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When it comes to trade companies, you're limited by subcontinents, not continents. If you play as Bohemia, you can create trade companies in Ruthenia, Novgorod or even Poland. Sounds stupid, but it works.
Economics is easy ... "Lie, cheat and steal ... but never transgress against the 11th commandment": *THOU SHALT NOT BE CAUGHT* which is the standard version, but companies get an addon: *AND TO PREPARE FOR THIS START INFLUENCING POLITICIANS!*
@@Muck006 As a former stockbroker and an International Business grad, this is unfortunately very very accurate. One of my best advice to give to someone is to not be obsessed with making a lot of money or having millions. If you are able to make enough to have a good life and be able to retire, then you are in a good spot and shouldn't focus harder on just getting more money for the sake of getting more money. The saddest people I've met when working as a stockbroker were the people who had like $1-7 million.
As england you don't need a merchant in lubeck cause the trade will go to the English channel anyway while if you put a merchant in champagne you get caravan power so your merchant is actually worth up to 50 trade power, plus it doesn't transfer money to Genoa so more money for you
@@JosephHutzulak you can still send ships even without a merchant, all the merchant does in lubeck is giving you 2 trade power maybe boost the value a bit if there's any trade steering modifiers but that's more for later in the game I was think of 1444
This is true for all trade nodes that have just one outflowing route to another node (e.g. Baltic to Lubeck, Valencia to Genoa, Cape of Good Hope to Ivory Coast to name a few), a merchant will only add some trade power (together with your nation's modifiers), so your merchant probably has more use actually steering from a node with multiple outgoing routes, best is to switch them around a bit and look at the change in trade income each month
@@MrVentches I think you need to have some trade power there for it to steer at all and since you dont own any provinces in the node. You might be able to steer with some light ships. But Denmark and Lubeck collect there. Plus a lot of OPMs.
Geez, I was never able to understand how exactly trade works from everyone else’s tutorials. I don’t know if these were too complicated or I was too stupid but... YOURS ACTUALLY DID IT! I FINALLY UNDERSTAND TRADE! YAY! Thank you so much Ludi! You appeared out of nowhere making content of such a high quality. Feels like RNJesus sent you.
Additional side note for improving your late game income: If you have a lot of merchants, high trade power/trade node %, and you have increased your trade steering through various means (like ideas, country's missions, etc.), then you should try transferring your goods to your end node using the longest route possible to get there. The reason for this is that each time you transfer trade downstream, it gets affected by your trade steering and it artificially increases the trade value each node you hit. So the longer the route, the higher the income will be when it hits your end node. I will emphasize though that this is assuming that you have high trade power % in each of the nodes that you are transfering from, cause if you send it to a node you don't have most of the trade power you will lose out on more than steering your income to nodes that you have control over.
honestly, playing as russia in the novgorod trade node those pesky lubeckians ALL pulled the node that still adds up not alot was outgoing but it was more as 0.
I had a fun one being Byzantium. Genoa had lost genoa, but was still alive in Turkey and crimea. So it made me realize: instead of me doing trade ideas, I'll vassalize Genoa, and feed them territories in Crimea and Basra. I'll let them pull in the trade, while I collect the major part of it.
"you cant make trade companies on the same continent you capital is on" Silently looks at my castille game where I chartered all of aragon to trade companies
Yes, goods produced is seperate modifier from production efficiency. Production efficiency only affect direct gold income, but it is affected by goods produced.
Just a correction: If you temporary set one of your merchants to the Champagne trade node, the direction will correct toward the English trade node. Then next month you can move the merchant back to wherever you want and the direction of Champagne trade node will remain toward the English trade node.
Hi Ludi - another `mazing guide - just one correction - boosts to production efficiency doesn't affect amount of goods produced but only the amount of money you get from production - so in terms of trade the workshop and counting house does NOT have an impact - I also thought so for years but it's more like trade efficiency where it's a final modifier to you income (but for production). It's only production development and manufactories that boosts trade value. Even though those two have affect on both trade value and production income so if you invest in those two it may very well be wort building the production efficiency boosting buildings as their impact will correlate with base production, but love this guide - watched it like 5 times :)
@@LudietHistoria No, thank YOU :D - your and Reman's vids have helped me so much - still after 4000h played still learning! Btw did you see my comment on your Venice/Dalmatia Video? Im just getting ready to attack the now huge mamadoodles to head for spices, pray Ottoman can weaken them first and Castille with vassals will join as I only have 23k manpower hehe
@@augustleoberonis5369 my pleasure! Glad I could help! Haven't seen the Venice comment yet since YT is kek and doesn't tell me when people comment all the time sadly, so literally unless I go through vids to check comments I miss out a lot sadly :( But Hey, if u outnumberd, MERC UP! U got the economy, use it to buy all the mercs you need!
@@LudietHistoria no worries I’ll put it here later on, just gotta find it myself.. i got a grand savoy and pol/lit to join.Another question, do you sometimes get bored cause you just walk right over all your enemies? I need to savescum to keep my enemies strong enough (basically have them militarists - so they expand at my rate)
Actually there are tree types of trade nodes. Two of them you mentioned. But the third is starting nodes. No trade flows there. Just goes to the other nodes. For Example: California,Great Lakes,Lhasa, Siam.
Somebody please explain provincial/global trade power difference, caravan power, goods produced/production efficiency, and how much trade power the merchants themselves give.
