The Complete Beginner's Guide To EU4 Trade

[@breath4255]

Finally a guide for EU4 economics that isn't just "get money lol"

[@jesterslight]

Just conquer all the trade nodes lol

[@M0h4med05]

Get gud lol

[@MrDwarfpitcher]

Me as Dithmarschen "I got 48 percent of thr Lubeck trade in my control" "Hamburg has 23 percent as a pathetic one province Free City" *Looks up a OPM ally of Hamburg* *Cracks knuckles* "Lets use Peasants CB to make Hamburg steer trade for the next 15 years, thats a neat trick" But honestly, beating up small weak Trade Behemoths and making them steer trade to you is so incredibly good

[@kunknown2340]

@@M0h4med05 that's how i had to learn... this guide would have been so helpful back in 2013-2016. So weird though, compared to playing eu3, eu4 is like a fever dream to me... It feels like I never play it, when I do.. I guess it's just because I didn't have the same drive to play eu4 like I did eu3... EU burnout I suppose. Trying to get as much eu4 in before they decide to drop the next iteration (which will probably be after Vicky 3).

[@Onebadterran]

I love the fact that players with thousands of hours and 100+ achievements can still learn things from these videos. Thank you

[@trohntobi6134]

I have 600+hours in hoi 4 i lost to a turkic minor nation as ottoman empire💀

[@pissedoffhoneybadger3733]

@@trohntobi6134Pft. I have 2000 and lost to Netherlands as Germany

[@FeedbackGaming]

SECRETS?!?! What secrets? How did you find out?

[@LudietHistoria]

ALL THE SECRETS, ALLLLLL OF THEM!

[@MIKIortz]

Historical Game btw

[@notlucas6859]

squngary

[@adolfus_catler]

Abooow One of my 2 favourite eu4 KZbinr is here

[@maikoen4557]

I swear to y'all, Dave and i go way back! :P

[@sarahalexander7256]

Trade plays are amazing. After you discover how the mechanics work, it becomes really fun to sabotage your rivals by messing with their income, screwing their trade flow or pirating their nodes. Take the Ottos for example, they only ever collect in Konstantiniye and sometimes steer from Aleppo, I managed to drop their trade income from 400s ducats to merely 80 by pirating and reducing their trade control on the home node. It really helps and hinders their advance since that means much less money to spend on mercs and stuff.

[@aqvamarek5316]

That's because ai is stupid, a player in multiplayer with decentralise his 400 income to 350 income by collecting in his other strong nodes. You now have you pirates (light ship) in a poor node, and your fleet is running a minus. Next step, the player will build heavies, and simply stop your pirates with ships on hunt pirate mission. You need 1 cannon on ship, to offset 2 pirate trade power and reduce pirate efficiency by 95%. So after ships are ready, he can collect again, and only lose 5% of his 400 ducats, so he collect 380 ductas even with your pirates.

[@Balkanlegija]

@@aqvamarek5316 and how could you counter that counter in Return?

[@historydude6022]

@@Balkanlegijadeclare war and destroy his navies

[@crocworks]

0:36 There's gotta be a tier lower than virgin for those origin trade nodes in the New World where no trade flows into them and they only get value from their provinces.

[@fnaz96]

Incel nodes

[@easytiger6570]

Also Great Lakes Katsina Ethiopia Lhasa and Australia

[@calmkat9032]

Omega male nodes

[@Barrosloco]

The true chad that gives without receiving. The sigma trade node.

[@easytiger6570]

@@Barrosloco They are sigma cause of trade steering, one province in starting node can provide trade value multiple times that of an end node

[@DIY_Miracle]

Another tip: Always play Cornwall. Just pirate any rich trade nodes and you always win.

[@slooowz8746]

People don't really mention it, but admirals on your light ship fleets will also give you a bonus to trade power and if I'm not mistaken it scales with the movement pips.

[@LudietHistoria]

It does yes, it scales with movement pips!

[@jameshoxworth6447]

As someone who usually plays FPS games, I had the craziest learning curve for EU4

[@Konleb]

Not to forget the Ivory Coast trade note, which is very important, if you want to steer a big amount of money to Sevilla or the English Channel.

[@szynszylku1447]

Yea like I was playing England and thanks to that trade node I got +50 ducats it's 1/5 of my english channel, but I managed to uno reverse europe by playing songhai and getting 200 ducats from it

[@gaberobison680]

I hate that devs completely forgot Sevilla was NOT a major port. It was fucking Lisbon

[@ifer1280]

Trade winds are a different mechanic, making a directional difference in travel time through some sea zones. They are represented on the map as little green arrows.

