Can't seem to get into the game...

[Snog]

It was fun at first; getting used to setting up colonies everywhere, but now I seem to be in a rut where most of the game is just sitting, doing nothing, waiting for money to come in.. Wars are too expensive and I don't seem to gain much from them when I win. I guess the game is just too slow paced for me.. maybe i should go back to age of empires .

--Snog

[Kyle]

Well, I guess that would explain it.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Turn up the speed, 1 minute = 2 years is the fastest and things just SAIL by. Or you could build up your infrastructure, diplomacy, trade, etc, etc.

[Victor Galis]

Try trade. It is quite a nice source of money.

[Par4]

Yeah once you get used to the economics, having merchant fights can be intense

I have a monopoly in flanders and paris(I don't know how ot spell the ill de le france or whatever)

[Ramo]

BTW, DO NOT LET THE AI HANDLE TRADE!

It is completely incompetent, particularly if you control a powerful nation.

"Trade Wars" can be fun, if futile at times. Trying to maintain 9 monopolies simultaneously ain't easy.

[Kyle]

Well, I have to disagree. The AI seems to be doing quite well for me. In my first game as Spain, I ended with over 100,000 ducats, the next games, tens of thousands, and my current I'm keeping over 1000 ducats regularly.


Though I may start doing it manually to add another dimension to the game.

[Par4]

I as france(hard) have paris and flandres from CoT, and Flandres nearly brought me down in the form of a coalition between england, spain, portugual, helvetinia(sp), narvarra, that little place up north by the netherlands, but I succeeded, barely. Well with AI on I have a monopoly in both of those CoT, but but I was able to gain monopoly in london and move up get around 400 ducats from merchants in other CoT, the AI wastes merchants in teh same CoT a lot.

[johnmcd]

I don't understand how you can have a trade war. Is it not just a case of sending them over and then someone sending one over and knocking yours out. How do you keep yours there in preference to another nation's?

I am a super newbie to the game though...

[Snog]

Yeah, I was wondering about trade wars, too. I mean I always get monopolies in the CoT's I own, but I always just assumed that if a another country has a monopoly in a CoT I don't own that it's pretty useless to send merchants there.. they just get traded out and I don't make a net profit.

Also, I thought about turning up the game speed when there's nothing to do.. who does this that can tell me if it makes the game better.

--Snog

[johnmcd]

Its all very well sending over a merchant, but does it not just boil down to who generates the most merchants? Is there any way to ensure it is not your merchants that get traded out? The trade aspect seems very simple compared to the rest of it so I'm sure I'm missing something and not the game.

[Steve Clark]

I think merchants are another example (along with combat) of the lack of feedback and not knowing cause and effect. For example, there are prices for each CoT and for each commodity listed for that province. Do they mean anything? Seems like all we can do is send merchants here and there and hopefully watch our trade income rise. Alot of information presented but very little of it useful to us.

[Par4]

Your trade level, smaller nations develope technologies a lot faster than bigger countries. So if a small country like say the netherlands(if they rebel) gets only 5 merchants a year but it's trade level is say 3 above france who gets 9 a year they'll beat out french merchants.

Also building refineries can up your trade level really fast, it just costs a lot, but I've found that a monopoly + lots of goods manufactories= lots of money + some refineries = high trade level

[Imran Siddiqui]

If you are successful in sending a merchant over, you make money because of the trader in that CoT. As well as you can steal away the monopolizing nations' merchant and start a climb up of your own.

And I play at 1 min = 1 year... I pause the game when I want to do things .

[Kautilya]

Hmm trade is something I haven't spent a lot of time on. So what's the best strategy?

Do you just allocate all your merchants to the best COT's? Or go for the smaller ones with less competition? Or do you look at each COT check out the trade level of the competition and proceed accordingly?

[Ramo]

I love trading; it's a great mini-game.

If you have a shot at getting a monopoly, take it! That's where you get your profits (I make 300-500 D each, at several non-Euro COTs - ~1590). If possible, protect your Asian monopolies with your life (or rather, your subjects'). Keeping the smaller, central European COTs (Venice, Genoa, etc.) are generally not worth it, as a multitude of states try to compete with you. Flanders can be worth it, considering the huge value of the COT, relative to the rest of Europe, but it's a ***** to hold on to. If you insure that most of your rivals are spending their merchants somewhere else, take Flanders. Likewise, Novograd can be worth it, if you are lucky. I've also found that trying to keep most Western Europe major power COTs are exercises in futility - they just keep sending merchants to their respective COTs.

Trading also has the potential to give you a nice Casus Beli. If you overload a certain COT, the owner might block your trade. As the Ottomans, this allowed me to attack Portugal, Spain, and the Moguls.

[Reichw]

Im wondering how to establish a center of trade in my own country. I've started play (just got the game) as England and I'm part of the Flanders CoT. Can I establish a CoT for England and Scotland separate from the continent, and if so, what tech level do I need? The book for this game is terrible. It only tells you what things are and not the specifics of how it works. Not like the SMAC manual which explains the workings of game elements so well.

rw

[Par4]

London get's one at about 1500-1510

Anyway I'm not sure but it works ok, whenever I get about 10 colonies above 2000 people and about 5 goods factories I ususally get one in north america. As england, most of the time it's in the biggest colony which is delaware most of the time but I've gotten one in roanoke, carolina, penoscot, and manhattan a couple times.

As spain I usually get one in mexico city(where technoticalan(sp)) is and one somewhere in inca land.

[Grumbold]

Competitive trading is poorly explained in the manual a bit like an adventure game. The atmosphere is explained at length but the mathematics and mechanics glossed over. Go to the europa-universalis site FAQ forum if you want some more clinical answers.

Your traders can do one of four things:
- Increase your own market share by 1 (5%) up to a maximum of 5 provided there are free spaces in the centre of trade (CoT.) Your merchant appears in the CoT. If there is no-one else in the CoT this will always happen.
- Attempt to kick a rival merchant out of an occupied slot and fail. Your merchant is lost. Success chance is dependant on comparative trade tech.
- Attempt to kick a rival merchant out of an occupied slot and succeed. Both your merchant and the opposition are removed. Success chance is dependant on comparative trade tech.
- If you have high enough trade tech you can gain a monopoly by placing a sixth merchant in a CoT. This is where the big profits are made. You gain all the unowned trade in the CoT. Unless the CoT has 20 merchants in it (rarely happens outside the big European ones) you will earn much more than 30% with your 6 merchants.

The cost of trading is dependant on who owns the CoT and its distance from your capital. To make a profit you must ensure that on average your merchant remains in the CoT for enough months to recoup the initial investment cost of placing them. Since minor nations start out with better tech levels than the major powers (balance reasons) it is best to tread carefully until you have invested time and money into research. If you play a power with early exploration opportunities, colonising and opening a CoT in India or China can be astonishingly lucrative.