Good guide but i remember in one of my prussia games where i just rolled over everything in the north was the strongest in lubeck baltic sea and novgorod and the best income way was to collect from both baltic sea and novgorod netting me 170 ducats or so plus 100 from lubeck i also used my other merchants to transfer from saxony/rheintald/krakow kinda went crazy with that one lol trade ideas worked extremly well and its policy with quantity boosted my economy insanely with the 20% good produced modifier
This is a lot of good theoretical knowledge but not enough practical knowledge. I'd like to see a video that goes through how to successfully set up a trade company, when you should take trade ideas, how to set up merchants, etc.
Great guide, fast and saying exactly whats needed to grasp the concept. But i think one thing is missing, that you should try to get merchants in nodes in chains leading downstream from the node you are collecting the trade. Chain of nodes, as just continous line of going downstream from the main node where you collect trade, for example Venice, Ragusa, Consantinopol, Crimea, and whatever is to the east. There is a stacking bonus to your trade power for every merchant in chain of trade nodes. So it is sometimes not good to collect trade from node just because it can ruin that bonus, you need to see if it will be better for you. After consulting my knowledge with Wikipedia If you have 5 merchants in chain It gives +11% to trade power base in every node in a chain which dont looks like much but it will be more as it depends on your nation trade steering ability. A bit shame, i think that this could stack infinitly, but they restricted it to just 5 merchants. I remember you could have like +1k(or even more) ducats of profit form trade as venice thanks to this bonus.
I know this is an old video but it just popped in my screen and I think this is wrong. Production efficiency only increases the amount of production you get from your provinces (which is the monthly trade value). This does not affect trade income or any node value. The only things that affect both, trade and production, are the goods produced and its modifiers.
Another well thought out and instructive vie from you. I NEEDED this tutorial. But I'm still not sure how to "steer" everything with 100% efficiency on those little arrow boxes.
7:20 since you had increased the amount of goods produced by 1.00, why did the node increase only by 0.4? Are there any modifies that determine how much gets "translated" into node's value?
Such a great video! I like that you gave multiple scenarios and explained the pros and cons etc. You have a great way of breaking down complex concepts in this game into manageable portions. In previous attempts to better understand trade I sometimes get overwhelmed by the pace and amount of content. One specific question: If I am running a game where I can secure one of the 3 end-nodes relatively early on, does it make sense to conquer up one stream as much as possible to chain together or would it make more sense to spread it out and conquer upstream multiple directions trying to balance it out? I hope I am phrasing my question in a way that makes sense lol. Thanks again for all your content!
I understand the principles of trade value and steering, but I would love to see more in-game examples to better understand the decision making behind merchant placing, like the Lubeck one. Also, caravan power confuses me: I control most if not all provinces in a node but I still don't come close to 100% trade power because everyone and their mothers have "caravan power" in it. Does it come from downstream? Does it have to do with enemy merchants, regardless of their presence in the region?
Countries with power downstream get bits of power upstream. The amount of power is affected by caravan power (for LAND trade nodes only, not sea nodes like Venice). For example, you are England. Your main node is English Channel. You will have bits and pieces of trade power in Bordeaux which is a LAND node because of "caravan power". Every country has a bit of caravan power. This can be increased by ideas, national ideas, some events, etc...
Hey Ludi, want to know what I found found out only yesterday? In the trade company investment screen, you can scroll down... there is a 5th type of investment! Crazy right?
Tip here build many trade building in teritoris so your trade value increases especially when you are transferring trade from Cape of good hope to ivory cost and you have just 3or 5 provinces in Cape of good hope. It increases your trade power considerably.
One thing I don't understand: where does the provincial trade power come from? (Listed above Trade value and goods produced in the province interface). It seems to form the overall trade power but then it seems a bit random; for example, in my France run I once went to check my provinces' trade power and it was like 4.3 for richest provinces with World Ports I've been developping like Brussels or Antwerpen and then like 21.9 in a random province producing cheap goods such as Picardie or Vivarais.
What is missing here is using vassals for trade. There are some crazy good vassals that will highly increase your income. Just look for those with provincial trade modifier, bonus merchants and carvan power and use divert trade interaction, so all their trade power goes to you. Especially last patches, where governing capacity comes to play, it is worth to keep some vassals for huge paart of the game. Also note you are limited with world trade centers, but your vassal has its own limit, so you can increase its trade power even more (and in consequence yours as you take 100% of it). My favourite are Pskov (if not annexed early, otherwise Novgorod), Mazandaran, Gujarat, but there are many many more. For example Mazandaran: - bonus merchant - not only allows more steereing, but you would also be able to build 1 more world trade center - +20% caravan power - goods produced modifer, so more cash from that trade On top you get fort defense in mountanious Persia region :). This is also why you should never integrate Pskov as Muscovy, feed it instead and collect all that cash for yourself :) (or if you are playing in the area and are able to transfer vassalage early, DO IT!) - 2 bonus merchants - one from ideas, one from veche republic - bonus caravan power - bonus provinial trade power - more trade steering + 20% goods produced NOTE - released Pskov would not keep Veche republic reform
Hello, i am a bit late joining to the EU4 family, but this is what I would like to know, mainly the vassals :) Bizanc is my vassals now and my capital city - trade citiy is Pest/Hungary. I have two merchant who forward trade from Krimea and Ragusa in direction Pest where, if i am right the collection is automatically without a merchant. Wont be better to reorder one of my merchant to Bizanc to collect or forward trade to Pest, for example instead of Krimea or Ragusa? Would this option be more benefit? Thx for answer
I feel like the number that says how much profit you earn by assigning light ships is wrong. Very often it says that in your home node it will result in negative value but it actually will give you more than some other nodes where it says it'll give you positive 1,2 ducats. And it shows you can also earn profit by protecting trade even in the zones you dont have any territory in. I'm confused on that.