[@darkestkhan]

Actually, in your example at minute 13: with your trade value in ragusa you should collect in constantinopol and transfer in ragusa. This is due to the fact that only half the value from ragusa gets transferred to venice. Once it crosses 70% always transfer.

[@jurajzaruba7536]

He literally does that. He explains why collecting in Constantinople is better than steering starting 11:55 or so. And I also agree with him that it is better just to test it all. There are additional issues related to trade steering vs collecting. First, if you collect in your nonprimary node you have 50% debuff to trade power which can be problematic depending on what is the overall situation of steering with other nations. In this case Ludi had a lot of control over the node with other countries only having 40 trade power there so despite collecting so he fell from 85% control steering to 74% collecting. There is also the thing of trade power propagation that can make the situation even more complicated - if you cut your trade power to half in Constantionple you also cut to half the propagated trade value in 3 nodes upstream from Constantinople that can wreck you. You can also have vassals or enemies forced to transfer trade power that makes the whole situation of collecting vs steering very complicated and changing. Additionally merchants who steer the trade also increase trade value steered by (5% x Trade Steering). So for instance if you have long trade route steered to your primary node it may be better to steer 50% of value as opposed to collect 70% if that value passes through three additional nodes you have full control in and where you already steer the trade. So test the stuff and return to trade semi-periodically and look at how situation changed based on changes on the map.

[@adamhurrell6554]

Great guide, love it. I recently found out how important "Army Tradition" and "Navy Tradition" is. I, and I assume others, are pretty clueless on this, as there isn't much info around. I have basic understanding of what modifiers it gives. But had no idea how to get/maintain it (found out today that to maintain +1 army tradition, you need 1 active fort per 50 dev). As much info like this would be incredibly useful.

[@mountaingeneral]

Thanks Ludi for your guides Im getting better in EU4 🙏

[@stevenguyen5965]

Greetings Mountain General! Are you making an EU4 video soon?

[@alessiodellipizzi4751]

Wow! I would have never thought to see you here! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

[@LudietHistoria]

Happy to help MG! Thanks for watching bro!

[@mountaingeneral]

@@LudietHistoria no problem bro, I always love this quality content

[@jldldr3933]

I learned a lot the hard way before I watched this video. I was playing Umayyad Andalusia and had to do the "Control Ivory Coast Trade" mission; it requires 90% trade power. I had most of the coast by colonization, but the rest was occupied by my allies, minor tribals and Italy. Plus the UK had a 10% Trade Power. I got rid of the tribals and Italy, but I still was at 56% value. So I assigned everything to a trade company, did the upgrades, constructed all the TP buildings, focused my country towards trade ideas and measures, used diplomacy to secure trade power, and started pumping a light vessels fleet that reached 450+ vessels and assigned it to trade protection. And I made it, 91% trade power. I may be missing details right now but, yeah, pretty proud of myself.

[@SixJayy]

Having just started playing this game seriously (thanks to the dlc subscription), this was insanely helpful. Thanks so much!! Amazing video!

[@illicitline4552]

Just a little sidenote: when diverting trade, all the nations that have their main trade node downstream will sum all their trade power in the node and compare it with the total trade power all nations that have that node as main trade node have, that determines how much trade value is moved forward (to enforce this though there must be at least one merchant from any nation downstream). In case of multiple options, the trade power of all nations that have a merchant in the node will be counted, and the trade power of the nations that don't won't (I don't remember exactly where it goes or if it just is ignored). So you can see why sometimes it is just better to put a merchant in Alexandria to enforce your trade power, but yoi can neglect costantinopole becouse you can just control Ragusa and other nations will work for you in Costantinopole. Also if you manage to control 100% of a node and the downstream nodes you can effectivly create an artificial endnode in the first one (of course in nodes that only have one outlet this is easier to do, for instance Costantinopole). Also also when you collect in a node that is not your main trade port you receive a preatty big debuff in trade power, so if you don't control the whole node you and you control near 100% of the "road" to your main trade city, if you collect you are effectivly losing money. Great video though. P.s. Sorry for broken English Tl dr to transfer you don't need a merchant if another nation has one there, but only if you transfer to a specific location, you can create artificial endnodes by controlling all the downstream node(s) and when you collect somewhere that is not your main trade node you receive a big negative modifier to your trade power.

