Victoria 3 - Trade Levels Revenue and Tariffs Guide

[@MaciekKleczar]

Trade is probably most complicated mechanic in the game. Hard to find good explanation. So far this is best I found. Thank you :)

[@xSatornx]

Awesome glad it helped! Let me know if you want me to cover any other topics. 😀

[@NickKrige]

I'm sorry if you covered this and I missed it due to my lack of attention span, but who pays for tariffs? Does it affect SoL like taxing a consumer good?

[@xSatornx]

No big SoL impact what you are taxing is the import/export of the good and hurting the trade revenue which goes to your trade centers weekly balance. In addition it makes it less likely to grow in trade level so less goods will be traded its a balance!

[@NickKrige]

@@xSatornx thank you!

[@ViktorEnns]

The open trade law is killing my economy and I can't change it right now. There should be a button where you can at least say export only when 25% over supply. GB and France are siphoning up 60% of my wood production and there is nothing left for my pops. They become mad and radicalise. It's a complete shits how.

[@nicholasmurray9725]

Only way I found to combat this is import the wood right back. Stupid mechanic but it works

[@giadinhhang5988]

Russia for me, all of my steel, tools, and coal were imported by them. Persia is the 5th and 6th producer of such goods and yet has minus 1,7k in every single one. It hurt more when the more I built the more Russia imported, I imported from others, it stayed in the Persian market for a few weeks then go to Russia.

[@xSatornx]

@@nicholasmurray9725 Yup this is a very safe option.

[@xSatornx]

@@giadinhhang5988 It is brutal for sure. Make sure to tariff all you can.

[@xSatornx]

This sounds super drastic but I think you can still embargo under open trade law? If you are really desperate when you are at war all trade should get cancelled too. I would do a scum save and play around 🤩

[@technoimperialist9509]

Can you talk about Trade Center

[@xSatornx]

The more profitable trade routes you have the more employees they can employee. Later on it might be best to subsidize but it can be really expensive option.

[@technoimperialist9509]

Can the next guide be about employment and unemployment

[@xSatornx]

I will see what I can do 😀

[@lfcdave8]

Short, precise and to the point. This guide couldnt have been any better! Excellent video!

[@xSatornx]

So glad it was helpful!

[@unnamedshadow1866]

If you have Free Trade, you basically have a Free Trade Agreement on Default with Everyone. Generally from what i have seen Free Trade is only good for Manufacturing Nations, as you can use the Zero Tariffs to import all the raw material. It allows you to get some good GDP on small nations,

[@xSatornx]

You got it. Size of the nation matters a lot most of these laws are not viable until your a powerhouse and free trade I agree is one of them.

[@Bleilock1]

it can also screw you over as a small nation because it makes stuff in your market more profitable for great powers to buy, and if they start buying from you stuff en masse in the beginning your pops will get richer but will want higher wages soon after because the stuff keeps getting more expensive it can deathspiral you pretty quickly, your stuff can become so expensive that other powers stop trading with you, which just ends up in revolution lol

[@Trypragmatic]

So basically keep America on protection. And don't make trade agreements or you lose lots of money, because you start with lots of exports

[@brett3366]

This is so helpful, thanks! Could you perhaps make a video on how to lay the foundation for building up an Unrecognized Power? I've been struggling with Dai Nam this past week.

[@xSatornx]

For sure will add it to the list 😄

[@ViktorEnns]

I've been trying to form Uzbekistan as Bukhara and conquer Afghanistan and then other neighbors to get friendly with China and then go after Persia and Ottomans and finally Russia. But so far I get stuck on the initial build up. I see some potential in Persia though.

[@jamess6097]

Note that when you export your surplus iron to increase the price, this will reduce the trade revenue on any export routes for Iron. If you control that export route, that reduced revenue will affect the profitability of your Trade Centre and, indirectly, the wages of your Shopkeepers who work there. If the level of the trade route is above level 1, it may even shrink the level, which will result in 1,000 Shopkeepers becoming unemployed for every level of a route which is controlled by you that is reduced.

[@xSatornx]

Great point James appreciate the info! 😀

[@sergeantscumbag2116]

I did this with grain was importing a shit load from the quing and everyone was buying it off me made like 20k alone on that

[@xSatornx]

That's awesome! It may cost some bureaucracy and convoys but in the end I call worth!

[@Jesse_Dawg]

Please more like this

[@xSatornx]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@Slydevil17]

Thanks for this guide

[@xSatornx]

Glad this helped let me know if there are other topics you want me to cover!

