Trade for fun

[IsaacCAT]

I know that many others have discussed trade before me and all have very good points (sorry If I didn't mention you):

• @Jays298 Regionalizing trade and food
• @htimsnivek Improve the trade goods import window (with example UI)
• @LordJimmehFace Trade, disease, automation and useful buildings that have conditions to build
• @WhyWhimsy Meaningful Trade
• @EmpireOfCyprus Improving Trade focused gameplay through small changes

Nevertheless, I want to add my opinion about trade for fun point of view.

I trade for:

1. the money: more goods and trade routes produce income for the nation.
2. the bonuses: capital province surplus gives me bonus to the whole nation.
3. the happiness: many goods gives happiness to my pops, meaning more production and more trade routes. I find myself looking at the pie charts for the pops distribution to import the goods that give the most happiness to the majority of pops for that province.
4. the strategic resource: I don't care much for that, but if I need one special unit, I will look for it to trade.

But there is no trade game inside the game. Once I have set my trade priorities they remain more or less static until a trade route disappears. With the hassle to find the same good to import or the frustration not finding the good I am looking for. Going to war to have that good is not even possible most of the times (reach, politics, armies, etc..).

What would be that trade game that is fun? Something that made trade more dynamic and less frustrating.

Introducing supply and demand:

For demand I agree with @WhyWhimsy Meaningful Trade POP driven demand. The post is right in two points: 1) trade shall be on the national and not province level and 2) Demand shall escalate with country rank. Small countries happiness penalty shall be less than greater countries for balance and to motivate larger countries to play the trading game.​

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For supply we could add new buildings and farm operations in our settlements and cities to produce something else than the original product. We could change the provincial investments for Agricultural, Livestock, Mining and Industrial investments. Spending political influence to change one territory type of good to another from a pre-set of goods for that province. This set will be limited by climate and physical conditions, i.e., you cannot build a gold mine where there is no gold. And why not, Industrial investments could be limited by inventions.​

The trade game would consist on matching your population evolving demands with goods internally produced or internationally traded.

Why would you spend political influence and money to trade internally? To be able to match demands that wouldn't be possible only by international trade.

We all know that our Tamagotchi is king and we only want him/her to be happy ever after.

 

[htimsnivek]

I'd love to move away from the magic single strategic resource with infinite supply and get granular supply and demand. I'd also love to see Trade Range with buildings and roads required to extend it which would add a lot of "gameplay" to the trade system. Include military supply trains as a mobile trade hub and you could get added depth to the military system.

 

[IsaacCAT]

I'd love to move away from the magic single strategic resource with infinite supply and get granular supply and demand. I'd also love to see Trade Range with buildings and roads required to extend it which would add a lot of "gameplay" to the trade system. Include military supply trains as a mobile trade hub and you could get added depth to the military system.

I have been thinking about trade on a national level. The idea is to get rid of the complicated trade management on the province level (you only have to see the unsolvable UX for trade). But I like the complexity that roads and food brings to the province level management.

What if we could keep trade on national level but keep some demands on the province level. For example, food. If we give provinces with roads, ports, etc... a bonus on the food received from the national stockpile we could have both things. Demand based on population for every province and trade managed on the national level. The goods will flow and reach the provinces where are most needed if the nation trades or produces the goods and the province has access to them. That will also allow for blockades and supply routes disruption on war times to be a thing.

Something like this:

 

[Álvaro Núñez de Lara]

Yes and many times yes.

I have been thinking about trade on a national level. The idea is to get rid of the complicated trade management on the province level (you only have to see the unsolvable UX for trade). But I like the complexity that roads and food brings to the province level management.

What if we could keep trade on national level but keep some demands on the province level. For example, food. If we give provinces with roads, ports, etc... a bonus on the food received from the national stockpile we could have both things. Demand based on population for every province and trade managed on the national level. The goods will flow and reach the provinces where are most needed if the nation trades or produces the goods and the province has access to them. That will also allow for blockades and supply routes disruption on war times to be a thing.

Something like this:

View attachment 639961

Im not sure if i like the idea of a national stockpile. Its not every realistic. Id rather id we could keep it still on a provincial level, with internal trade system separated from the international one in which the surpluses could be traded within your nation so you can redirect food to your capital without restrictions.

 

[Ketchup & friends]

But any demand should be on the province level. Not just food. e.g. If you have papyrus in Egypt within your nation, how would if help someone who lives in Gaul unless there’s a trade route between the 2 provinces?

The problem is that the player has to micromanage everything and the trade routes can disappear due to war, pop promotion etc. But this could be solved. We;ve proposed an idea here:

Outside the capital region, Governors should arrange all trade routes.
But the player should be able to override them, as it's already done with province policies.

 

[IsaacCAT]

But any demand should be on the province level. Not just food. e.g. If you have papyrus in Egypt within your nation, how would if help someone who lives in Gaul unless there’s a trade route between the 2 provinces?

The problem is that the player has to micromanage everything and the trade routes can disappear due to war, pop promotion etc. But this could be solved. We;ve proposed an idea here:

100% agree. On my proposed diagram the player is not bothered with the trades on the provincial level, done by the algorithm/governor. Leaving the player with investment and added value decisions:

Player:

• Decides what the nation imports on the national trade window based on the aggregated demand of all provinces and their local production.
• On the provincial level:
  • player decides what goods are produced, with the agricultural, livestock, mining and industrial investments.
  • player decides which provinces get their goods first by constructing ports, roads and other possible trade infrastructures that also boost overall trade routes. More local trade routes also means more goods arrive to that province to meet their demands.
  • player decides for a specific meet demand policy if desired (food, industrial, happiness, etc...)

Program

• Manages all the hassle of distributing the produced and imported goods to match demands for every province, establishing under the hood all the internal trade routes
• Calculates the provinces rank that will be first served by existance of ports, roads, distance to the capital, blockades, and other possible trade infrastructures and mechanisms