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own merchants, and it is often quite difficult
to displace a merchant in a center in which you
have not previously been trading.
As you might imagine, another country will
not be particularly pleased if one of your merchants dislodges one if its merchants since this
represents a loss of income to that nation. Each
time you put another country’s merchant out
of business, your relationship with that country will suffer a small penalty. You can avoid
unintentionally angering a country in this way
by diplomatically arranging for a trade agreement between your two nations. This guarantees that your merchants will never try to
dislodge one another. A more drastic step that
will give your merchants a competitive edge in
your own trade centers is to diplomatically embargo another nation’s merchants. This denies
that country the right to expand its business in
any centers of trade that you own. Issuing an
embargo is a somewhat drastic step that will
cause your relationship with that nation to sour,
and will give that country a casus belli to go to
war with you over the issue until you lift the
embargo.
Monopolies
There is a special level of trade that you attain
in a center of trade: a monopoly. You will need
to have researched at least trade technology
level 7 before you can even attempt to achieve
a monopoly, and you must already have 5 merchants active in that center. You may then send
a sixth merchant to try to gain a monopoly. If
you succeed, you will gain a disproportionately large bonus in the value of trade that you
derive from this center each month, and your
merchants will be even harder than usual to
dislodge. Also, fledgling merchants will be impressed in your achievement and will be more
inclined to make themselves available to you,
resulting in one extra merchant being added
to your pool each year for each monopoly you
hold.
Trade Disruption
Income derived from overseas centers of trade
can be precarious if you are unable to maintain
control of the seas. Your trade income will be
reduced from any overseas source if any of your
coastal provinces’ ports are currently blockaded by enemy fleets. The amount of trade
lost is proportionate to the percentage of your
ports that are blockaded, and the lost revenue
is transferred to the owner of the blockading
fleet. You would be well-advised to ensure
that you have the naval muscle to protect your
coastline if your economy depends heavily on
trade.
Europa Universalis III does not trace specific trade routes, province by province, from
their source to your capital. Even if the waters
immediately adjacent to an overseas center of
trade are blockaded, or if a “trade route” is
obstructed by enemy fleets, it will not reduce
your trade income as long as the coastline immediately adjacent to your country are free of
enemies.
There are roving fleets of pirate ships that
may periodically appear on your coastline.
Some of these are created randomly, while others may be the result of another nation’s efforts
at espionage. These will have the same effect as
an enemy’s blockade, but any revenue they capture is simply lost. It is not transferred to anyone else. Of course, if you have a very powerful
navy you might wish to engage in a little piracy
yourself. Any trade income that an enemy loses
as a result of a blockade by your fleets will be
transferred directly to your treasury. This is a
great way to have a careless enemy help to finance your war effort.
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