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I have just started to get into Medieval: Total War (I hadn't focused on playing it intently in the past) as the Danes.

Now my question is this: How do I establish trade routes? I've constructed the trading post and the shipwright (the port comes in by default) and placed a ship in each sea region from my port to that of my allies in a chain and yet still nothing occurs. What am I supposed to do?

The only possible thing I can recall is if there is an enemy ship somewhere in the chain, they cut the chain. Other then that I'm getting a blank. Altough, I haven't played Medieval for years now.

Adrian McNair wrote:I have just started to get into Medieval: Total War (I hadn't focused on playing it intently in the past) as the Danes.

Now my question is this: How do I establish trade routes? I've constructed the trading post and the shipwright (the port comes in by default) and placed a ship in each sea region from my port to that of my allies in a chain and yet still nothing occurs. What am I supposed to do?

I don't recall it being necessary to place a ship in each sea square, surely? It's been ages too since I've played though ...

I think it's necessary.

Well it's what the manual says in regards to trading. But what step have I missed that links everything together?

Make sure no other ships are in the region, unbroken chain that's straight...

Ace Pace wrote:Make sure no other ships are in the region, unbroken chain that's straight...

So having at least one ship per block of sea isn't going to be enough? When I said "links everything together" I actually meant establishing the trade route. Is there some sort of sign that indicates that the route has been created?

EDIT: Surely someone must know.

You must have at least one ship in every sea "province" between the place you are trading from and the places you are trading to. There can be no enemy ships in these lanes, either, or it basically acts as if the lane stops right there. As for the income from trade itself, it is not listed seperately from any other income. It appears exactly the same as all other income (farming, mining, ect) in that it is just part of the overall income for the province doing the trading. If you manage to get all the sea lanes shipped up and a trade route going from everywhere to everywhere then it is entirely possible to have +2000 trade income in the 3-resource provinces. I also noticed that you made no mention of trading post/merchant/merchant guilds/grand merchants in your OP. You must have the merchant line of buildings for any trading to occur, sea-lanes or overland.

To trade you need

1) A port
2) A merchant house
3) ships all the way there
4) No enemy ships blockading
5) A port in the rival provence. Unfortunately there is not a lot you can do to encourage the AI to build a port. Fortunatly the AI prioritises them.
6) Goods theey want. Mercia with it's wool does not trade with Ireland which also provides wool. Only different goods are traded.

You can check your trade by clicking on the income button and then clicking on the province. The new window gives a detailed account of where trade is coming from and going to.

Note that by "enemy ships" it means people you are at war with. Doesn't matter if the sea province is occupied by neutral or allied nations.

I remember when I played the Danes. Using Vikings I conquered Scandinavia, then Scotland, then Ireland. The I used Irish gallowglasses, vikings, and Scottish highlanders to conquere Russia, Portugal, and Egypt. From there I took the rest of Britain and Iberia. Then France and North Africa fell under pincer attacks. Then I stopped playing.

If you want to find out just how much you're pulling in from trade, go to the bottom of the screen, the part where it lists all the buildings in a province. Right click on the building you built for trade, trading post, merchant's guild, whatever level it is. It'll tell you how many florin's it's pulling in. If yougo to the finanial report, and right click on a province on the list, it'll tell youwho that province's customers are.

Thanks, for the advice everyone. I think the province I chose to trade with probably had the same goods as my home territory and that might have been the problem.