Broken Trade Route

from Sins Forums

I built a trade port on the moon of Tercidina and another on the desert world of Echemmon.

When I hover over the credits, my trade route does not include them. See link.

I am gathering a list of possible issues and I'll send them in one shot, after verifying that they haven't already been reported, but I wanted to go ahead and submit this one. Are moons not eligible for trading? If so, there should still be a route that goes from Rhodesia to Echemmon. Let me know if I'm missing something.

Overall I'm very pleased with this installment. When asked if it was a sequel, I said it is technically a standalone expansion, but there is so much expansion that I personally call it a sequel. Awesome game so far. Thanks Ironclad!

6,251 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

You need to scuttle your trade ports on Hakon. Trade chains take the "longest shortest" route. Its basically the shortest way a trade ship can get from one planet to the planet farthest from it using planets that only have trade ports. Thus in many cases you'll need to intentionally draw out your trade route by not building trade ports on planets like Hakon, where a "shortcut" would allow the trade ship to skip other planets like your moon.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks Goa. I took your advice and now the lane goes through Tercidina and Echemmon.

Assume you have gravity wells A, B, C, and D, I assumed you had to build a trade port in every well to have a route go from A to D. Consecutive ports to create a lane. But if I understand you correctly, if well A connects to B, and C, but well A also connects to D, E, and F, and F connects to C then I will want to build a route that goes through D, E, and F to get to C because it will have more planets along the route. Is that right?

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Coridane, reply 2
Assume you have gravity wells A, B, C, and D, I assumed you had to build a trade port in every well to have a route go from A to D. Consecutive ports to create a lane. But if I understand you correctly, if well A connects to B, and C, but well A also connects to D, E, and F, and F connects to C then I will want to build a route that goes through D, E, and F to get to C because it will have more planets along the route. Is that right?
End of Coridane's quote

Well if A connects to C then that won't be the end point for your trade route. Assume all of these planets are connected to the adjacent planets. You'd want to build trade ports on the ones in bold while ignoring the rest because they would reduce the chain.

K -> L -> M       N     O

|             |               |

F      G    H        I     J

|             |               |

A      B    C  -> D -> E

 

If I were to build a trade port at G for example the K-M part of the chain would get cut out, reducing my trade chain by 2 because its going through F-H instead.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I meant to reply to this on Saturday. Your illustration helped. Thank you.

On Sunday, I was playing a game, and my capital world was separated by space junk and other situations from a cluster of worlds so I started a trade route in that remote cluster. It worked. I even had one of my starbases connect one cluster to another with the trade port upgrade. However, in another star system, I tried to create a trade route that began with a desert planet, went through a moon, and terran planet, but the lane did not appear. What are your thoughts on that?

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

If you're doing interstellar trade routes, you need a starbase at each star with the trade port upgrade.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

I can't remember who did the math a while back, but keep in mind that the money earned from extending your trade route's length is significantly less than the money earned per trade port. In your example, destroying the trade port on Hakone will reduce your total income, not increase it. Unless your trade route will be longer by at least 6 by not building the trade port, you're losing income by skipping the world.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Maktaka, reply 6
I can't remember who did the math a while back, but keep in mind that the money earned from extending your trade route's length is significantly less than the money earned per trade port. In your example, destroying the trade port on Hakone will reduce your total income, not increase it. Unless your trade route will be longer by at least 6 by not building the trade port, you're losing income by skipping the world.
End of Maktaka's quote

True, but he likely has quite a few trade ports by that point. And I think its good practice to plan out your chain early so that you build labs and culture centers on worlds that would make the chain shorter. If you really need cash you can always change your mind, but you still need to know how the system works.