How to deal with trade and immigration issues on very hard difficulty.

[KonstantinYurlov]

Hey everybody, I'm on 9th mission, where you get to replace corrupted governor and rebuild the city of Caesarea.
Ran into this problem: at certain point caravans simply stop buying my goods. They either pass by my city, with notice "Nothing to trade here, just passing by", or go to the warehouse, don't buy anything and just go away. This doesn't happen at the beginning of the mission, when I export only some amount of goods, but right after I fill up my warehouses fully or almost fully, caravans start to refuse to buy my goods, as if saying "Nah, I'd rather come home with empty hands, then allow you to make that profit".
Is it a bug? This problem did not appear before. This is the first mission I'm playing on maximum difficulty, I don't know if it has anything to do with the problem.

Update:
Trade and immigrations issues is something that a lot of people seem to struggle with, so I thought I gather all tips in this post, perhaps it could be useful to somebody:
1. If trade doesn't work the way you expect it to, check out this:

Originally posted by KonstantinYurlov:

http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=2,6528,850,all
So it seems there is a quota of goods particular city can buy per year. This is actually shown on Empire Map. After clicking on the city I'm trading with, it shows goods it can trade, but also quota per year, which I never paid attention to.

2. If you get infamous "People are disgrunted" event after hitting 200 populations and then immigration stops due to the poor city mood, here is how to deal with it:

Originally posted by KonstantinYurlov:

Actually mood debuff is a real problem, I struggled a lot with it in the next mission, heaven games community helped a lot: http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/caeforumscgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=2,7762,,20

[5M0k1N]

there are some issues sometimes with playing on the hardest. some AI bugs and the such, im actually surprised you got there on very hard since theres a bug with emigration that will make people stop inmigrating into your city due to being unhappy but it only happens in a range of like 300-500 pop i think. anyways maybe try lowering the difficulty if thats whats causing it, you dont need to restart to change it or anything

also make sure the goods arent on stockpile or something

[KonstantinYurlov]

Immigration stop due to a bad mood is not a bug, but part of a mission. You get over it pretty easily by holding a festival, which lifts up city mood. If the fest is to Venus, she can even give you a very nice boost.

[KonstantinYurlov]

It was the "infamous" stockpiling problem. Gosh i'm so stupid. Didn't turn it off after fulfilling emperor's request.

[5M0k1N]

http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=2,7273,450,all&st=recent

its not part of a mission. it happens on every mission between 200-300 people and it is indeed a bug

[KonstantinYurlov]

This export stop/start thing is actually quite tricky. I decided to give it another try today, loaded an earlier save, stockpile was on due to a previous emperor's request. I was like what the hell, I can't be that stupid, I checked it million times yesterday, but I guess I am.

The thing is export of a particular good stops not only because of a direct halt on its trade, but somehow because of an ingame context.
For example, later today I recieved another request to send an oil to Rome, and I also got a Sandstorm event. Next 3 caravans that entered the map just passed by, though trade was allowed, stockpiling feature was off, and there was plenty of oil in my warehouse. After I sent a requested shipment and sandstorm passed, caravans started trading again.

I'll see how it goes further.

[KonstantinYurlov]

Originally posted by 5M0k1N:

http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=2,7273,450,all&st=recent

its not part of a mission. it happens on every mission between 200-300 people and it is indeed a bug

All right, but it doesn't cause any trouble whatsoever so far. I had this city mood drop in the beginning of a map probably couple of times, I don't remember, it was easy to deal with and felt kinda falling into a logic of a mission.

[5M0k1N]

ya the sandstorm was probably the cause. the requests shouldnt affect trade at all

[KonstantinYurlov]

Damn, this is really annoying. There is no sandstorm or anything now, 3 caravans came to my city, first one bought goods to its full capacity, others visited warehouse, and didn't buy anything at all.

[KonstantinYurlov]

http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=2,6528,850,all
So it seems there is a quota of goods particular city can buy per year. This is quite a relief, game isn't broken or anything, I just have to adjust.

[KonstantinYurlov]

Wow, this is actually shown on Empire Map. After clicking on the city I'm trading with, it shows goods it can trade, but also quota per year, which I never paid attention to. Their oil quota is 25 of 25, thats why they dont buy anything. Never paid attention to that.

[5M0k1N]

lol yea. the god of trade can also change it for the year if he gets pleased / mad. sometimes its worth to just make many temples and festivals to that god (mercury i think it was?) so that for the year it raises the max they can trade. also if those cities ask for goods and the such, if you comply before the first expiration date that may also increase trading permantently (or decrease if you take too long) so watch out for that

[KonstantinYurlov]

OK, i thought this events are scripted, I guess i have to please not just Venus but also Mercury as well

[KonstantinYurlov]

Actually mood debuff is a real problem, I struggled a lot with it in the next mission, heaven games community helped a lot: http://caesar3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/caeforumscgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=2,7762,,20
I guess the reason I almost didn't notice it in Ceasarea mission is because you don't start from scratch and already have 350 population (after you repel the first attack) at the beginning.