Does production efficiency affect trade value now? Afaik only goods produced affect trade value while production efficiency just gave you more money through production.
yeah I think Ludi is wrong on that part, workshops only give production efficiency which does not affect goods produced thus it does not affect trade income. He mixes up production efficiency with goods produced modifier
Played srivijaya recently, i noticed with my big old merchant fleet i could literally remove all of a nations trade income using my fleet and a merchant, it was hilarious what i could do
So it it useful to boost tradepower outside my collecting node? Does it help merchants steering more? Not sure if I should build marketplaces outside my collecting node..
but how do you know which one it will trade to? like if there is 5 different options to steer trade which on it will steer when i click transfer trade power
Did they change the massive debuff you get for collecting from trade outside your home node? Remans video seems to contradict collecting from trade but its also 5 years old lol
a lot changed in the last 5 years. The debuff is still there but it's not that big compared to the buffs that have been added such as the caravan power impact, trade power changes and sio on.
okay, I keep watching this video but I still haven't quite figured out how to establish a trade company! I think i need a vassal on a different continent and that would have an option to form a trade company. Would a dependent colony like the thirteen colonies be able to form a trade company?
Hey I had a question which didn’t get answered. What does both the wargoals to get trade actually do? Had a situation where as France I took transfer trade node from most of the Italian peninsula, but not getting much out of it. What is actually happening
@@LudietHistoria I see. But if you for instance take in a peacedeal transfer or steer trade from someone in the genoese trade node, while your main node is in Dijonais. What will happen with that trade? Will it go upstream trying to get closer to your node, will you collect it in their node, or will it just disappearr? Thanks
@@FTWNorwayFTW you will get a percentage of trade power in the trade node where the country transfering trade is from. You need to use a merchant to ship it from there yourself into your own trade node, it doesnt happen automatically.
If you would collect in another trade region that is not your HOME Trade, you would have a negative trade power. U explained your video as you paused the game? If you would transfer from the other trade region to your home trade region, you might get an extra trade power in your home trade. There are two trade incomes. You tried one of them. How about caravan power or some other trade concepts.
i feel like the trading system is a little too simple. maybe i'm missing something, but it seems like changes in the values of goods ("trade goods") are determined by random events. there's no real system of supply & demand
Just a question: propagate your religion in TC - nodes. What's the advantage? Is putting your provinces in a TC not negating all effects of having provinces of a different religion? Is this for one faith attempts or vanity? I'm really confused.
Nice guide.However very important question is not explained IMO. It is extremely rare when it is more efficient to collect in several places. The main issue here is that collecting from 2nd node means You lose ALL OF THE TRADE POWER BONUSES OF YOUR MERCHANTS TRANSFERRING TRADE into Your main node. This bonus is huge - 10% for EACH MERCHANT transferring. If You have 2nd collecting merchant all the bonuses are gone. So collecting in one node is a must. Also I see You never collect in Your main node. Having a merchant to collect in Your main node increases trade power - 5% bonus.
Until it costs more in maintenance than what they would give. Monitor the trade income report monthly, the tool tip that shows you the profit when selecting a node for said light ships is often wrong. Experiment!
france and spain can target genoa ro become their main node, the ottomans/byzantium can conquer india and direct its trade value through persia and basra into constantinople and then venice, it depens
@@DevillTM It doesn't make a lot of sense for Spain to have Genoa as their main trade node, as they will never have 100% trade power there, even if they conquer almost all of the Tyrrenian Sea provinces. Meanwhile, Spain can easily get 100% control over Seville, and for France it makes more sense to use the English Channel instead.
@@javierperalta7648 spain can easily get close to 100% of genoa thanks to its missions, as for france, going for enlish channel means going against uk and potentially netherlands
@@DevillTM Man, taking Northern Italy for Spain is not easy. You have to fight the Emperor, as with the latest patch they don't leave the HRE. And they are very high development provinces so ir causes a lot of aggressive expansion Taking the Netherlands is much easier because you can just inherit them from Burgundy
That’s because Genoa and Venice don’t usually have the opportunity to link up trade nodes because of the Mamluks and Ottomans. I’m playing a Venice game right now, I plan on changing that by conquering the Mamluks and making an India -> Gulf of Aden -> Alexandria -> Venice train. That being said, Italy is rich enough by itself that linking up the India trade isn’t actually necessary, but imma try it anyway
10:30 not true! You can make trade comapnies in your continent even in your home trade note. I did it as sweden and TC danzig riga memel etc. I did it also as a yuan and TC canton vietnam etc. Altough i couldn't TC northern china so they are still skme regulations.
You forgot that inland trade nodes like Ragusa have caravan power which will drain lots of trade no matter how much ships you throw at it. Nations will have flat trade power, and unless you have huge trade power like 10 times of the rest of nations there[and there's usually huge amount of them] then you will only steer something like 75%. I had all provinces in that node, sent light ships, made the best world ports and still couldnt go above 75%...