[@28lobster28]

"trade power of the nations that don't won't (I don't remember exactly where it goes or if it just is ignored)" Nations with trade capital downstream of the node which don't have merchants upstream still transfer trade forward, but they don't control the direction of transfer. Ex: Portugal, Spain, and a bunch of Italian minors all have trade power in Tunis (let's say 10% Italy, 10% is Iberians, 80% Tunis). Iberians use their merchants to pull home colonial money and don't have merchants in Tunis, Italians use merchants to pull trade to Genoa. 20% of trade pulls to Genoa, 0% to Seville, 80% stays in Tunis. For nodes with only one exit and no local collection (i.e. Cape of Good Hope), all trade transfers out even if there are 0 merchants present.

[@Tussunami1299]

I was searching for such comment. As you mentioned debuf on main trade node when you collect somewhere else is enormous. Depending on your shares in the main node and the shares in transit nodes, collecting become beneficial. Well at the end, it mainly all depends the main nodes power being near %100 as you mention anyway.

[@lourencoalmada1305]

@@Tussunami1299 Oh ok, so this explains why I as Albania and collecting in Ragusa with 50% trade power as well as having 98% in Constantinople will lose money if I put a merchant collecting in Venice?

[@28lobster28]

@@lourencoalmada1305 Normally you collect in one location with 100% efficiency + 10% efficiency per merchant in the chain. If you collect in two locations, the area without your capital gets -50% trade efficiency and your main node doesn't get the +10% per merchant. If you had 100% in Venice and Genoa, it's worthwhile to collect in both. 100% of trade power x -50% trade efficiency = you still have 100% trade power, just less money. If you don't dominate the trade node, it's not worthwhile to collect in a second location

[@Andersl201]

Finally a complete dynamic trading guide that will be the cornerstone for decades to come. If you are browsing KZbin in 2029 and wonder how trade mechanics works in EU IV, look no further Ludi got you covered. In seriousness thanks for the video, will check it out tonight and see if I need to change my trade strats :)

[@axelnils]

Reman’s Paradox has joined the chat

[@LudietHistoria]

Thanks Anders! Hope you like it!

[@simplymarshal1167]

Next thing you'll tell me that the Genoa trade node isn't as powerful as you said it is

[@nevets2371]

Not unless you have control of the Seville trade node, which can get way more powerful than Genoa

[@danielmatheus6620]

Great guide. One small criticism though, the "level 3" trade company buildings aren't really level 3 as they are independent from the level 1 and level 2 buildings. In your guide it sounds like they would be an extension of the lev 1/2 buildings.

[@LudietHistoria]

yeah that's true yes, non dependant on the previous 2 lvls

[@darthrevan9499]

Few years playing and now i understand how trade value and power works. Thanks!

[@craftsmenMC]

Trade was honestly the main thing that drove me away from EU4 at first alongside the idea stuff: I simply couldn’t understand it for the life of me and couldn’t figure out how to, you know, make money. Thanks for the guide!!!

[@acadiano10]

In my current game, it's 1490. I am playing as Castille, haven't even formed Spain yet, and Sevilla has 124 trade power, and i have 70 percent in the trade node. It is wild. I colonized much of the Caribbean by 1480, and have a foothold in Mexico. Your older videos are still relevant, thank you.

[@deniscantona]

@Ludi u didnt explain the lvl 3 trade company buildings well they are only one for a region not one for a state that would be to overpowered

[@connorthomas2667]

I have bout 1500 hours on ck3 Vic 3 and hoi4 but 1 hour on eu4 I now learned how to do that entirely pretty simple once you learn it

[@mayo6009]

Cant belive you changed the number in the thumbnail you absolute madlad

[@davidmathews9284]

Definitely some stuff I didn’t know there. Thanks Ludi. One thing I think is funny is the North Sea filters into Lubeck, so if a German nation goes colonial and gets some dominance in the trade nodes (likely through war to nab colonies), they can get all of that wealth that would have gone to the English Channel and Sevilla, and keep it in Lubeck. Though this also would require some other shenanigans to make work, likely more trouble than it’s worth but it is funny that you can technically do it.

[@zyraixrealm5746]

Me who already knows how to play with almost 3k hours and understands the gameplay still watching just in case

[@LudietHistoria]

You sir are true chad

[@omaryousifkamal4290]

U hit ur 4k yet?

[@johnyg1939]

I already knew those things, but I still enjoyed watching this video.

