You mean trading expansion buildings? No. In my current game I have some systems with trade routes. I don't know why I meet the requirements here. I really would like to know here, too.

There's also a temple that gives you +2 trade routes.



I'm still a bit confused too, but this is how it seems to work:

You get X possible trade routes, where X is the number of other players planets that you are in _peace_ with and that you _see_.

X is the total amount of possible trade routes you can have.

Let's say X = 10, you can have a total of 10 trade routes in your systems, f.e. 5 in capital and 5 in some other system.



For systems to get trade routes, you have to have something of these:

- faction trait +1/+2(?)

- home planet bonus +2

- temple +2

- hero bonus +1/+2/+3 (?)

- improvements (several)



The game stacks the routes in a couple of "target" systems, so I just place all the trade improvements in the "target" systems calculate the optimal amount of buildings by try and error :P Too bothersome to count the possibilities

By stacking I mean that if you f.e. have 5 possible routes and 3 systems with 0/3, 0/3, 0/3 trade route spots, the game will fill them up 3/3, 2/3, 0/3. So just build more improvements to the first two systems and sack the improvements in the third system. Naturally this means that your capital and any systems with +trade temples should be your main trade systems.



So yes, +1 for this suggestion.





p.s. please correct me where needed, I'd also like to get more facts about trade

Renamed the title to something more conclusive.

Tiriondil wrote:
Exactly, at least I thought I meet all those requirements, but I had no choice of checking this. So I don't know which requirement I did not fulfill and hence had no idea what to do to change this.

Hmm...I'm tempted to say that a bug was involved somewhere, but that's only because I've never had issues with the system. In truth, I don't know why you weren't getting trade in those systems. I'll agree that some kind of notification about trade would be nice, although I don't know about just what it would say or what would trigger it, but I still can't get behind the manual system of making trade (making ships, sending them to another empire, and so on). It's just more micro-management than I want to see in the game.



Again, though, this is just my opinion. And I apologize if I seemed confrontational at all--at no point did I mean to be so, I just wanted to explore requirements for trade and what your situation was.

Tiriondil wrote:
Right now I don't know if my custom amoeba race has this trait. I call them the "brutal amoeba" because I wanted to conquer the galaxy this time. So it's possible I left that one out for the sake of creation points.

Hmm, is it a good idea combine conquest strategy with trade strategy? The less somebody else's star systems are the less trade routes you can have. Am I right?

FinalStrigon wrote:
Oops, there's also a faction trait called...I forget, something with "Merchants" I believe, that grants you free trade routes. Remembered it when I read your post, sorry about that.

Right now I don't know if my custom amoeba race has this trait. I call them the "brutal amoeba" because I wanted to conquer the galaxy this time. So it's possible I left that one out for the sake of creation points.

FinalStrigon wrote:
Alright, so to clarify, in the first game, absolutely no system had a trade route, despite you 1.) having open routes, 2.) having explored the other empire's systems and 3.) being in an alliance with them?

Exactly, at least I thought I meet all those requirements, but I had no choice of checking this. So I don't know which requirement I did not fulfill and hence had no idea what to do to change this.

Tiriondil wrote:
That's not true. In my actual savegame I have some systems, colonized by me (meaning no conquered systems), with no trading improvements, no hero but two trading routes.

Oops, there's also a faction trait called...I forget, something with "Merchants" I believe, that grants you free trade routes. Remembered it when I read your post, sorry about that.

No, you misunderstood me: In my first game I didn't meet the requirements and wondered why, as I thought (and still think) that my systems would meet all requirements. In my game right now I don't see any difference to the game before, but now I have some systems with trading routes. And I want to know why I meet the requirements now, and why I didn't back then.

Alright, so to clarify, in the first game, absolutely no system had a trade route, despite you 1.) having open routes, 2.) having explored the other empire's systems and 3.) being in an alliance with them?

FinalStrigon wrote:
Well, if you don't build the trading techs, then trade won't happen. Only your home system will start with trade routes initially. Other systems can get routes without the enhancements if a Corporate Hero with the right Abilities is stationed there, but if you move that Hero, the routes go with them.

That's not true. In my actual savegame I have some systems, colonized by me (meaning no conquered systems), with no trading improvements, no hero but two trading routes.

FinalStrigon wrote:
As for the systems that are trading, and you saying you don't know why you meet the requirements...I don't understand. You have the requirements listed above fulfilled, then. Though I am confused why you say the routes are filled now, when in that post you said that they weren't.

No, you misunderstood me: In my first game I didn't meet the requirements and wondered why, as I thought (and still think) that my systems would meet all requirements. In my game right now I don't see any difference to the game before, but now I have some systems with trading routes. And I want to know why I meet the requirements now, and why I didn't back then.

I like the current system and consider ideas about trade ships and manual trade routes inconvenient. However I agree: it's impossible to predict a behavior of trade improvements today. You expand trade routes cup, spend dust per turn, but it doesn't mean that result will be expected; your effort could be vain. It's critical for small systems which have a low dust production level.