Ragusa is useful as a trade stopper for Contantinopole. Basically if you have all the provinces there and control Constantinopole node as well, if you collect in Constantinopole you'll have 99-100% retention there. You loose out some of the Ragusean trade, but as Ottos it's worth it since you can route all Asia into Constantiopole
I have a few questions Why should I steer trade instead of just collect it? I’m going to be using a merchant either way What the hell is a trade capital What dlc do I need for trade companies? I have art of war, common sense, rights of man, mare nostrum, emperor and cradle of civilisation
By Steering trade you can use your trade power to limit the amount of ducats other people push, by collecting trade you only get a percentage more than normal. A trade capital is similar in function to a capital, it is your main location of trade, in most starts your trade capital will be the same as your administrative capital, the button to change this is right next to the button to move your administrative(standard) capital. For Trade Companies you will need Dharma or Wealth of Nations. I'm sure someone else could better explain the first point than I tho
1) Using a merchant to collect trade increases the efficiency (only in your trade capital’s trade node), but increasing efficiency in the beginning when your node’s value is low isn’t the best way to make profit. Yeeting trade value from others by transferring power is a better use for your merchant most of the time. Later on in the game, you should probably put a merchant there to collect trade since they boost trade efficiency in your trade capital by 10% (10% bonus to a 150 gold-valued node is worth it while a 10% bonus to a 2 gold-valued node isn’t). 2) Which specific province you make your trade capital does not matter. All that matters is which trade node it’s in. There’s a 50% penalty modifier for collecting from trade outside of your trade capital. You also automatically collect from trade in the node your trade capital is in. 3) Wealth of Nations and Dharma mostly. Get both to use and upgrade trade companies plus other trade features. Go to CDkeys to get Steam keys for cheap. EDIT: Looked it up for you. Wealth of Nations is going for $1.68 and Dharma for $9.90 on CDkeys
@@flimpeenflarmpoon1353 This is directly contradicted in the video. It is NOT always better to transfer. It is only better to transfer if you have a monopoly on the downstream nodes. Watch the explanation around the 12:00-13:00 timestamps. To answer the original question, it is only better to transfer IF the next downstream node you would be transferring into is one you have a high control over (say, more than 70% trade power). Otherwise it is better to collect.
No summoning the diet? No choosing whichever agenda suits you best? No hiring the Free Company? If Karl Lagerfeld were still alive he'd maybe tell you, “You've completely lost control over your EU4 life.“ 😱
@@bismarckandthekriegsmarine2954 I did finish it. He doesn't revisit it. Maybe you can point out where he explained it - Don't run away on me now after entering the limelight, Chief.
@@boru1982 he says at about 2:03 that not only trade power affects but also trade efficiency, which is at 2%, so I'd assume that taking the 2% and adding it to the 50% gets you 7.3
@@bismarckandthekriegsmarine2954 I'm not sure you're joking or serious at this point. If you are being serious(which of course you are), did you completely forget about my original comment when trying to explain that?
If you are a western european nation you can build trade companies in eastern europe, and if you are an eastern european nation you can build trade companies in western europe.
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Can you make guide to forming Germany which nation is the easiest to forming it
I like your words rich magic man
When it comes to trade companies, you're limited by subcontinents, not continents. If you play as Bohemia, you can create trade companies in Ruthenia, Novgorod or even Poland. Sounds stupid, but it works.
You're actually right about that!
Best trade company is north africa, just take 2 nodes from tunis.
There is a mapmode that shows you where you can create trade companies
Colonial and trade charter mapmode or something like that
It's not limited to sub continents
@@Shadow.24772 it gets better - even Italy. You can have just balkans surrounded by trade companies.
Literally took notes in a spiral notebook as if i'm in a College course. Well-made my guy!
Glad it helped bro, enjoy your games!
Finally a guide to help me pass my economics class
ahahahahaah I love this comment xD
Economics is easy ... "Lie, cheat and steal ... but never transgress against the 11th commandment":
*THOU SHALT NOT BE CAUGHT* which is the standard version, but companies get an addon: *AND TO PREPARE FOR THIS START INFLUENCING POLITICIANS!*
@@Muck006 As a former stockbroker and an International Business grad, this is unfortunately very very accurate. One of my best advice to give to someone is to not be obsessed with making a lot of money or having millions. If you are able to make enough to have a good life and be able to retire, then you are in a good spot and shouldn't focus harder on just getting more money for the sake of getting more money. The saddest people I've met when working as a stockbroker were the people who had like $1-7 million.
@Preacher hence the word "former"
@Vile Disturbance 🇷🇺 none
As england you don't need a merchant in lubeck cause the trade will go to the English channel anyway while if you put a merchant in champagne you get caravan power so your merchant is actually worth up to 50 trade power, plus it doesn't transfer money to Genoa so more money for you
Thats actually pretty smart!
I disagree you can add way more then 50 power through ships and Lubeck will retain trade that wont make it to the English Channel.
@@JosephHutzulak you can still send ships even without a merchant, all the merchant does in lubeck is giving you 2 trade power maybe boost the value a bit if there's any trade steering modifiers but that's more for later in the game I was think of 1444
This is true for all trade nodes that have just one outflowing route to another node (e.g. Baltic to Lubeck, Valencia to Genoa, Cape of Good Hope to Ivory Coast to name a few), a merchant will only add some trade power (together with your nation's modifiers), so your merchant probably has more use actually steering from a node with multiple outgoing routes, best is to switch them around a bit and look at the change in trade income each month
@@MrVentches I think you need to have some trade power there for it to steer at all and since you dont own any provinces in the node. You might be able to steer with some light ships. But Denmark and Lubeck collect there. Plus a lot of OPMs.
Honestly, I would say this is the best channel for eu4 guides. These are the most straightforward tutorials I've seen.
Geez, I was never able to understand how exactly trade works from everyone else’s tutorials. I don’t know if these were too complicated or I was too stupid but... YOURS ACTUALLY DID IT! I FINALLY UNDERSTAND TRADE! YAY!
Thank you so much Ludi! You appeared out of nowhere making content of such a high quality.
