all my freighters are from SOL -- that a problem?

There is nothing wrong with that, sometimes you want to use you more strong planets for your freight trade, but remember that every time that you go to war with an AI you loose your trade route.

If Earth is your best planet then sending all freighters from Sol is indeed a good thing to do

... unless you're planning a war and Sol is in an exposed position. In that case, it might be wise to have some trade routes from other planets that are better shielded from enemy attacks. It really sucks to have some damn Drengin dreadnaughts sitting along your main stream of income and shooting it.

~SDC~

it depends if SOL contains your best planets. I ALWAYS send all my freighters from my highest PQ planet to an AI's biggest economic system that is a direct route to my planet (read as: its a straight line from my planet to theirs). As long as your trade is all going to this one AI, your relations with them should always be at least neutral, even if there military rating far outweighs yours.

Now, onto the straight line thing. I do this for one reason: ease of building trade SB's. I usually build 4 starbases per sector on the trade route, and this boosts my trade income to enourmous numbers (i could build more SBs to get more money, but usually by that time its pointless to do so anyways). In my average game above normal galaxy, i get 5-10k trade income usually using this strategy.
[Message Edited]

Trade does more than make money. It makes friends. You may want to trade with a certain major race to keep them friendly, and Sol may to too far away from them.

~SDC~

Too far away? The longer the trade route, the more it's worth.

wait, are you saying that i may trade from planet A (mine) to planet B (alien planet) several times?
i mean, several trade routes may be exactly alike?
there do not have to be different target destinations?
[Message Edited]

Yes. They can all be the same.

As a matter of fact one time I sent ALL of my trade routes from Sol to a minor in the next sector over, with trade SB's packed all around--very profitable indeed
[Message Edited]

I consider myself blessed when the Carinoids are in a sector adjacent to Sol - or better yet, IN Sol's sector. They're virtually impossible to flip, the trade routes are easier to protect (closer to your power base and your main fleet reserves), and SB buildup can boost production and trade revenues with minimal upkeep by having both types of modules in the same SBs.

10 1-sector trade routes with the same minor, all boosted by at least 6 trade SBs...make for a nice treasury.

The Alexians are also pretty flip-resistant. I've got the Alexians in the same sector as Sol and the Carinoids two sectors away!

~Theoden starts singing "I'm In The Money"~

um.. the alexians are the only minor that i have ever seen flip

Really? They hardly ever flip for me...that's strange. :notsure:

I've flipped all of the minors at one time or another.. its just a matter of whether you're actually trying or not

I never try to flip minors. They are my friends!

Friends with very tasty planets, and with all the one-per-civ achievements already built--they make for nice trading but it's hard to pass up a deal like that

we need to respect the rights of all life-forms -- yers, that includes minors and fish!

jk

edit: or actually -- im not really kidding. only bout the part where it might seem that i treat minors as fish.

anyway, thx alot for the valuable information about trade routes. this has helped me alot.
feel free to develop and use this thread as you desire

[Message Edited]

You can always build and give away a culture bonus starbase in a system that you don't want to flip for the sake of a boosted trade route.


~SDC~

I remember reading somewhere around here that all of the minors flip at about the same rate - except for the Alexians (slightly easier) and the Carinoids (slightly tougher).

I've never actively tried to flip the Alexians, but I've had 2 games where the Torians did it to them.