Why cant i trade?

[LokiD1978]

I have trade routes but x's on all the trade options, how comes?

yes im a total beginner, and have been following beginner guides and all.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Crim]

No one wants to sell it to you, probably because they don't have excess or they already sold it to someone else.

If you control 2 different provinces and one has untraded excess
The other can 'import' it from it to provide Trade Good bonuses and a small amount of money

I put Import in quotes because the game doesn't see internal trade as neither Import nor Export for those bonuses.

[LokiD1978]

thank you . how do i better this situation>?

[Crim]

Honestly for important bonuses you should focus on internal trades so that it won't break when you go to war

I want to say that with time, more population will result in more resources being available to trade for from other countries, but....

With time other countries will generally also have more trade routes, so that cancels out

Really just need to trade with yourself
Do you know how resources get produced?

[LokiD1978]

im new so please any help would be appreciated.
im looking at trade areas and aiming to appease them

[Crim]

Originally posted by LokiD1978:

im new so please any help would be appreciated.
im looking at trade areas and aiming to appease them

Every territory produces a trade good
-- Every 15 slaves in a territory provides an additional trade good
---- Settlements may build a building for most trade goods that reduce this by 5
---- Cities on the other hand are penalized to 20 slaves

Trade Goods provides a bonus to the entire Province
---- This tends to be a strong bonus, but it's 1 time
-- If you have 2 or more of the same Trade Goods in a Province, you get a Surplus bonus
---- These tend to be smaller benefits, but can be stacked
-- If you have 2 of the same Trade Goods in the Province of your Capital you also get the Capital Surplus Bonus
---- This tends to be a strong bonus that affects your entire nation
-- If you export a Trade good, you get half the Capital Surplus Bonus, which stacks with the Capital Surplus Bonus

For example, you will want Capital Surplus bonuses in your Capital Province
Some important ones are your main military trade good which provides 10% Discipline
-- Iron, Horses, Wood, Elephants, Super Horses, Camels, Wild Game
---- 10% Discipline is +10% Attack and +10% Defense

Stone provides 10% Building Discount
Precious Metals increase Pop Assimilation Speed (Culture Conversion)
Dyes, Fish, Olives, Woad provides 5% Happiness to certain Pops
Salt and Wine provide Army Maintenance cost reductions

etc etc

So, if you notice that your non-capital Province provides Iron, and your main unit is Heavy Infantry. Move 20~30 Slaves into this location to provide 2 Surpluses. Then trade them both into your Capital. Now you don't need to worry about going to war with whoever is providing you Iron and losing your huge military bonus.

Other important resources to trade with yourself is Grain (and to lesser extent Fish, Livestock, Vegetables). If you notice, Cities may never generate food. Meaning that you may need to import Food from other provinces.

[trophyskank]

You might also be too far away to have many options for trade partners, such as places like the horn of Africa, or Ireland, or other place on the edges of the map. Surrounding nations might also not want to trade with you because they don't like you, usually because you have high Aggressive Expansion. In these situations you might just have to trade with yourself.

[LokiD1978]

thanks guys!