Feels like RNJesus sent you.
i could never understand how trade worked thanks to you know I know
Happy I could helo Yeetus
Me when my wife gets pregnant : yeetus delitus
Ludi is the real life version of knowledge sharing. Thanks ludi, very cool. 😁
Additional side note for improving your late game income: If you have a lot of merchants, high trade power/trade node %, and you have increased your trade steering through various means (like ideas, country's missions, etc.), then you should try transferring your goods to your end node using the longest route possible to get there. The reason for this is that each time you transfer trade downstream, it gets affected by your trade steering and it artificially increases the trade value each node you hit. So the longer the route, the higher the income will be when it hits your end node.
I will emphasize though that this is assuming that you have high trade power % in each of the nodes that you are transfering from, cause if you send it to a node you don't have most of the trade power you will lose out on more than steering your income to nodes that you have control over.
@Egolith can you provide guidance on what a high trade percentage would be? I.e. greater than 60%, 70%, 80%, etc...
You’re channel is growing extremely fast, good job.
Thanks bro, yeah it's growing a little bit ^_^
probably the best guide on trade i've seen so far....and i've been playing for a long time!
My tactic is kill off everyone near my home trade node, so even if its outgoing one, i don't care i have 100% power
honestly, playing as russia in the novgorod trade node those pesky lubeckians ALL pulled the node that still adds up not alot was outgoing but it was more as 0.
When I do an England run I wind up doing both colonization and taking over France.
This is actually how you can set up a pseudo-end node
(I suggest watching budget monk's video on it)
I had a fun one being Byzantium. Genoa had lost genoa, but was still alive in Turkey and crimea. So it made me realize: instead of me doing trade ideas, I'll vassalize Genoa, and feed them territories in Crimea and Basra. I'll let them pull in the trade, while I collect the major part of it.
"you cant make trade companies on the same continent you capital is on"
Silently looks at my castille game where I chartered all of aragon to trade companies
Wut?!
@@akiamini4006 idk i checked the game and apparently my capital had moved to fez somehow, didn't lose provinces and didn't do it consciously
Found you on the EU4 fb group. Love your vids mate thank you so much !
8:04 this is wrong production eficciency has nothing to do with goods produced
Yes, goods produced is seperate modifier from production efficiency.
Production efficiency only affect direct gold income, but it is affected by goods produced.
Yep. Everyone thinks Workshops produce more goods and they don't.
Just a correction: If you temporary set one of your merchants to the Champagne trade node, the direction will correct toward the English trade node. Then next month you can move the merchant back to wherever you want and the direction of Champagne trade node will remain toward the English trade node.
I always like your videos even if I do not have the time to watch them. Simply because your videos and channel deserve more likes. Much more.
Hi Ludi - another `mazing guide - just one correction - boosts to production efficiency doesn't affect amount of goods produced but only the amount of money you get from production - so in terms of trade the workshop and counting house does NOT have an impact - I also thought so for years but it's more like trade efficiency where it's a final modifier to you income (but for production). It's only production development and manufactories that boosts trade value. Even though those two have affect on both trade value and production income so if you invest in those two it may very well be wort building the production efficiency boosting buildings as their impact will correlate with base production, but love this guide - watched it like 5 times :)
Thanks for watching it August! Yeah you're right there actually, will likely update this guide very very soon!
@@LudietHistoria No, thank YOU :D - your and Reman's vids have helped me so much - still after 4000h played still learning! Btw did you see my comment on your Venice/Dalmatia Video? Im just getting ready to attack the now huge mamadoodles to head for spices, pray Ottoman can weaken them first and Castille with vassals will join as I only have 23k manpower hehe
Or any other way of boosting Goods produced that you mention - like Ferneces or brokers office/exchange
@@augustleoberonis5369 my pleasure! Glad I could help! Haven't seen the Venice comment yet since YT is kek and doesn't tell me when people comment all the time sadly, so literally unless I go through vids to check comments I miss out a lot sadly :( But Hey, if u outnumberd, MERC UP! U got the economy, use it to buy all the mercs you need!
@@LudietHistoria no worries I’ll put it here later on, just gotta find it myself.. i got a grand savoy and pol/lit to join.Another question, do you sometimes get bored cause you just walk right over all your enemies? I need to savescum to keep my enemies strong enough (basically have them militarists - so they expand at my rate)
the last trade guide i watched was from 4 years ago so its time to refresh and add to that knowledge
I like the thumbnail Ludi sama! Great contents :-)
Thank you for this guide, iv been absolutely crippled late game due to my lack of understanding of trade
Thank you for this, i never knew how trade worked. I'd always collect from the closest node.
Great video. I'll watch again the next time I get a good game going.
It's unbelivable....at last I can understand the trade!
Actually there are tree types of trade nodes. Two of them you mentioned. But the third is starting nodes. No trade flows there. Just goes to the other nodes.
For Example: California,Great Lakes,Lhasa, Siam.
That is very very true actually, didnt added that in as thought I'd make it too complicated but you have a point!
Oooh, this helped a lot. Thanks Ludi et Historia.
Great guide as always!
Thank you for the kind words NuclearGhandi!
Somebody please explain provincial/global trade power difference, caravan power, goods produced/production efficiency, and how much trade power the merchants themselves give.
I am definitely gonna remember all of that
Terry LOVES TRADE
Good guide but i remember in one of my prussia games where i just rolled over everything in the north was the strongest in lubeck baltic sea and novgorod and the best income way was to collect from both baltic sea and novgorod netting me 170 ducats or so plus 100 from lubeck
i also used my other merchants to transfer from saxony/rheintald/krakow
kinda went crazy with that one lol trade ideas worked extremly well and its policy with quantity boosted my economy insanely with the 20% good produced modifier
Nice profile pic
This is a lot of good theoretical knowledge but not enough practical knowledge. I'd like to see a video that goes through how to successfully set up a trade company, when you should take trade ideas, how to set up merchants, etc.
