I know the trading mechanics are a bit wonky especially with that circular flow of iron you described. There are some mechanics in play though that weren't very obvious but come into play. The game does track local supply and demand on a providence level before looking at the countries market. So its not like iron mines aren't trying to sell to local tooling factories or construction works if available. I liked that you brought up the rubber production in Brazil. I encountered this problem in a recent playthrough and found some entertaining solutions. My goal was actually gaining leverage. Building plantations for them they didn't seem to care to employ there, and thus didn't seem to be 'leveragely influenced'. But once I setup even unfavorable trade routes with the target country and later a free trade agreement, that brought the costs down for them significantly for it to be profitable. If that failed, then subsidizing my own countries rubber consumers helped. But as a final incentive, I would look to see which industries were heavily competing for rubber's labor (usually basic foods or wood) and start exporting there to suppress the price. Once workers finally switched over I could relax the measures a bit and hoped that switching costs were high enough so they don't go back. In regards to the market awareness and trade opportunities, wouldn't that be a part and parcel of the era? Its still frustrating micromanagey having to setup trade routes for one's own country, but the era's involved still had a significant delay in information transfer. Although Victoria isn't literally simulating this, it does seem like the era of the broker for finding and making trades.
Imports and exports of the same good do make sense. Here are two simple hypothetical examples: 1. Russia has a wood surplus and limited convoy capacity. Belgium has a wood shortage and limited convoy capacity. Prussia's wood market is in perfect balance: cheaper then Belgium but more expensive than Russia. Prussia imports wood from Russia and exports wood to Belgium and pockets the price difference between Russia and Belgium as profit. This is called an arbitrage trade. 2. Belgium, France and Prussia don't produce dyes. The Netherlands doesn't produce dyes, but the Dutch East Indies do so Netherlands sells dyes to Europeans ......but it doesn't have enough to meet European demands. So the DEI and its subjects import dyes from many small independent SE Asian countries into the shared market. Many trades in and out of the market and it makes sense.
I agree, those work out, but when a nation is short on a good, it should not be exporting it - or at least an option should be available to not export any of it.
I agree that AI countries under build resources and have since V3 came out. Because throughput increases productivity and profits (like magic) and reduces constructions costs (like magic) the ROI on the buildings soars and the AI will build more of those buildings. So why was global GDP much higher when you did your experiment: the AI focused on buildings that had 30 % to 45% higher throughput than normal. Yes there were additional benefits from choosing in important input good to focus on, but really this is a story about how powerful throughput bonuses and thus companies are. A little magic throughput at the start of the production chain leads to magic SoL increases, magic reinvestment increases and magic GDP increases. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against throughput bonuses; after all, there are many in the base game. But there are a lot of mods that rely on granting huge throughput bonuses at industries and claim to have "fixed" Victoria 3. For example if you find you don't have enough convoys to become a major international trade nation, or just hate that there is a cost to transporting goods paid by the ports, well just increase port through put 500% and this problem disappears. Is this in any way realistic? No, it's just eliminating a real world issue that is simulated with a wave of a magic wand.
Merry Christmas!
merry Christmas
I know the trading mechanics are a bit wonky especially with that circular flow of iron you described. There are some mechanics in play though that weren't very obvious but come into play. The game does track local supply and demand on a providence level before looking at the countries market. So its not like iron mines aren't trying to sell to local tooling factories or construction works if available.
I liked that you brought up the rubber production in Brazil. I encountered this problem in a recent playthrough and found some entertaining solutions. My goal was actually gaining leverage. Building plantations for them they didn't seem to care to employ there, and thus didn't seem to be 'leveragely influenced'. But once I setup even unfavorable trade routes with the target country and later a free trade agreement, that brought the costs down for them significantly for it to be profitable. If that failed, then subsidizing my own countries rubber consumers helped. But as a final incentive, I would look to see which industries were heavily competing for rubber's labor (usually basic foods or wood) and start exporting there to suppress the price. Once workers finally switched over I could relax the measures a bit and hoped that switching costs were high enough so they don't go back.
In regards to the market awareness and trade opportunities, wouldn't that be a part and parcel of the era? Its still frustrating micromanagey having to setup trade routes for one's own country, but the era's involved still had a significant delay in information transfer. Although Victoria isn't literally simulating this, it does seem like the era of the broker for finding and making trades.
Imports and exports of the same good do make sense. Here are two simple hypothetical examples:
1. Russia has a wood surplus and limited convoy capacity. Belgium has a wood shortage and limited convoy capacity. Prussia's wood market is in perfect balance: cheaper then Belgium but more expensive than Russia. Prussia imports wood from Russia and exports wood to Belgium and pockets the price difference between Russia and Belgium as profit. This is called an arbitrage trade.
2. Belgium, France and Prussia don't produce dyes. The Netherlands doesn't produce dyes, but the Dutch East Indies do so Netherlands sells dyes to Europeans ......but it doesn't have enough to meet European demands. So the DEI and its subjects import dyes from many small independent SE Asian countries into the shared market. Many trades in and out of the market and it makes sense.
I agree, those work out, but when a nation is short on a good, it should not be exporting it - or at least an option should be available to not export any of it.
@@An_Economist_Plays Merry Christmas!
Feliz navidad
spain more like pain
I agree that AI countries under build resources and have since V3 came out. Because throughput increases productivity and profits (like magic) and reduces constructions costs (like magic) the ROI on the buildings soars and the AI will build more of those buildings. So why was global GDP much higher when you did your experiment: the AI focused on buildings that had 30 % to 45% higher throughput than normal. Yes there were additional benefits from choosing in important input good to focus on, but really this is a story about how powerful throughput bonuses and thus companies are. A little magic throughput at the start of the production chain leads to magic SoL increases, magic reinvestment increases and magic GDP increases.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against throughput bonuses; after all, there are many in the base game. But there are a lot of mods that rely on granting huge throughput bonuses at industries and claim to have "fixed" Victoria 3. For example if you find you don't have enough convoys to become a major international trade nation, or just hate that there is a cost to transporting goods paid by the ports, well just increase port through put 500% and this problem disappears. Is this in any way realistic? No, it's just eliminating a real world issue that is simulated with a wave of a magic wand.
Indeed. If the AI knew how to build properly on its own, we wouldn't need to cook up end-runs to trick it into doing the right thing.