Trading penalties

[unmerged(13833)]

I think the trading penalties for owning a different-culture COT and BB points are terrible.

Its so gamey!

Smaller penalties I can see. But as it is it complete shuts down trading. So if you got moderate BB from - say - punishing an unprovoked attack, you might as well start attacking left and right because your future lies in becoming so big and nasty that your tech loss won't cripple your ability to survive.

I hope this will be reconsidered for version 1.2 because I don't feel comfortable tinkering with the files

 

[Garuda]

I think the trading penalties for owning a different-culture COT and BB points are terrible.

Its so gamey!

I agree that 15% penalty per non culture CoT you own is a tad excessive. But it was put in for a reason. If you embark on economic global domination by declaring war on nations to steal their CoT's then the rest of the world is going to be very put out by this and refuse to play fair with your merchants.

Collecting CoT's via war to dominate the world's trade is also gamey. The penalty is to even things out.

 

[lenny]

Its so gamey!

Indeed it is!

The penalty for not-accepted-culture COTs punishes the gamey strategy of COT grabbing. (Although it has currently also a negative impact on a colonizing Spain, but that can be adjusted by some tweaking.)

The penalty from BB forces you to choose between military expansions as the way to glory, or say dominating trade to accumulate the riches of the world.

 

[Soulitaire]

I can live with it.
Becoming large enough to grab other CoTs, and having huge colonial production income, I can easily do without any trade income. And it is quite liberating, actually, to not have to balance trade AND production income when making policy slider choices or picking a national idea. Focus! Mine currently is colonies & more colonies (production).

 

[unmerged(24599)]

I think the trading penalties for owning a different-culture COT and BB points are terrible.

Its so gamey!

Smaller penalties I can see. But as it is it complete shuts down trading. So if you got moderate BB from - say - punishing an unprovoked attack, you might as well start attacking left and right because your future lies in becoming so big and nasty that your tech loss won't cripple your ability to survive.

I hope this will be reconsidered for version 1.2 because I don't feel comfortable tinkering with the files

I think they are awesome. It makes you choose - war or trade. You can't have your cake and eat it too...

And it is perfectly possible to have "moderate" BB and maintain a strong trade position. BB up to 10-12 (which constutes a considerable landgrab) is manageable if you have cutting edge trade tech and the proper national ideas.

 

[Mork]

Luckily then, that it's very easy to mod.

It's in the "static_modifiers" file in the "EUIII\Common" folder, the line looks like this:

non_culture_cot = {
	foreign_merchant_compete_chance = [B]-0.15[/B]	#Each non-culture CoT controlled reduces compete chance by 15%

The highlighted number is the one to change. Use notepad to open (or any other text editor that doesn't change the code. NOT Word!), and make a copy of the file before making any changes.

 

[iBaLkiD]

Yeah but after owning said COT for 15 years or so does it not become a core province and you lose all penalties?

 

[robw963]

Somehow 15% doesn't seem too unreasonable to me given that there would be language and cultural differences that would hamper trade. As someone else mentioned, once you get the province to become a core I believe the penalty disappears.

 

[Cagliostro]

Yeah but after owning said COT for 15 years or so does it not become a core province and you lose all penalties?

Not as it currently works. First of all it would have to be an accepted CULTURE, not a core province.

Secondly, as I understand it, there is a bug in it that means that if at any point you *control* (not own) a COT that meets those conditions, you get the negative...

 

[The Witch-King]

I personally can see the multiplayer balancing gameplay, blah etc reasons for these penalties. The problem is that it's just unrealistic.

So I modded parts of it out myself

 

[unmerged(13833)]

I think they are awesome. It makes you choose - war or trade. You can't have your cake and eat it too...

Well. Thats the gamey part.
Its not like there was a U.N. to sanction naughty nations in the 1600s is it?

I somehow doubt a Carolina slave trader would care exactly which nationality the guy who sold him slaves had.

"ohh.... FRENCH you say. Sorry can't do business with you. I hear you bastards invaded Genoa!"

:rofl:

 

[unmerged(66460)]

I must give my 2 cents to the side that thinks this 15% penalty for owning CoT's is just silly.
NO WAY that owning several CoT's gave your merchants disfavorable working- conditions.
Was the dutch (and later british) control of the Malacca- straits not good for their trade? Was the british control of the suez- canal a hinderance upon trade? The answers are no and N.O. Is it gamey to go after the richest provinces on the map? Yes, if gamey is to play to win. All other rich provinces are up for grabs, so why not these?
If you can get 'em, you should.

And what is this nonsense about having to choose between trading and war? The greatest nations of this era certainly didnt choose...they did both, and gained a lot from it too.
BB shouldn't affect Trade- efficiency at all IMHO, as merchants weren't boycotted this way in the game-timeframe (If you wanted to buy furs, you bought from the ones who wanted to sell them to you for the best price and in the quantities you needed: Most traders wasn't too bothered about the nationality of the sellers.)

Of course the province- income should get the same modifiers as all others (penalties for different cultures, distance, religion, etc.); but your overall trade shouldn't suffer because your owning the most strategic points on the map. (Is it better to try and colonize/annex all of America EXCEPT the CoT's? Is this more realistic/balanced?)
Silly rules in an otherwise excellent game, and i hope they get lost in an upcomming patch.
I'm also not keen on modding the source-codes myself; feels too much like cheating.

 

[Secret Master]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 15% penalty does not apply to your own COTs? So, if you grab COTs, the culture penalty is not supposed to apply to your own COTs.

I also read somewhere that the Bad Boy effects on trade are not supposed to affect your own COTs; howevr, I know for a fact that this is not the case.

Frankly, I don't miss trade income. EU3 is not like EU2 where trade income is vital to world domination (unless you are planning a world conquest with Tibet or something).

 

[kolmy]

Well, for Portugal they pretended to dominate trade only, so having that penalty would take the sense of his colonization.