Great guide, fast and saying exactly whats needed to grasp the concept.
But i think one thing is missing, that you should try to get merchants in nodes in chains leading downstream from the node you are collecting the trade. Chain of nodes, as just continous line of going downstream from the main node where you collect trade, for example Venice, Ragusa, Consantinopol, Crimea, and whatever is to the east. There is a stacking bonus to your trade power for every merchant in chain of trade nodes. So it is sometimes not good to collect trade from node just because it can ruin that bonus, you need to see if it will be better for you. After consulting my knowledge with Wikipedia If you have 5 merchants in chain It gives +11% to trade power base in every node in a chain which dont looks like much but it will be more as it depends on your nation trade steering ability. A bit shame, i think that this could stack infinitly, but they restricted it to just 5 merchants. I remember you could have like +1k(or even more) ducats of profit form trade as venice thanks to this bonus.
Tnx for the guide Ludi
Thanks for watching Ori
About the workshop and counting house, if I'm correct these buildings only increase the province's production income, not the trade value
They do increase the production income. Trade value is literally the production of the province. So production = trade value ^^
I know this is an old video but it just popped in my screen and I think this is wrong.
Production efficiency only increases the amount of production you get from your provinces (which is the monthly trade value). This does not affect trade income or any node value.
The only things that affect both, trade and production, are the goods produced and its modifiers.
I got a trading career ad xD
Shiit, me too.
Another well thought out and instructive vie from you. I NEEDED this tutorial. But I'm still not sure how to "steer" everything with 100% efficiency on those little arrow boxes.
TIL you can upgrade center of trades. Thanks
7:20 since you had increased the amount of goods produced by 1.00, why did the node increase only by 0.4? Are there any modifies that determine how much gets "translated" into node's value?
Big like from Old Nerd 👍😉
Such a great video! I like that you gave multiple scenarios and explained the pros and cons etc. You have a great way of breaking down complex concepts in this game into manageable portions. In previous attempts to better understand trade I sometimes get overwhelmed by the pace and amount of content.
One specific question: If I am running a game where I can secure one of the 3 end-nodes relatively early on, does it make sense to conquer up one stream as much as possible to chain together or would it make more sense to spread it out and conquer upstream multiple directions trying to balance it out? I hope I am phrasing my question in a way that makes sense lol.
Thanks again for all your content!
Hey Chris! Yeah it would make sense to conquer up on stream in that situation!
I understand the principles of trade value and steering, but I would love to see more in-game examples to better understand the decision making behind merchant placing, like the Lubeck one.
Also, caravan power confuses me: I control most if not all provinces in a node but I still don't come close to 100% trade power because everyone and their mothers have "caravan power" in it. Does it come from downstream? Does it have to do with enemy merchants, regardless of their presence in the region?
Countries with power downstream get bits of power upstream. The amount of power is affected by caravan power (for LAND trade nodes only, not sea nodes like Venice).
For example, you are England. Your main node is English Channel. You will have bits and pieces of trade power in Bordeaux which is a LAND node because of "caravan power". Every country has a bit of caravan power. This can be increased by ideas, national ideas, some events, etc...
Damn noob me wouldve cherished this vid as the word of god. But super good and understandable guide 👌
Ludi: doesn't put a cute anime girl in the thumbnail
me: HERESY!!
ahahahah but what about Terry?:p
That's the cutest anime girl I've ever seen
This guide is so helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks man !
Hey Ludi, want to know what I found found out only yesterday?
In the trade company investment screen, you can scroll down... there is a 5th type of investment! Crazy right?
Broooooo no way xD now I gotta redo the guide. RIP
@@LudietHistoria look at it like you look at trade... getting 99% of it, is close enough 😉. Great comprehensive video btw!
U are helping me allot
Since the trade end nodes are in English channel, venice and genoa, should i just move my capital to those trade nodes when given the opportunity?
Yes, absolutely.
Tip here build many trade building in teritoris so your trade value increases especially when you are transferring trade from Cape of good hope to ivory cost and you have just 3or 5 provinces in Cape of good hope. It increases your trade power considerably.
im curious about the opening speak you talk what does it mean?
Ave, Legion
is that french? latin?
6 songsh100 Latin. Its a wink at his avatar being a roman legionary
One thing I don't understand: where does the provincial trade power come from? (Listed above Trade value and goods produced in the province interface).
It seems to form the overall trade power but then it seems a bit random; for example, in my France run I once went to check my provinces' trade power and it was like 4.3 for richest provinces with World Ports I've been developping like Brussels or Antwerpen and then like 21.9 in a random province producing cheap goods such as Picardie or Vivarais.
thx for the guide
What is missing here is using vassals for trade. There are some crazy good vassals that will highly increase your income. Just look for those with provincial trade modifier, bonus merchants and carvan power and use divert trade interaction, so all their trade power goes to you. Especially last patches, where governing capacity comes to play, it is worth to keep some vassals for huge paart of the game. Also note you are limited with world trade centers, but your vassal has its own limit, so you can increase its trade power even more (and in consequence yours as you take 100% of it).
My favourite are Pskov (if not annexed early, otherwise Novgorod), Mazandaran, Gujarat, but there are many many more.
For example Mazandaran:
- bonus merchant - not only allows more steereing, but you would also be able to build 1 more world trade center
- +20% caravan power
- goods produced modifer, so more cash from that trade
On top you get fort defense in mountanious Persia region :).
This is also why you should never integrate Pskov as Muscovy, feed it instead and collect all that cash for yourself :) (or if you are playing in the area and are able to transfer vassalage early, DO IT!)