[@Vinterloft]

About the flagship, it should also have the movement speed bonus, just like admiral maneuver it increases the fleet's trade power projection.

[@edvindenbeste2587]

I would say the Ivory Coast is also a very strong node due to it being able to take trade from a couple of good places and stopping a lot of Asian and South american trade, only weakness being it feeds into both Sevilla and the English Channel

[@Qwerty-ff3nk]

perfect timing ı was just playing mughals and needed some trade tips, thanks

[@zegmakker010]

Here's what I've learned from playing Mughals: 1. Make Persia your home node and try to conquer all land within the node as soon as possible. 2. Get 80% of the trade power in all incoming nodes to Persia. For Basra and Hormuz this can be done by vassalizing the sunni nations there. 3. Merchants make you money. Trade company enough land per region to just give you the merchant and build the 400 ducat trade power and goods produced buildings in those states. Switch merchants around to see what'll make you the most in your current situation. 4. Only build trade power buildings in nodes where you don't have 80%. 5. When not in full control over India, the Bengal -> Doab -> Lahore -> Persia flow is the most profitable. 6. The Gujarat node only becomes useful after having control over Hormuz and Basra.

[@Qwerty-ff3nk]

@@zegmakker010 Thanks a lot, ^^

[@chop5388]

The best trade node in the game is the one in south africa. It is basically the only node for asian to western-european trade.

[@spencerokeefe438]

I have 1500 hours in EU4 and this is the first time I have ever felt like I know how trade works.

[@Deguu68]

with 1500 Hours you must be kinda slow mate

[@paulrogers8725]

Thing I’m most glad I learned today: why I keep hitting max on world ports and why I need more merchants

[@suedetree970]

Danke Ludi! This is very convenient cause I currently have a trade related dilemma in my current campaign as Ethiopia.

[@tabsforever5692]

The Legend has made the much needed guide. On a serious note your guides helped me learn the game and still are helping. So keep it up love your vids.

[@tabsforever5692]

I also suggest that you expand your content like a guide on how to play Vicky 3 when that comes out or Stellaris because there aren't any good ones out there and I think you can do an amazing job at it or like hoi 4 nation or achievement guide.

[@CatladyAyaki]

Love you Ludi!!

[@jazdigance6403]

16:03 just want to clarify that "trade steering" bonuses from ideas or the TC improvement don't actually increase the control, or % of total value that you steer out of a province- they increase the bonus value added to the amount you're pulling, basically pulling ducats out of thin air rather than any province's production, which is why trade steering is so abusable. Its equivalent at where you *collect* the value is the "trade efficiency" modifier Also, as I was skimming through I didn't see you mention anything about merchant/veche republic mechanics. It's worth noting that as a nation like Venice, Lubeck, Genoa or Novgorod (plus any pirate republic that takes the tier 5 or 6 smugglers government reform), any node you have some control in will produce a bonus amount of goods equal to half your control share; for example, if you're Lubeck and you have 44% control in Baltic Sea, every province in the Baltic Sea will produce 22% extra goods, adding to the value you pull home. You want to be careful fully controlling a node as a merchant republic, because although any other tag there will get close to 0 trade income, they'll have a massive boost to production income (especially if they have production efficiency NIs and economic ideas) Didn't learn any secrets but happy to see trade gameplay becoming more popular Edit: Actually I did learn one secret, add all provinces to TC in the node UI. Thanks!

[@Shineru]

I am learning Latin and I finally understand your channel's name which means Games (Ludi from ludus) and (et) History (Historia).

[@aonirsplayground6224]

they need to make university classes for paradox games jesus.

[@goofycat14irke]

Wish i could have that exact income in the thumbnail in my games also 🧐. Anyways, Nice Guide ludi!

[@KevinCurry]

Ludi knows the secrets, buried treasure and where the skeletons are located!

[@fruitstrike]

This was ridiculously useful. Thanks Ludi, really enjoy your stuff.

[@LudietHistoria]

Glad to hear it!

[@prrungle2047]

Very great trade guide. Helps me understand trade a lot more than I did before.

[@SPICYCHILLY2285]

Thank you so much went from making about 70 ducats in 1700 to 200+ by 1700

[@realhawaii5o]

You can make Constantinople be a virtual end trade node by controlling all of Ragusa.

[@CatladyAyaki]

Another great video from Ludi! I’m getting better in EU4 :-)

[@LudietHistoria]

Good to hear!

