Trade routes capped at 10?

Yea it's caped there as far as I can tell

yes it is capped.

so i guess this would be an "undocumented feature"?

cheers

h

I got busted by it, too. I spent ability points for the extra trade routes, researched the trade routes, and even got the UP vote for more routes.

It's probably some interface issue that will hopefully be resolved.

I also hope this can be resolved since you could really use the money of the extra trade routes during the end game in bigger galaxies.

~SDC~

I don't think this is a feature Maybe post it in the bugs forum.

I think it was mentioned in one of Frogboy's AAR's and I'm sure I read it here on the boards somewhere. I don't recall why, but 10 is definitely an intentional limit.

I read a post by Frogboy in the sticky Starbase thread stating that he doesn't like placing a cap on things. Such as just limiting the number of Starbases in sectors. So why is there a limit on Trade Routes?

yes it is a feature, i do think that its in the manual or i've read Frogboy himself say/post this

trade can generate too much cash, i believe thats why it was capped

if u had 15 routes, u can easily make 3000-4000 (trade only, not with tax) with no SB bonuses added

if u don't spend for like 6 months, thats like 18-24k for ya

It is absolutely a hard limit and has been since the game's inception. You will need to petition Brad to get it lifted. Since there are never more than 5 major alien races, you probably won't have much luck convinving him. In fact, I'm surprised that playing with fewer races doesn't lower the limit to something like twice the number of races you're playing against.

-Robert

~SDC~

I hope we'll see some improvement to the trade and espionage aspects of gameplay for GalCiv some time. They are barely a factor for players to worry about in the current state of the game. If anything, I would imagine trade as being horribly underpowered instead of overpowering.

There is no way you can earn 3-4k BC through trade without SB bonuses unless you wait 200-400 turns for you trade routes to mature, and you'll likely need another 100 turns to setup those routes in the first place. The average time it takes to win a gigantic map on masochist difficulty is about 200-300 turns in comparison.

Ok it's hard limit. Got it.
Ok there is a developer reason. Got it.
But what is the story limit for it? I mean Brad has stated that he doesn't want to put a hard on the number of star bases in a sector, even though it unbalances the game. I find it kinda funny there is a hard limit on one thing, but not the other.

As far as the in game reasoning goes, humans and aliens are wary of outsiders exerting significant influence on their economy, hence the limit on trade routes. I thnk Stardock should take that one step further, and use your diplomatic standing with each race as a limit on trade routes instead. That, for example, could translate to 1 route for hostile races, 3 for neutral, and perhaps up to 5 for close allies.

In a small galaxy, there aren't 10 planets to trade with anyway.

As the game nears its conclusion, you start losing trade routes, because the planet you were trading with joins up with your culture (or you conquer it) and then the trade route disappears.

You can have multiple trade routes with the same planet. Try being an evil SOB on a tiny map and do all your trading with a minor civ's home planet.

There is a cap on trade routes because of the affect on the economy, and to keep from slowing down the end of turn while they're moving.

Well that sucks. So in the long run spending extra points for extra trade routes is in essence useless. They couldve at least gave a hard cap of 10, and then at least allowed those who purchased the extra trade routes during race creation to go above it respectively.

I agree. What's the point of having extra trade route research abilities or the extra trade route UP laws if there is a hard cap? If trade routes really are such a big issue for the developers, then take out the United Planets trade route boost law (which can theoretically boost it to an unlimited number of routes) but don't cap it otherwise... have it be simply base 1 plus any bonuses from political party or chosen before the start of the game plus any bonuses from researched tech.

Of course, one has to realize that a neutral player isn't going to see 10 trade routes without the bonus trade route picks and/or some UP help. The good guys can get up toward 10 by themselves with pure technology, and the evil ones can get up to at least 8. (I have not played enough pure evil games to the higher end of the tech tree to know an exact count from memory.) It is not a real bothersome issue to me. If I intend to play good, then I need not waste points on extra trade routes picks.