doubt this is even a feature, which is why I just placed a starbase nearby and hoped for the best.

I have tried to route a trade route through the AI's territory in my testing, but it didn't do anything.

 

[zZander56]

also seen the weird bug, where megacorp subsidaries get the ability to spread their branch offices like a criminal syndicate.

I imagine this was done because otherwise Subsidiaries wouldn't have any way of establishing branches due to their inability to form Commercial Pacts. There's better ways to handle this, but this was probably the easiest.

 

[zZander56]

Maybe It would gather 50% of the trade value from the other empire of all the systems the route passes through?

The subsidiary does seem to be able to see the trade routes of their overlord, so I wonder if some sort of connection was originally intended. Perhaps at one point in the development, commercial pacts required the connection of trade routes between empires to take advantage of each other's trade? If so, that would be a pretty interesting system.