Add Opium Trade Good

[Mansa Sekou]

As I was playing my hindustan game I noticed that there are quite a few NI's that mention the Opium trade in India and I was wondering as to why Opium isn't in the game, it is already a thing in Vicky II so why not add it to EUIV? It could have a similar mechanic to slavery were you could promote the trade of it or try to ban it. The resource could replace some of the cotton and grain in India, Burma and Afghanistan. Opium would reduce unrest on a local level and maybe increase trade power for a "trading in bonus" (Forcing addicts to buy opium soley from your countries merchants)

 

[Trin Tragula]

Export and large scale production of opium was very limited in 1444. For our start date opium would exist in at most 2 provinces in the entire world. I'm 1820 it'd be around 3-4 (all of them in Malwa and Bengal).
The type of political spreading of opium to addicts that you describe also does not really fit the EU4 era.

Given that it's just not important enough to be it's own trade good in this era
It did have a very big local impact though and some regions were famous for it, which is why you'll find it in national ideas.

 

[Pega5u5]

Export and large scale production of opium was very limited in 1444. For our start date opium would exist in at most 2 provinces in the entire world. I'm 1820 it'd be around 3-4 (all of them in Malwa and Bengal).
The type of political spreading of opium to addicts that you describe also does not really fit the EU4 era.

Given that it's just not important enough to be it's own trade good in this era
It did have a very big local impact though and some regions were famous for it, which is why you'll find it in national ideas.

is it possible for one province to produce multiple trade goods?

 

[grommile]

is it possible for one province to produce multiple trade goods?

Paradox could make it possible if they wanted to, but that's a can of worms they prrrrobably don't feel like opening any time soon.

 

[3ishop]

I swear I've seen a member of staff say opium is part of the "spice" trade good in game.

 

[Golladan]

I swear I've seen a member of staff say opium is part of the "spice" trade good in game.

It is, if you go by the history files, where some provinces have the Spice trade good with a comment that it's opium.

 

[SantoshKashyap]

Though opium exports were an essential component of a triangular trade that was central to England's position as a world power, it was not until 1773 that BEIC gained a monopoly over this lucrative trade. (Monopoly over Bengal & Bihar farmers not until 1793). Opium under the BEIC changed from being a luxury good to a major global trade commodity. Centralised controls accelerated the export of Indian opium to China--from 13 tons in 1729 to and 2,558 tons in 1839.

The Company's steadfast refusal to raise Bengal's opium exports beyond its self-imposed quota of 4,000 chests per annum left a vast unmet demand for drugs among China's swelling population of opium smokers. When demand drove the price per chest upward from 415 rupees in 1799 to 2,428 rupees just 15 years later, the East India Company's monopoly on Bengal opium faced competition from Turkey (10% Market Share in 1810s) and west India (Rajput Princely States of Malwa - 40% market share - 1820s). After BEIC loosened some restrictions (1820s) and its lost monopoly in 1834, China's opium imports increased nearly ten fold--from 270 tons in 1820 to 2,558 tons twenty years later. Opium addiction grew rapidly, reaching some three million Chinese addicts by the 1830s. Simultaneously, China's illicit imports of Indian opium nearly doubled, rising to 4,810 tons in 1858.

The actual impact of Opium trade on China is beyond the EU4 era.

 

[Trin Tragula]

I swear I've seen a member of staff say opium is part of the "spice" trade good in game.

It is, but in most cases it's not significant enough to even make spice the primary trade good.
You can see in province history, as Golladan says, when spice is put in to represent opium.