Remember, resource gathering is constant, not gather-gather-gather-gather-return-gain resources. I am 99% sure that caravans are the same way that once a caravan connects two cities you get a steady "gathering" of gold, more f the route is longer.

As for the danger, once you've expanded a little (or a lot) any trade route shouldn't be too exposed, even if trading with an ally (unless hes across the map)

no, dont you notice that it says "Caravan arrives at Berlin +35 Wealth" at the top? Its not a constant thing.

I dont really mess with the routes at all, and let the caravans arrange themselves. It doesn't matter if some routes are better or worse, you still want to max out your routes so the caravans will end up using all possible routes anyway.

I find with max routes I'm at commerce limit for gold anyway after you do the taxatoin upgrade. With 3 cities its not like you have a lot of options for routes. Remember to keep checking number of caravans during the game, they have a habit of getting killed off. Build a market at at least the first 4 cities and try and get a couple fisherman early and you will have gold a plenty. Periodically check the timber and iron prices, often they will drop down to 20, I always stock up then especially on iron since I always have a shortage after hitting industrial.

It's like the AoE series... really short trade routes are worth almost zero, and the gain per trip goes up exponentially with distance. A route that goes across the map will give you a MASSIVE income.

It's worth taking longer paths. Profit grows faster than travel time.

The "Caravan arrives at X +X Wealth" is like the "Farm is completed, +x wealth" I think. I'll go test it out and come back with some answers.

What I found (The experiement was a quick batle, no computer players, germans on the himalaya map. Starting with ancient age):
Researched civics and economics.
Built a market and another city, the city as near as possible to my capitol. When market was finished ireceived teh build bonus and my gold income went from +0 to +10.
Built a caravan, which then started a trade route. It started at the capitol, and upon arriving at city #2, I got the message "Caravan arrived blabla" and got some trivial amount of wealth instantly.
The caravan went back to the capitol. Upon arriving at the capitol, my gold income raised from +10 to +18.

[This message has been edited by KobraKiller (edited 06-22-2003 @ 02:59 PM).]

As kobrakiller says the 'caravan +X' is simply a completion bonus. Also I think they increase you see in this number is due to the number of routes you have ie the 4th route will get you a +40 completion bonus. As for the constant gather rate being affected by length of route, Im not all that sure. However I have been told city size and number of buildings in the city radius all affect how much gold is collected. If they have taken these things into account it is very beleivable that they would use route length as well.

thanks all esp. KobraKiller for your informative posts.

It takes longer to set up the route if they're farther away, but the completion bonuses (You get one when it gets to one side, and one when it gets back if I remember right) are higher, and the wealth gain is higher. Plus all those other factors, like large cities and stuff.

Caravan routes provide a constant +wealth income, the amount depends on the length of the route.

The caravan depositis wealth at each city. Setting the caravan route mannually gives the most control of the path for the caravan. The caravan drops off wealth, gathers wealth from the trade and returns to drop off at orginal city. The farther it goes the more the wealth. By the time 3 cities are up and commerce 4 is researched 4 caravans are running. Yes the longest route will take the longest to return. But the payoff is bigtime! The long the wait for wealth, however, this is offest by the other caravans making shorter trips.

I have seen players build 6 cities in a small area and do just fine also.