- 2 bonus merchants - one from ideas, one from veche republic
- bonus caravan power
- bonus provinial trade power
- more trade steering
+ 20% goods produced
NOTE - released Pskov would not keep Veche republic reform
Hello, i am a bit late joining to the EU4 family, but this is what I would like to know, mainly the vassals :) Bizanc is my vassals now and my capital city - trade citiy is Pest/Hungary. I have two merchant who forward trade from Krimea and Ragusa in direction Pest where, if i am right the collection is automatically without a merchant. Wont be better to reorder one of my merchant to Bizanc to collect or forward trade to Pest, for example instead of Krimea or Ragusa? Would this option be more benefit?
Thx for answer
Thank you for guide!
I feel like the number that says how much profit you earn by assigning light ships is wrong. Very often it says that in your home node it will result in negative value but it actually will give you more than some other nodes where it says it'll give you positive 1,2 ducats. And it shows you can also earn profit by protecting trade even in the zones you dont have any territory in. I'm confused on that.
So is it better to use trade companies rather than stating if you can afford the buildings?
Does production efficiency affect trade value now? Afaik only goods produced affect trade value while production efficiency just gave you more money through production.
yeah I think Ludi is wrong on that part, workshops only give production efficiency which does not affect goods produced thus it does not affect trade income. He mixes up production efficiency with goods produced modifier
Comrade what is this exploration of the working class your speak of
There can only be one XD
You forgot to mention the fifth section of trade company buildings of which the unique one increases the possible amount of marines.
True yeah, big oversright but making a trade company guide to fix
8:46.. what did you call Naples?
Please don't be American
Please don't be American
Just one time, let it be someone else
Played srivijaya recently, i noticed with my big old merchant fleet i could literally remove all of a nations trade income using my fleet and a merchant, it was hilarious what i could do
So it it useful to boost tradepower outside my collecting node? Does it help merchants steering more? Not sure if I should build marketplaces outside my collecting node..
yes.
im 2 years late but you should built marketplaces everywhere basically if you have money for them.
but how do you know which one it will trade to? like if there is 5 different options to steer trade which on it will steer when i click transfer trade power
Why is Terry Crews in the thumbnail tho? XD
Great video tho keep it up man
Terry likes trade :D
Did they change the massive debuff you get for collecting from trade outside your home node? Remans video seems to contradict collecting from trade but its also 5 years old lol
a lot changed in the last 5 years. The debuff is still there but it's not that big compared to the buffs that have been added such as the caravan power impact, trade power changes and sio on.
okay, I keep watching this video but I still haven't quite figured out how to establish a trade company! I think i need a vassal on a different continent and that would have an option to form a trade company. Would a dependent colony like the thirteen colonies be able to form a trade company?
adn what about trading cities?
thank you
I tried understanding trade in this game, I ended up extending the HRE into China in the failed attempt.
Hey I had a question which didn’t get answered. What does both the wargoals to get trade actually do? Had a situation where as France I took transfer trade node from most of the Italian peninsula, but not getting much out of it. What is actually happening
The trade wargoal is not that great tbh, transfer trade and cash mainly. You can have transfer trade but it doesnt give you 100% of their trade sadly
@@LudietHistoria I see. But if you for instance take in a peacedeal transfer or steer trade from someone in the genoese trade node, while your main node is in Dijonais. What will happen with that trade? Will it go upstream trying to get closer to your node, will you collect it in their node, or will it just disappearr? Thanks
@@FTWNorwayFTW you will get a percentage of trade power in the trade node where the country transfering trade is from. You need to use a merchant to ship it from there yourself into your own trade node, it doesnt happen automatically.
If you would collect in another trade region that is not your HOME Trade, you would have a negative trade power. U explained your video as you paused the game? If you would transfer from the other trade region to your home trade region, you might get an extra trade power in your home trade. There are two trade incomes. You tried one of them. How about caravan power or some other trade concepts.
i feel like the trading system is a little too simple. maybe i'm missing something, but it seems like changes in the values of goods ("trade goods") are determined by random events. there's no real system of supply & demand
What DLC do you need for upgrading trade centers?
That would be the cradle of civilization
@@LudietHistoria Thanks!
I like your intro
00:01 Netflix and BBC recreation of average European merchant, 17th century.
i agree
There are 5 types of trade company buildings, you can scroll down to see more.
11:07 five special buildings. Scroll down a little bit.
Yeah, I realized after there's more down, facepalmed myself xD
There are five building groups in Trace Companies
Just a question: propagate your religion in TC - nodes. What's the advantage? Is putting your provinces in a TC not negating all effects of having provinces of a different religion?
Is this for one faith attempts or vanity?
I'm really confused.
The merchant guild guide
Nice guide.However very important question is not explained IMO. It is extremely rare when it is more efficient to collect in several places. The main issue here is that collecting from 2nd node means You lose ALL OF THE TRADE POWER BONUSES OF YOUR MERCHANTS TRANSFERRING TRADE into Your main node. This bonus is huge - 10% for EACH MERCHANT transferring. If You have 2nd collecting merchant all the bonuses are gone. So collecting in one node is a must. Also I see You never collect in Your main node. Having a merchant to collect in Your main node increases trade power - 5% bonus.
One unanswered question: how many ships for optimal trade steering?
The more the better
@@LudietHistoria Sure, but the ships have maintenance costs, right?
Until it costs more in maintenance than what they would give. Monitor the trade income report monthly, the tool tip that shows you the profit when selecting a node for said light ships is often wrong. Experiment!
How/when can i make trade companys?
