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Mushroom

Member

Registered: 2019-03-02

Posts: 43

Just another shy post about trade

I would really like to see some successful trading system in the game in the future, however if we want it to be successful, then it cannot feel too forced and artificial.
Jason is talking about banning some of the recipes from making by specific tribes/buffing recipes for them to cost less raw materials for specific tribes. I stand in great opposition to the first option (not just me, but many others, too) because it would be major pain in the ass. Even Jason admitted it at some point I think, correct me if I'm wrong. I am in favor of unlocking new recipes, only available for certain tribes more, but balance them in a way that they are not crucial in early to mid-game, and very helpful later.

So here's the idea: why don't make it possible for different tribes reach a certain point of development without trade, so their village becomes sorta kinda self-sustainable, but then, it's further development is halt/very slow/very costly/nearly impossible without trade? Talking about "self-sustainable" village I mean the state of the game as it kinda is now:

- have some iron, but to get more you have to venture further and further to the point it is real obstacle in survival
- have "unlimited", single water source (kerosene pump)
- have all of the recipes crucial to the survival unlocked for everyone
- have access to most of the raw materials, with limited number (sulfur, wood, ores)

The thing is, while you develop and reach a certain point, it should become really hard to proceed. Here comes the trade with other villages, from which only certain tribes can handle lack of some of the resources:

- Chinese can produce gunpowder and explosives, which can be later used to dig out the collapsed iron mines and get far more iron from them
- Arabs can get an upgrade to the oil rig, so it has higher chance of succeding and produces more oil (maybe make the oil go out after some uses, and for Arabs the number is much higher?)
- Jungle tribes can plant jungle trees (palms, bananas, and maybe make rubber tree only one use, after which it goes dry?)
- Desert nomads can make a sulfur mine near hot springs
- Caucasians can set up a coal mine, etc.

These are just some random ideas of mine for the tribes and specialties, but I think you get the point. I just think that survival without trade shouldn't be impossible (there were examples of self-sustainable towns throughout the history), but it should be very hard and unefficient long term (why would you go 827498147 miles away for a basket of iron if you can just go the Chinese and give them some oil for it? You got plenty of oil anyway, cause you are the member of Arab tribe!).

After the industrial revolution in Europe the colonial empires, such as GB traded more food from the Eastern countries, which had very little/no colonies. Was it because Britain couldn't produce food for itself? No! It was because they wanted to focus on the development, so they transformed their society, so it became less agricultural. Also, they had neighbours with plenty of food sources, willing to trade it for new goods. Why should I make my own food, wasting time, effort and land, if I can just buy it from other country for some colonial good that I have plenty of? I think you can clearly see the pattern here.

The idea also opens a new war possibilities - why should we trade the coal from these darn Caucasians, if we can just invide them and take the coal mine for our own use, like we already did with that Arabs and their oil rigs? War over resources I smell.

Last edited by Mushroom (2019-05-10 10:49:58)

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