[@MrJabbothehut]

They really need to add a "cost of transportation" calculation based on distance and land/sea movement. At the moment goods are teleported across the world which is why being in a customs union can be very annoying with other countries eating up all your resources from across the world which wouldnt happen in reality unless the good was produced so cheaply that the cost of transport would still be worth importing it rather than producing it locally. Ideally you'd have a local market for every single state but then that would clash with the customs union mechanic and whatnot.

[@xSatornx]

Thats a great idea!

[@RobWallen]

It seems trade levels are determined by diplomatic relationship and prior trade history. So if you have great relationship, no embargoes, lots of pre-existing trade routes, the trade level is potentially very high (maybe even higher than your demand or supply, be careful). I would love more clarification if anyone knows more.

[@xSatornx]

oh wow had no idea that impacts it as well. No where in the game to be found. Yes if anyone know please share!

[@jamess6097]

@@xSatornx The trade level mechanic is behind the Tool Tip for Units of Good traded. It is based on total aggregate supply and demand demand in the 2 markets and is moderated by the profitability of the trade route after tariffs (e.g. trade revenue) trade policies and other factors. It is worthy of its own video. One thing that people assume is that tariffs have an immediate effect on the price of imported goods on your market. In fact this is not correct. Import tariffs have no direct affect on the landed price of goods instead the tariff is applied against the profit the trade centre makes and therefore only directly affects Trade Centre profitability and Shopkeeper wages. Obviously if the tariff on a marginal route is high, this may prevent that route from growing to the next level, which would affect the landed price in your market - but that is at the margins. This means that for smaller nations with not bonuses to agriculture it can often make very good sense to find a very cheap, large scale supplier of grain (e.g. Qing) and import grain into your market at 30% tariff.

[@xSatornx]

@@jamess6097 Awesome thanks James for sharing with the community!

[@ckjay8914]

are there any situations where shutting down some ports instead of putting their convoys to work would be the right call?

[@arneeidefjeldsgard1863]

Putting them as Anchorages is cheaper and you can upgrade them later. Lets say you colonize Oceania, which is a lot of small islands, and have enough convoys atm, building ports so the islands are in your network is good, but can be expensive, depending on how your economy is ofc. Downgrading colonial ports to anchorage will then save quite a lot of money.

[@xSatornx]

@@arneeidefjeldsgard1863 Great example!

[@xSatornx]

What's weird in Vic 3 you can't just shut down a building which I do find odd. Sometimes a pause for a few weeks is all you might need. As recommended by Arne I would downgrade to Anchorages. Destroying buildings is a big waste of time and money.

[@ckjay8914]

@@xSatornx thanks, I love how so much of Victoria 3 is about managing the production modes of buildings. You can temporarily reduce costs, suppress worker groups in a certain state, switch between producing staple and luxury goods....

[@Caesar--]

One thing to note with changing your tariff buttons is that if you increase tariffs on exports, then the amount that the importing country is paying increases. This means that if they pay more for the route than they get in tariffs, the route will be labeled as unproductive and likely canceled or at least reduced in quantity. Not always the best play to pump up tariffs, just like its bad to always tax highly.

[@xSatornx]

Great example yeah you need to be careful it can have an impact on your trade route and level.

[@Weedsethesecond]

This is true, but this is the point of the 'protect domestic market' button. You can use it for example to dissuade other states from buying your construction goods which will make your construction efforts more expensive.

[@Waldemarvonanhalt]

I feel like PDX should definitely automate the trade system with AI in a future update. This manual business of having to centrally plan everything is just a way devs avoid working harder.

[@xSatornx]

I agree or maybe have an option like in stellaris you can automate what you don't feel like doing manually.

[@Waldemarvonanhalt]

@@xSatornx No, I mean like in Vic 2 the markets worked "organically" instead of relying on player input.

[@xSatornx]

@@Waldemarvonanhalt Ahh got yah!

[@SBezmy]

Yep, the sooner the better. What were they thinking by not automating it, like I enjoy checking the trade routes for inactivity or profitability fluctuations lol. They should let the player define the focus for each individual good, but from there - full automation. Same with factory production methods, players should be able to select a focus: productivity or profitability, and the factory switches production methods by itself. Lazy Paradox as usual, and charging a premium for it

[@tempestmars123]

thanks for this guide!

[@xSatornx]

Anytime let me know if there is anything else you would like to see covered!