He says that in the video
When you click on a province that you control and is outside of your continent there will be a button under the raise/lower autonomy buttons
@@ralphspohn7889 thx 😘
Once Europe starts colonizing, Genoa and Venice get totally nerfed.
france and spain can target genoa ro become their main node, the ottomans/byzantium can conquer india and direct its trade value through persia and basra into constantinople and then venice, it depens
@@DevillTM It doesn't make a lot of sense for Spain to have Genoa as their main trade node, as they will never have 100% trade power there, even if they conquer almost all of the Tyrrenian Sea provinces. Meanwhile, Spain can easily get 100% control over Seville, and for France it makes more sense to use the English Channel instead.
@@javierperalta7648 spain can easily get close to 100% of genoa thanks to its missions, as for france, going for enlish channel means going against uk and potentially netherlands
@@DevillTM Man, taking Northern Italy for Spain is not easy. You have to fight the Emperor, as with the latest patch they don't leave the HRE. And they are very high development provinces so ir causes a lot of aggressive expansion Taking the Netherlands is much easier because you can just inherit them from Burgundy
That’s because Genoa and Venice don’t usually have the opportunity to link up trade nodes because of the Mamluks and Ottomans. I’m playing a Venice game right now, I plan on changing that by conquering the Mamluks and making an India -> Gulf of Aden -> Alexandria -> Venice train. That being said, Italy is rich enough by itself that linking up the India trade isn’t actually necessary, but imma try it anyway
Perfekt
Why is terry in the Thumbnail?
He's my favorite actor from brooklyn 99
@@LudietHistoria good taste
10:30 not true! You can make trade comapnies in your continent even in your home trade note. I did it as sweden and TC danzig riga memel etc. I did it also as a yuan and TC canton vietnam etc. Altough i couldn't TC northern china so they are still skme regulations.
You forgot about the 5th trade company building, kek
Oh yeha forgot to scroll down xD
You forgot that inland trade nodes like Ragusa have caravan power which will drain lots of trade no matter how much ships you throw at it. Nations will have flat trade power, and unless you have huge trade power like 10 times of the rest of nations there[and there's usually huge amount of them] then you will only steer something like 75%. I had all provinces in that node, sent light ships, made the best world ports and still couldnt go above 75%...
Ragusa is useful as a trade stopper for Contantinopole. Basically if you have all the provinces there and control Constantinopole node as well, if you collect in Constantinopole you'll have 99-100% retention there. You loose out some of the Ragusean trade, but as Ottos it's worth it since you can route all Asia into Constantiopole
I have a few questions
Why should I steer trade instead of just collect it? I’m going to be using a merchant either way
What the hell is a trade capital
What dlc do I need for trade companies? I have art of war, common sense, rights of man, mare nostrum, emperor and cradle of civilisation
By Steering trade you can use your trade power to limit the amount of ducats other people push, by collecting trade you only get a percentage more than normal.
A trade capital is similar in function to a capital, it is your main location of trade, in most starts your trade capital will be the same as your administrative capital, the button to change this is right next to the button to move your administrative(standard) capital.
For Trade Companies you will need Dharma or Wealth of Nations.
I'm sure someone else could better explain the first point than I tho
1) Using a merchant to collect trade increases the efficiency (only in your trade capital’s trade node), but increasing efficiency in the beginning when your node’s value is low isn’t the best way to make profit. Yeeting trade value from others by transferring power is a better use for your merchant most of the time. Later on in the game, you should probably put a merchant there to collect trade since they boost trade efficiency in your trade capital by 10% (10% bonus to a 150 gold-valued node is worth it while a 10% bonus to a 2 gold-valued node isn’t).
2) Which specific province you make your trade capital does not matter. All that matters is which trade node it’s in. There’s a 50% penalty modifier for collecting from trade outside of your trade capital. You also automatically collect from trade in the node your trade capital is in.
3) Wealth of Nations and Dharma mostly. Get both to use and upgrade trade companies plus other trade features. Go to CDkeys to get Steam keys for cheap.
EDIT: Looked it up for you. Wealth of Nations is going for $1.68 and Dharma for $9.90 on CDkeys
@@flimpeenflarmpoon1353 This is directly contradicted in the video. It is NOT always better to transfer. It is only better to transfer if you have a monopoly on the downstream nodes. Watch the explanation around the 12:00-13:00 timestamps.
To answer the original question, it is only better to transfer IF the next downstream node you would be transferring into is one you have a high control over (say, more than 70% trade power). Otherwise it is better to collect.
No summoning the diet?
No choosing whichever agenda suits you best?
No hiring the Free Company?
If Karl Lagerfeld were still alive he'd maybe tell you, “You've completely lost control over your EU4 life.“ 😱
Why is Terry Crews in your thumbnail?
Why not
I was expecting a reference to the Spice Islands but it never came.
Give away done?
2:05 - come on dude, you're saying 53% of 13.3 is 7.3? Something's wrong here.
Come on dude, finish the video before complaining
@@bismarckandthekriegsmarine2954 I did finish it. He doesn't revisit it. Maybe you can point out where he explained it - Don't run away on me now after entering the limelight, Chief.
@@boru1982 he says at about 2:03 that not only trade power affects but also trade efficiency, which is at 2%, so I'd assume that taking the 2% and adding it to the 50% gets you 7.3
And to clarify, the 2% is 2% of 13.3 not 2% of 7.3
@@bismarckandthekriegsmarine2954 I'm not sure you're joking or serious at this point. If you are being serious(which of course you are), did you completely forget about my original comment when trying to explain that?
If you are a western european nation you can build trade companies in eastern europe, and if you are an eastern european nation you can build trade companies in western europe.
Don't forget that England can also get mercantilism from being Anglican
Finnaly I can play as Portugal but good