[@viperswhip]

If you properly own all your provinces in the node and just fill in light ships as necessary means you are essentially an end node. Like Sevilla is ridiculously easy for Castile to get 99%

[@RyRy2057]

I hope Europa 5 has a Vic/Imperator-type pop system because this (amazing btw) trade guide just goes to show how something so basic and fundamental is so railroaded. Honestly the pop system is Paradox’s greatest mechanic and it took me forever to realize that which makes me so sad that EUIV doesn’t have that level of dynamicism.

[@lemondelbosque7702]

imperator style pop absolutely, stellaris, as cool as it is, really ruined the scale of the game by making it a complete lag fest come halfway through the game, im so sad imperator was shelved

[@adolfhipsteryolocaust3443]

Eu4 had it

[@sandroork]

Hey Ludi, could you to a updated Estate Guide? I havent played since the Estate rework and I do not really understand when and why I should use or change Edicts.

[@cshairydude]

"Always switch to Lübeck as Brandenburg" is an oversimplification. You want to switch when you gain enough power in the node that you earn more there. Which will definitely not be immediately after annexing Wolgast and upgrading the CoT in Stralsund. Switching at that point will lose you money. To determine when it's optimal to switch, you'll need to crunch the numbers, and it's not likely to be before conquering several more CoTs in Lübeck.

[@2009worstyearever]

trade node paths is one thing that always bothered me and I hope they fix it in EU5. Sure if the world develops historically, the trade node flow is kind of correct but what happens if you play in the East or as the Azteks or whatever and manage to catch up? Would trade really flow to England or Venice when you have a bunch of 50 dev cities on the Chinese plains?

[@Plelement94]

Historically the routes reflect good production deficits. The east produced spices, china, silks etc that Europe couldn't. Conversely Europe produced few if any raw products in demand by the east.

[@adolfhipsteryolocaust3443]

​@@Plelement94 yes but it works backwards, the nation producing the exported goods should make the money, not the ones buying, trade makes absolutely no sense in this game

[@Plelement94]

@ADOLF HIPSTER local trade power/value represents the money made selling the good to a middleman. The value moving is the value of exported goods when it reaches the new market. European traders wouldnt pay more for porcelain in japan than theyd sell it for in europe. The nodes show value of goods moving from low to high scarcity

[@bengoacher4455]

Lodi, what about trade steering. I've heard that you want to route the trade through as many provinces as possible to maximise the value of the trade before dumping it in an end node. But only if you have good trade steering.

[@DieTreppenwitz]

Well basically you wanna find a node which you can steer towards. Something that doesn't have too many outlets and many inlets. That way, even if you're unable to become like 100% powerful in that node, you can still prevent it from leaking out. For example, in Malacca, the Europeans DESPERATELY want to use the leak that goes into South Africa rather than have it go through India. All that trade value can just skip India and the Muslim lands. Zanzibar is another example. In the new World, almost everything in South and Central America goes through the Caribbean. There are times you don't even need to colonise the continent, just control the Caribbean and collect it all up before it reaches Europe Another strat is to pick an otherwise bad node with lots of inlets, like Malacca or the Chinese ones. These are rich and good but lots of trade leaks out of these places. You control many provinces but not enough gold to show for it because of the leakage. You can just try to control the next downstream node completely, that way you can prevent the leakage

[@Kevin-ol5gr]

It should also be noted that steering trade from one node to another increases the value of all trade steered based on your trade steering modifier. This value can be up to 10% of the value. So a trade value of 10 being steered would be 11 in the next trade node. Not much concern when talking about non colonial nations but if you're steering from India and SE Asia to Europe you can easily turn it into a 50% bonus to value.

[@aqvamarek5316]

It is higher than 50% bonus, you get the steer bonus on the first 5 trader from different nations. As long you let 4 ai OPM on the road to your main node, you can get maximum steer bonus in every node on the road. India-english channel are 13 jumps on the best road, so you get for 1 ducat production in India 13 times your 10% per jump, around 150% trade income. That's why merchant republics are crazy strong, they simply conquer or colonize the road, and than "found" trade cities in the trade highway for steering bonus.

[@thiagocalleri982]

one more thing: is important to consider how much trade power the upstream trade has, because for example, you can make the malacca trade node your main node but if bengal develop their provinces and improve the trade ports they will steal a lot of trade from malacca because it's upstream and has influence over downstream.

