Trading Route Strategies

[Ryashon]

After much frustration I finally have routes that make lots of money. I started by making a circular route with about 5 cities. The captain buys and sells everything. Then I make a second route like the first in another area and link them together at one city. Now when I notice a surplus of goods on one route I'll transfer those goods via a warehouse at the linked city to another route. You can keep expanding this way and link all the cities together.

So far with the exception of wood and lemons (which I don't buy if the surplus is too great) I've had no problems selling absolutely everything my captains buy at 121%. It's also great for when you mass produce goods. With a few simple trade route modifications you can send your goods down the chain of all the cities you are trading with.

I'm wondering what other people's strategies are?

[5pam!]

Im using a big warehouse in Candia. Everything gets the wares their town needs from there, and on their way back they unload the stuff that town or my factories produced. Basically the same stuff i am doing since The Patrician 2. Does not work to well for buying, the stewards are crap. So i am using a workaround where i have another convoi waiting in town simply for buying stuff until a certain amount is reached.

[troublmaker]

I mass produce industry in each town equally. I make sure to get a Cathedral in each town and focus on increasing population and thus increase demand of all products. After this my main focus is on end produced goods like Clothing, Spice, Silk, Cloth, and Meat.

Actual trade routes don't focus too much into my revenue model, just a way of moving goods across the cities. Most of them are unprofitable but it doesn't matter too much because industry profits are so insanely profitable that it just doesn't matter.