I found that game concentrates trade routes in systems with biggest population. Sometimes after you build a new route in system with a big population, some small star looses trade route! It's a very annoying effect, cause I can't control situation and can't plan strategic development of young star systems.

Tiriondil wrote:
You mean trading expansion buildings? No. In my current game I have some systems with trade routes. I don't know why I meet the requirements here. I really would like to know here, too.

Well, if you don't build the trading techs, then trade won't happen. Only your home system will start with trade routes initially. Other systems can get routes without the enhancements if a Corporate Hero with the right Abilities is stationed there, but if you move that Hero, the routes go with them. And while you may capture enemy systems that have trade routes, I've seen around the forums that some times they won't work properly (a bug, I imagine, but I didn't follow the thread for very long).



As for the systems that are trading, and you saying you don't know why you meet the requirements...I don't understand. You have the requirements listed above fulfilled, then. Though I am confused why you say the routes are filled now, when in that post you said that they weren't.

Hi everyone,



I really love this game but the automatic trade routes are crap! It just works with other empires, there is absolutely no information which system can or can't trade and why. I would love a system similar to that in Civilization: Build trading ships, fly to other systems and establish a trading route. This works within the own nation and with nations at peace or in cold war (sweden and russia had trade in the cold war, if I remember correctly, hence the idea) and the route is halted when a system between these two is a theater or under siege or an alternate trading route (meaning the route goes through other systems that are not stacked with enemy troops) is established.

Tiriondil wrote:
I had several planets, my ally explored, which were populated by him. Nevertheless none of my planets established a trade route. So I was asking myself: Where don't I meet the requirements? And this is really difficult to say, when there's absolutely no information on checking the requirements. And that's the main point of my critique.

Stupidly obvious question, but I must ask it: did you have trade routes built in your systems?

FinalStrigon wrote:
Well...What are the requirements? I've always found it easy enough to deduce that if I have a list of requirements for trading, and yet there is no trading going on, then I should just check over what I have to see which I'm missing.

Marthnn wrote:
This information is mostly based on Beta version, but should still be valid for the release version. Notify any error and it will be adjusted.

[...]

Technically speaking, a trade route can be established with a target system, but only if :

- You know about the system (you or an ally explored it)

- That system is populated

- You are at peace with the empire controlling the system (and it can't be you)

- None of your systems have a trade route with that system

- At least one of your systems have an available trade route slot

I had several planets, my ally explored, which were populated by him. Nevertheless none of my planets established a trade route. So I was asking myself: Where don't I meet the requirements? And this is really difficult to say, when there's absolutely no information on checking the requirements. And that's the main point of my critique.

I would like (purely aethetically) like to see little trade ships going to and fro and swarming around my planets.



Maybe pressing a button that activates a filter to show the routes themselves on the galaxy map.

Tiriondil wrote:
I am, too. In the manual it tells the requirements for establishing a new route but without any further explanation or examples. So after reading that I wondered even more why I got no trading routes in most of my systems (and none in my very first game). In the tutorial it just says "here are the trading routes listed". That's really no help at all.

Well...What are the requirements? I've always found it easy enough to deduce that if I have a list of requirements for trading, and yet there is no trading going on, then I should just check over what I have to see which I'm missing.

FinalStrigon wrote:
I'm at work, so I can't check this, but is the topic of trading addressed in the manual or in the brief reading tutorial that the game provides?

I am, too. In the manual it tells the requirements for establishing a new route but without any further explanation or examples. So after reading that I wondered even more why I got no trading routes in most of my systems (and none in my very first game). In the tutorial it just says "here are the trading routes listed". That's really no help at all.

I'm at work, so I can't check this, but is the topic of trading addressed in the manual or in the brief reading tutorial that the game provides?

FinalStrigon wrote:
Eh, I don't think Sweden and Russia were "fighting" each other in the Cold War, however.

They were standing on different sides in the cold war (NATO vs. Warsaw Pact) and that's what I meant. You don't have to fight to be in cold war. You just have to be on different sides.

FinalStrigon wrote:
I like the automatic system, though. It's basically one step removed from the Total War system, where you ask the other empire in diplomacy for a trade agreement, and then routes are established automatically should they agree. Here, they just happen automatically. And I'm fine with that. The Civ model seems, to me, to be too much micromanagement...

Okay, my main point of criticism is that the player gets absolutely no information why there are no trade routes established for a system. What has to be done to change that. I just see: trading routes: none. How can I change this? Don't know.

Eh, I don't think Sweden and Russia were "fighting" each other in the Cold War, however. The two main entities who people think of when it comes to the Cold War are the United States and the Soviet Union, and someone may have to correct me, but I don't think a whole lot of trading was going on between those two. I think we might have been sending them food, and stealing scientists, but I think that is about it (and hardly something to be considered trade).



I like the automatic system, though. It's basically one step removed from the Total War system, where you ask the other empire in diplomacy for a trade agreement, and then routes are established automatically should they agree. Here, they just happen automatically. And I'm fine with that. The Civ model seems, to me, to be too much micromanagement...That's just my opinion, though.