[@yunusakgul2047]

wish you looked for complicated situations like France (English Channel, Champagne, Genoa) and Spain (Seville, Valencia, Genoa) Finding optimum way for them in terms of main note, collecting, transferring would explain everything about trade mechanics

[@memo8496]

Probably the most concise trade guide!

[@LudietHistoria]

thanks Mehmet, glad u think so

[@bchittim1801]

Zanzibar node ftw. I managed to spawn in global trade as Kilwa and make 20 ducats more than the English Channel by reaching up to the gulf of Aden and Hormuz and taking lands for a vassal in India and steering trade from them all back to Zanzibar. Kilwa can make a ton of money if played aggressively in the early game

[@MagaldiMateus]

The right way to say Cuiabá is koo-yuh-bah. It ain't my state though so I really don't care too much, but it sounded weird when he said it. It most likely comes from the Bororo word for fishing arrow (ikuiapá).

[@batatino8805]

The cape filters almost all the trade from the indian ocean to Europe making it one of the strongest trade nodes, controlling the Ivory coast node is key for any western colonial nation to transfer trade from South America into Europe

[@habibihabibi7115]

Really if you're moving trade from India/Indonesia or South America you want pretty much all of Sub-Saharan Africa. Cape > Ivory coast is the main route, but zanzibar is also very profitable. Zanzibar is also really good as a pseudo end node for nations starting in Asia or east africa, by colonizing the cape you prevent Europe from sucking any trade power out of the node and all that Indian and Indonesian money just gets stuck in zanzibar.

[@gigawariatrotterdam]

I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR A GUIDE LIKE THIS ALL MY LIFE THANK YOU LUDI ❤️

[@LudietHistoria]

Thanks for watching bro

[@kingepostle]

Can you do a guide that specifically focuses on the Trade Companies? I am so out of the loop when it comes to knowing WHEN to form a trade company, and all the WHY behind it.

[@mikev4135]

Thanks for the guide! I was just playing eu4 and debating how to proceed with stealing all the global trade haha

[@tariarun5063]

Trade in EU4 is kinda weird, it's always fun to see the world take a new path but trade is very rigid. I think we should be able to reverse trade flows. For exemple if the total of dev in the Lübeck trade node is at leat 50% more than total dev in english Channel the flows turn around (it can be automatically or with a decision if you are the nation with the more trade power in the node). Flows symbolizes where the money goes and it's always to a richer place. If most of the trade power in a trade node is held by outsides nations (countries with economic capitals in another trade node) the flows turn around (it allows the european to steal the trade from Malacca for exemple). "Convert" a state to an adjacent trade node should also be possible. If you're England and you've conquered Brittany (and there's no more separatism), the locals will obviously prefer to trade in the english Channel rather than Bordeaux. Obviously "convert" a lot of states would feel strange but it should cost a lot (like diplo points and maybe lost of production in the state) but should also be limited (maybe only "convert" one or two states from each adjacent trade node) (I'm sorry if I made some mistakes, english isn't my mother tongue ^^')

[@hakerbow]

I don't think the modifiers from autonomy are additive with other percentage modifiers. So the 10% manpower from 90% autonomy means that the base manpower value only is 25 per development, and then other modifiers to manpower is applied to that after the modifier from autonomy. if it was the other way then autonomy almost wouldn't matter as other modifiers would negate having 100% autonomy.

[@RevanLegend]

LOL, I was thinking today that next time I will see you streaming I will ask about the trade guide since I have problems with min-maxing it. Thank you for reading my mind and if you are a stalker who is living in my room then sorry for the mess!

[@jansund1650]

sevilla trade note is pretty op aswell if you controll the caribien node.

[@mister_nova7981]

Beijing is stronk, as it can get nippon and manchu trades, all chinese provinces trades. Only one outward point goes into mountains and steppes. Only thing is that for steer/collect canton trade you need to compete with mallaca power

[@rasingras9889]

The only thing I need to know about trade are if there is a level 1,2,3 trade center or some inland trade endnode. Conqoure said trade areas and roll in the money.

[@horusmegee6969]

As a not or bug, from my past experiences, you can only use the merchant converting provinces if you are Muslim and also in some of the original trade companies area like India and China. A bug as far as I know was never updated since it was added (unless it has to do with regions or something else).

[@ifer1280]

It works in any trade node, but not on abrahamic religions. So it won't work on Christians or Jews.

[@horusmegee6969]

@@ifer1280 I don't know if that is entirely the case. I was playing the Timurids into Mugals and in that game it seemed it only worked when I used it in Indian provinces and not elsewhere.

