CoTs and other such fun

[Secret Master]

I have yet another question for the FAQ gods in all their greatness.

Actually, its several questions rolled into one, but don't penalize me for it.

First, what determines the province and time for a new CoT to appear? Just complete randomness? Are some hardcoded to appear at certain times? I'm asking because when I play a colonial power, I'd like to be able to plan a colonial strategy that involves prior planning on certain provinces becoming CoTs. I know its kind of lazy of me, since its more than possible to take them in a war, but I've done enough warmongering for awhile and Im trying to win the game in other ways. (Dipllomacy, economy, etc)

Second, what causes the area a CoT covers to change? I know a CoT changing hands as a result of war causes the coverage area to change, but what else does? As I look around the Pacific, for example, I notice that even with no new CoTs or a war causing them to change hands, the territory covered by them periodically adjusts. In my homegrown Heathens Unite! sceanrio (shameless plug for when Paradox posts it for download), Nippon's CoT loses ground to other CoTs, in paritcular Nippon's CoT loses groung in Indochina (Laos, Cambodia, etc) during peace. When I take that 1000 ducat a yera CoT from those pesky Europeans, suddenly the borders radically shift and trade income is distrubuted differently.

Third, does anyone know just how efficient the auto-send feature is with merchants. I've noted it invests for the long term, but to do this is rapes savings in the treasury, so I usually do without it half the time while saving up for those manufactories and loan repayments. Can I as a human player ever hope to do better?

Thanks fo the help, gentlemen.

 

[State Machine]

First, what determines the province and time for a new CoT to appear?

It is somewhat random, though some provinces are more prone to getting a CoT. The provinces.csv file in the \db folder contains an indicator for improving the chance of a CoT appearing.

Second, what causes the area a CoT covers to change?

Big question. I don't think it is well understood. Who owns the CoT, religion, relationships, geographic location, and trade embargoes seem to be factors.

Third, does anyone know just how efficient the auto-send feature is with merchants

Autosend is very inefficient. It spends whatever ducats you have, whether it is a good investment or not. For a newbie, autosend is great, since trading is just too much to worry about on top of everything else in the game. Some people use autosend to "handicap" themselves - since the ai countries use it. Saving money is very difficult to do with autosend on. Alas, the autosend feature is not very good.

 

[unmerged(349)]

Originally posted by Secret Master

Second, what causes the area a CoT covers to change? I know a CoT changing hands as a result of war causes the coverage area to change, but what else does? As I look around the

Well, I am no FAQ god, but I have a couple theories about this. The most important factor is clearly who owns the COT, though your relations with neighboring powers (who own COTs) influences this as well. Playing as the Knights in a recent game, I controlled several provinces around the eastern Mediterranean. They were divided among Venice, Astrakhan and Alexandria (Aleppo was in Thrace when I first captured it, but on Jan. 1 it switched to Astrakhan). But all this changed when I annexed Alexandria, thus gaining my own COT. Every single province except for two (Malta and Hellas, which remained with Venice) switched to Alexandria. This list included Rhodes, Aleppo, Lebanon and even Macedonia. But I don't think this change occurs immediately (for me it did, but I think because I saved the game and came back to it later as soon as I had made peace). Normally, I think, it happens on January 1.

As my empire grew in the middle East (taking Hedjaz, and parts of Nubia) all of these new Provinces became part of the Alexandria COT region. The COT in Oman grew smaller and smaller... until I captured it. Then it bounded back, including provinces which had originally been part of the Oman COT area but had since become part of Alexandria's.

Most changes seem to be made on January 1 (or, if you load a saved game it recalculates).

Just some obersvations I have made.

 

[unmerged(4007)]

How efficient is auto-sending merchants? Not.

If you can possibly do it yourself, do so. Throwing darts at your screen would be almost as efficient.

I only use it when I am at war or otherwise too involved with something else to pay attention to them.

 

[unmerged(4007)]

WOOO-HOOO! Got my promotion!

 

[unmerged(3627)]

Holland and Anglia are hard-coded to appear, but the times depend on what's going on in the world. Other CoTs will show up when the amount of trade in the area, and the unfeasible distances involved in reaching any other centre, require them (eg. Australian CoT pops up just from one grain trading post - Aztec one sometimes doesn't appear for years, even after 20 Caribbean colonies are up and running)

 

[Secret Master]

Thanks gentlemen. With all your comments in mind, it seems to me to be more efficient to sack CoTs in war than trying to plan for their appearance. Or, if playing as a non-colonial power, to just beat up countries with valuable trade until they have only one province in Europe.

 

[State Machine]

For the evil minded

Another thing you can do is occupy a province that contains a CoT. You will get the trade tariff income (60D annually) instead of the owner of the CoT. Every little bit helps .

 

[unmerged(3627)]

CoTs are worth taking if you're at war with their owner anyway.. not sure it's worth opening a war just to get one. If you're a colonial power, there are ways to ensure that you get CoT's in your own territory - and of course you can always capture one that isn't

 

[jpd]

Originally posted by Heyesey
Holland and Anglia are hard-coded to appear, but the times depend on what's going on in the world. Other CoTs will show up when the amount of trade in the area, and the unfeasible distances involved in reaching any other centre, require them (eg. Australian CoT pops up just from one grain trading post - Aztec one sometimes doesn't appear for years, even after 20 Caribbean colonies are up and running)

Yeah, I noticed the one in Holland too. I am playing as Spain, and after the initial Dutch revolt and the emergence of The Netherlands as an independant state, I reconquered Flanders, Zeeland and Holland.

Yet, a year later, the CoT in Holland pops up, rerouting much of the Flanders trade. The funny part is, I owned both provinces, so there really was no justification for the CoT in Holland.

As for the others. Their emergence is semi random. I mean, you can't predict where they will pop up, but reasonably well when a new one should appear.

However, when you reload and replay a save game after a CoT has emerged, it will reappear at exactly the same date in exactly the same province, not matter how many retries you take.

But which rules are followed in determining this province, I don't know. In my first GC as Spain, my first new CoT appeared in Cuba, more or less in the center of my new colonies, which makes sence. In my second GC, again as Spain, the damn thing appeared in Sacramento, on the extreme edge of what I had explored. It still was only a level 1 colony at the time.

 

[unmerged(1764)]

English CoT in Yukon!

JPD,

Yep, when it was only a level one colony, and the only other west coast NA colony was Monterey (I believe it was not a colonial city then). I also held Saltillo and Jalisco, and had 12 other NA colonies and three NA tps, and one Caribbean and one South American colony. Did I mention that I was playing England, and it was about 1595?

Now, why would a gold province, with no trade, turn up as a CoT? Beats me.

 

[unmerged(3627)]

Whether or not a CoT is going to appear in a north american province owned by England depends on trade factors. Where it does appear, once that decision is made, is largely a matter of pot luck