Trade Route Question

[shadowknight57]

Please forgive my ignorance - Trade is the one aspect of the game I've never really looked into before (shocking).

I understand that a starport with at least one upgrade will collect trade value from its system, and that you can extend this collection range by adding certain modules to the starbase etc. And this trade value is passed back along the line til it hits your capital and then it converts to money (or whatever you've set it to do).

The wiki says that in order for a starport further out to deliver its trade value along the line, there needs to be another starport within it's collection range (or that said starport is within range of the other, whichever), effectively forming a chain of overlapping collection ranges which allows the trade value to be passed along.

I'm happy with this idea, it makes perfect sense to me, however - in the most recent game I played, I was looking at the show traderoutes button as I haven't used it before, and it seemed to suggest that all my trade value starports were passing their trade value along just fine, despite the fact that they did not hev overlapping collection ranges.

Can anybody please clear this up for me? I understood the wiki, but it didn't seem to be working in that fashion in the game.

Thank you!

[Half Phased]

Trade routes do not need to pass through stations in each other’s trade collection range, all that matters is a valid route to the capital. It can go through other empires territory, as long as their borders aren’t closed.

Generally, you can make do with 2-4 trade collection hubs collecting from colonies early-mid game, with a few internal bastions or patrolling fleets to keep piracy down.

Or build anchorages in every colonized system and collect trade value that way.

[Stamp20]

The wiki says that overlapping trade collection areas only create an automatic connection, you can still manually connect any two starbases.
The best way to set up trade is with gateways, with evenly distributed gateways throughout your empire you can put one trade hub starbase on top of a gateway system and it will collect through every gateway.

[shadowknight57]

Thank you guys, that's a huge help!