[@robertdaykin1661]

Also it's a completely legit strategy to move your main trade city away from a node you control 3 centres of trade in, then send a merchant to the node, apply exclusive trade rights, move merchant away, auto lose privilege but keep the 3 mercantilism, then repeat until you've destroyed trade in the game for everyone else...

[@LudietHistoria]

How do you know about this? xD I unlisted that video 2 years ago so people don't know the exploit KEKW

[@friedrice7]

Very helpful thanks! Just learning eu4 and finding good guides that are clear and concise are extremely hard.

[@Martiniboy22]

Did you forget the +25% Governing Cap when a province is in aTrade Company

[@theonordlund1823]

Wait what do you mean?

[@Martiniboy22]

@@theonordlund1823 If you make a province a TC province you pay -75% Gov Cap cause of Territories and +25% GovCap cause of TC. You can look it up at the eu4 wiki and if see this ingame

[@theonordlund1823]

@@Martiniboy22 vewwi cool thx

[@valentinkrajzelman4649]

playing holland and got to like +5k surplus per month due to trading by the end game, i had only conquered the netherland btw and some colonial provices in the spice islands and a couple provinces around africa, india and some other places, 200< provinces total

[@arch3978]

I played as Muscovy and wanted to annex Perm to then expand east. But they had that liberty thing all the way to 70 by 1454. So I read how to lower that and got a big ass army (Horde and Kazan have the threatened thing now) and got it liberty thing to 54 and I think I'll be able to annex it in a while. I have a big army that can wipe out anything, but I am broke and my expenses are over my income lmao

[@peachprincess758]

Great guide Ludi! Love it

[@TheXan57]

15:09 you can have one special upgrade for each TRADE NODE, not state

[@LudietHistoria]

Yes, this is true, I made a mistake there, will try to edit that out somehow!

[@TheXan57]

@@LudietHistoria np, great video tho I still learned couple new things! :)

[@McDudes]

okey I'm lost

[@AntonSlavik]

I'm I'm still clueless how to make the most of the North Sea as Ireland. Sending lightships to the English Channel seems to get a marginally better return than my own trade node, likely because of England's strength, but if I understand what's going on, I'll be investing in a trade node I won't see profits from until I've developed it enough to "protect trade" in

[@lotune4845]

Ludi pls, could you do a navarra guide?

[@dorukersal9633]

Does your main trade city matters if in the same trade node

[@comradebeaver6173]

He spreads the knowledge. Protect the ducats!

[@chriswilliamson9993]

Not bad as a beginner guide, but it misses some topics that are pretty important. For example, what is "Caravan power" and how should light ships be assigned in the late game?

[@Cbobley]

Is there any benefit to putting multiple merchants in a row steering towards your main node? I've heard there's something like a caravan bonus, but I'm not too sure. Sorry if it was answered in the video, I may have missed it. With the Cape for example, is it worth having a merchant there? Nearly all of the trade is pushed to the Ivory Coast node in my experience whether I put a merchant there or not.

[@Cbobley]

Also sorry if this comment duplicated, I have bad internet on my campus.

[@kumakohai7499]

:/ also you didn't talk about caravan power Just so people know, inland trade nodes (nodes of which none province is coastal) Will grant you extra trade power if you assign a merchant, based on your dev: +50 trade power at 200 dev as maximum, and there are modifiers to this caravan power

[@LudietHistoria]

Ahhhh true, I forgot about that actually, should have added it in!

[@male272]

Start as Gujarat, become an Eastern Plutocracy Merchant Republic, push from Molluca, block it all at Gujarat, get control of Cape, block leaving from it. You can very quickly become the wealthiest nation, and, having very little competition from other 'trade blocks', invest in growing your economy even more...pushing up the East African coast for all that gold and ivory trade. You basically create a Gujarati Triangle that starves Europe from Eastern product. Gujarat is the most OP nation in the game...with the ability to form Mughals easily from a position of immediate economic strength, surrounded by nations that will weaken each other in pointless wars, and a dying Vijayanagar.

[@brineslender426]

Just what i need. Still not understand much if you didnt do the first one

[@brem89XD]

Question: you mention that in some scenarios you just collect everywhere, but doesn’t each merchant collecting decrease overall trade efficiency? I recall there being a debuff to just collecting everywhere

[@sarahalexander7256]

When you steer trade, you push the stuff forward, increasing the income by 5% with every hop, but you kinda have to be sure you've got a route of trade secured to do that, otherwise other nations will drain your profit. Something like over 70% or so, like Cape Verde-Ivory Coast-Safi-Sevilla, easily doable as Spain. f.e. Just watchout for pirates, yar. End nodes are the best and you should try to focus on attaining control over them though. I don’t know about any debuff, but you’re still theoretically at a loss if you collect in a node you should instead be steering from.

