There is already one topic in the forum discussing this issue, but it is too long (3 pages), each post is too long as well, and it digresses to other topics in the midway, etc. Shortly, that topic is a bit cumbersome to read. So I decided to share my experiences with trade ships on a map which has two separate road networks.
I have two separate road networks in Tarsus mission and one dock each. One dock is very close to spawn point of trade ships and has warehouses connected to it that accept:
- Clay
- Wheat
- Wine
Other dock in the other road network and is a bit far away and has warehouses that accept:
- Weapons
- Marble
- Clay
I don't sell furniture because I don't need to, I make enough money. I also don't buy them because I can produce them.
I have observed trade ships for a quite long time, you can do it yourself usingmy saved game. According to my observations, I believe that, after a ship enters the map, she chooses which dock to pick according to following rules:
- She checks how manytypes of commodities she can actually sell to any dock. She picks that dock, at which she can sell the most types. She sells her commodities, then tries to buy anything if possible, if not she just leaves.
- If she cannot sell anything to any dock, she then chooses the dock where she can buy something. I think the "amount of types of commodities to buy" affects their decision here as well, if there are more than one road networks with docks.
- If the preferred dock is occupied, she then sails to the other dock and sells and/or buys her commodities there, if possible.
In my city, you can see that trade ship from Miletus appears and docks to the nearby dock if possible and sells wheat and clay there. She does this all the time when she can sell those commodities. In this case she can't buy marbles and she doesn't care about it, she just leaves after she has sold everything she could.
Any ship from Alexandria won't stop at the nearby dock because the wine warehouse is full most of the time (and Alexandria can only sell wine), therefore she sails to the other choice where she can't sell anything but can buy weapons and marble. If that dock is occupied as she enters the map, she then sails to the nearby dock by the spawn point hopelessly, cannot do any trade (because that dock is not connected to marbles and weapons and wine warehouse is full) and she then leaves empty handed.
So shortly, amount of types of commodities a ship can actuallysell to any dock at any given time affects her decision to pick a dock to go. Selling is their priority and if this means that they can't buy anything, they accept that.
I have two separate road networks in Tarsus mission and one dock each. One dock is very close to spawn point of trade ships and has warehouses connected to it that accept:
- Clay
- Wheat
- Wine
Other dock in the other road network and is a bit far away and has warehouses that accept:
- Weapons
- Marble
- Clay
I don't sell furniture because I don't need to, I make enough money. I also don't buy them because I can produce them.
I have observed trade ships for a quite long time, you can do it yourself using
- She checks how many
- If she cannot sell anything to any dock, she then chooses the dock where she can buy something. I think the "amount of types of commodities to buy" affects their decision here as well, if there are more than one road networks with docks.
- If the preferred dock is occupied, she then sails to the other dock and sells and/or buys her commodities there, if possible.
In my city, you can see that trade ship from Miletus appears and docks to the nearby dock if possible and sells wheat and clay there. She does this all the time when she can sell those commodities. In this case she can't buy marbles and she doesn't care about it, she just leaves after she has sold everything she could.
Any ship from Alexandria won't stop at the nearby dock because the wine warehouse is full most of the time (and Alexandria can only sell wine), therefore she sails to the other choice where she can't sell anything but can buy weapons and marble. If that dock is occupied as she enters the map, she then sails to the nearby dock by the spawn point hopelessly, cannot do any trade (because that dock is not connected to marbles and weapons and wine warehouse is full) and she then leaves empty handed.
So shortly, amount of types of commodities a ship can actually