                            Concept : Trade ships

NAME
   Trade-ships - How to use trade ships

Level: Basic

Trade  ships  are  special  ships,  with a different function than most Empire
ships. They are in the game only if the TRADESHIPS option is enabled.

Trade ships simulate internal or external trade. In the real world,  countries
make  goods that they can make cheaply, ship them somewhere they're expensive,
and sell them, making a profit.

In the empire version, you make a trade ship, using lots of cm's, and  costing
$2500. You then sail it to a harbor somewhere and scuttle it. You then receive
money, with a varying rate of return.

The trade ship MUST be scuttled in a harbor that is at least 2%  efficient  to
make  money.  (In  other  sectors,  it sinks quietly, like most ships) You may
scuttle it in either a harbor you own, or the harbor of an ally.  Pirates  who
capture  a  trade  ship  may also gain money from it, just as if they were the
lawful owner (although the news knows the difference)

The return rate is based on the straight-line map  distance  from  the  harbor
where the trade ship was built to the harbor where it is scuttled.

You have to sail it at least 8 sectors to get any money at all. At less than 8
sectors, you get nothing, not even your $1750 back. Nothing, nada, zilch, zip,
nothing.  Once  you make a trade-ship, you're pretty much committed to sailing
it at least 8 sectors...

Currently, the return rates are:

                   Distance sailed         Return rate
                   0-7                     NO MONEY
                   8-13                    2.5% * distance
                   14-24                   3.5% * distance
                   25+                     5.0% * distance

For example, if you sail the ship 10 sectors from  the  harbor  where  it  was
built  and  scuttle  it in a harbor there, you would get 125% of the money you
paid for it, or $2188. If you sailed it 15 sectors to a  harbor  and  scuttled
it, you would get 153%, or $2678.

Use  the  "payoff"  command  to  see how much the trade ship would pay were it
scuttled in a harbour at its present location.

If you scuttle a trade ship in the harbor you do not own, you get a 20%  bonus
(applied after the value is multiplied by the return rate above), AND the per-
son owning the harbor gets 10% of the cash you make as  a  bonus  (the  amount
before  the +20% bonus is applied) You still get the full amount, but he makes
money as well.  (Peaceful trade enriches BOTH countries more than trading only
internally).   For  the  devious, no, being allied with yourself does not mean
you get +20% when scuttling in your own harbors.

For example, using the #'s from above, if you sailed 15 sectors, and  scuttled
in  an  allied  harbor, you'd get $2188 * 1.2 = $2.6K, and your ally would get
$2188/10 = $218.

CASH GAINED IS ALSO MULTIPLIED BY THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TRADE  SHIP.   So,  if
you get shot down to 21%, don't expect to get the full amount...

If  you capture a trade ship, you are free to scuttle it in any harbor you can
get it into, receiving full cash calculated normally.

The cash return is multiplied by the efficiency of the ship, so less efficient
ships produce less money.

Captured  trade ships may be scuttled as if they were yours (although you will
get some bad publicity in the news) Payoff is still based on the distance from
the harbor where the trade ship was built, not the sector in which it was cap-
tured.

You can also use the "order" command to set up automated trading  routes  with
trade  ships  and have them navigate and automatically scuttle themselves when
they reach their destination.  See "info order" for more information on  this,
but basically you can do things like this:

       Step 1) Make a harbor
       Step 2) Get cms distributed/delivered to your harbor each update.
       Step 3) Find a destination harbor to sail to
       Step 4) build tradeships in the harbor each update
       Step 5) load civs and food on the trade ships each update.
       Step 6) order the trade ships to sail and autoscuttle in the dest harbor.

You  can then just repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 each update, and never worry about
your trade ships again.  Unless someone starts intercepting them, that is...

SEE ALSO
   payoff, order, Ship-types, scuttle, Ships