[@overlooting2195]

Very helpful guide

[@xSatornx]

Its a tough subject glad it was helpful

[@Bleilock1]

Hey satorn, tnx a lot, your videos are very helpful at learning the nooks and crannies of the this game you always find some new stuff i didnt know about earlier, and its very quick and short ty again, keep em coming

[@xSatornx]

Awesome appreciate it! Will do 😀

[@wicked59]

I’ve noticed while playing that I didn’t catch other countries automatically trading with you that borders your country which can skyrocket your good prices. I know you can embargo countries but on the tariffs if a country is automatically trading with you importing goods which tariffs is best to make them pay higher for that goods

[@xSatornx]

If they are taking from your market tariff your exports should make them less attractive.

[@wwaqashussain]

is the concept of base price still the same in game after so many patch updates, or hass it meaning changed? In tool bar it says base price is when supply equls demand.

[@cucumba5095]

great guide

[@xSatornx]

So glad you enjoyed it

[@Cmoehlman12]

Really helpful and a great video to watch while I procrastinate my calculus homework

[@xSatornx]

lol don't procrastinate too much 😆

[@marcuspmedeiros]

Great job, watched all vic3 guides today, such a great job

[@xSatornx]

Much appreciated!

[@karma_cardinal]

5:16 ITS OVER 9000!

[@greatdantone]

Those videos are amazing. Thank you

[@xSatornx]

Glad you like them!

[@lorrelion1]

What does trade route competitiveness do?

[@xSatornx]

From what I am guessing because its not well shown in the game is that it gives you priority for receiving goods from trade routes. For example Great Qing and Russia trade with Austria and Austria can only export 100 coal. The country with higher competitiveness between Great Qing and Russia will receive a larger majority of that 100 coal.

[@10z20]

Great video!

[@xSatornx]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@pz9mo1221]

gj

[@xSatornx]

thanks!

[@tomxipe]

Very bad tutorial. Perfect example of explaining how stuff works without explaining how to use it

[@nicholasmurray9725]

To be fair, he would be the first to explain how the trade levels are derived. I havn't seen anything anywhere about that and that's what I need to know

[@xSatornx]

Sorry to hear this isn't what you were looking for.

[@Dedda616]

Very bad human. Perfect example of shitting on a tutorial that you clearly didn´t fully watch or know/play the game. Next time simply press the dislike button Thomas and call it a day

[@seeland1825]

Soooo great explained - thank you!!!

[@xSatornx]

So glad it was useful.

[@seeland1825]

@@xSatornx absolutely

[@ds2sofs]

Kind of a wasted video when talking about tariffs because free trade is key to establish a strong import/export economy.

[@xSatornx]

Personally still not a big fan of this playstyle. Being reliant on the global market to satisfy my goals feels risky.

[@ds2sofs]

@@xSatornx But then you're just spreading a suboptimal strategy that bottlenecks new players from actually fulfilling the economic potential of the country you are playing. Satisfying internal resource needs is almost impossible without imports, and free trade is objectively the best route to go for since no tariffs and higher competetiveness make your market lucrative, the more trade partners you have the more countries depend on you especially if you are a supplier of essential goods.

[@glowingdawn9179]

if there was only one playstyle, there would only be one option to play with. there is a time and place for every mechanic, and if you need to deal with tariffs for whatever reason, good or bad, this guide is helpful. also, people will never understand how or why (in your opinion) free trade is better unless they understand how the alternatives work. maybe you could make your own video explaining free trade if you think it's that great. you really said "you're just spreading a suboptimal strategy that bottlenecks new players..." without realising the irony how you are spreading an opinion and telling new players to use one singular strategy they might not understand, get upset, and quit. the more info the better if you want more players, which will make more money for the game, which will mean future improvements and content.

[@glowingdawn9179]

@@xSatornx great video. don't worry about this guy. doesn't know what they're saying

[@ds2sofs]

@@glowingdawn9179 Holy fuck if you want to be a bootlicker just say so, it doesn't matter how many playstyles there are - there will always be a meta that forms around a video game that involves tactics especially around GSG games. Free trade is by far the best and the modt intuitive playstyle solely because you are outcompeting everyone by a large margin. This tariff scare is so annoying because people like you can only understand a benefit from one policy if they notice green numbers going up without understanding how it impacts and intertwines with other mechanics in the game. This guide is not helpful solely because it focuses on suboptimal economics and never even addresses important factors like whether or not should you focus on manufacturing basic, luxury or advances goods/resources, when is it good to join a customs union in specific scenarios, when is it good to have an economy on a more protective side than on a liberal side. Solely because of that you can throw the guide in the trash because the best policy when you don't take those things into account is a solid export import economy with free trade because it will fit in 90% of the time. What's the use of talking about broader economics when you can't even introduce new players into playstyles that can be fruitful no matter of their geopolitical position? Keep crying, you're obviously a shit player trying to justify their average understanding of the game.