[@anarmasimli]

As Ottomans I own Genoa and Venetia (main port) and southern Iberia with colonies in Carribean. 50% rule explains why my money sinks when I try to transfer it from Sevilla to Genoa through Valencia where I don't have major share, or from Constantinople to Venetia through Ragusa where too I don't have major share. The question is, if I ensure major share in, say, Valencia will my money go through there without decrease? Because overall trade value of Valencia is less than that of Seville.

[@0Kasada]

To this day I *still* can't figure out if Trade Steering in an area helps you *pull* to that node, or *push* from that node to where you want the value to go. Huge difference, especially for Ivory Coast!

[@extrafreshhh]

I’m pretty sure it “adds trade power” to the merchant at the node, so they can easier push trade forward. Of course for inland trade nodes that would work for both pushing and pulling since you get resideyal trade power at “upstream” nodes

[@Ahmed-jl7uh]

I still did not understand how to cut off trade playing for example as the Mamluks from going to Europe

[@schlimble]

Wasnt it also the best to go threw the most tradenodes as possible since Trade efficience does bump the value everytime up per tradenode ? Or did they remove this part.

[@romgss]

Do a trade guide for the Anbennar mod.

[@MRAVN1990]

Regarding Trade Companies: does it make sense to TC provinces upstream from your main trade node? For instance nippon as main, does it make sense to TC the trade nodes in Indonesia?

[@ruslanmamedaliyev3912]

What is the difference between good produced modifier and production efficiency? How much do tradr companies boost the production? I assume trade becomes the most valuable sourcr of income in late game and the second most valuable is production So adding many provinces to trade companies and investing into buildings can be very profitable tradewise, but i am not sure about production income from trade companies So how much do trade companies bosst the production of the goods in provinces? So for example if the province has 1 produced goods, then what it will becomr after adding it to a trade company and building certain buildings in it? And does it worth developing provinces belonging to trade companies?

[@spatrk6634]

Production efficiency is a multiplier on production income, which is determined by Trade Value. Goods produced is a modifier on Trade Value, which means it affects both production and trade income. A trade company's trade power may be increased by 50% at the cost of +0.03 inflation to its owner per year. Yes. Trade becomes most important mid to late game. Early game is much better to boost taxation.

[@ThePedrodude]

Some of misinformation and confusion regarding trade companies here. The 1000 cost TC improvement are one per trade area, not one per area! Autonomy acts as a multiplicative modifier rather than additive. What this means is that the base +100% manpower is then reduced by 90% so the +100% manpower TC improvement gives you 20% manpower in a trade company province. So you are improving from 10% to 20% - NOT from 10% to 110%.

[@brasidas7]

One thing to add: Convert religion option does not work against Abrahamic religion. This means Europe is out, and any coptic regions are all out. P.S. Constantinople is one of the more insane trade nodes to grab a hold of in the old world. You can start steer bouncing from all the way back to Japan, and send the entire trade to Constantinople. Question: I get that you want high production, but a) why reduce base tax? b) why raise manpower?

[@Veloxyll]

As a guess - dev cost. By exploiting tax, you reduce the development in the province, making it cheaper to dev up. BUT - you can't just dev production infinitely, the game forces you to have the other forms of development. And ducats, which you get from exploiting the tax, are generally useful

[@brasidas7]

@@Veloxyll // Any reason to favor manpower over base tax?

[@Veloxyll]

@@brasidas7 Admin points are needed to core your conquests - mil points are all for manpower (and tech but that applies equally to both - though I suspect most of us are more prone to taking miltech ahead of time than admin/diplo)

[@kevinmc3252]

I'm just starting out and I'm using console commands to get what I want just until I get used to the game, just posting this so others know it's nothing to be ashamed of and not to be put off the game it's so much fun.

[@henryeberman6342]

Honestly don’t do this

[@belphegor_dev]

lmao

[@meimnor]

yesss finally the trade guide

[@zentorini]

okay but let's say that I have 96% of trade power in Constantinople and 90% in Coromandel. Is it always better to push trade to the main node? What If I don't have enough merchants to cover every trade node?