All thoughts below are "in case useful" - the devs will have their own vision, and if this doesn't fit with it, that's all good - noting that waterborne trade (international and domestic) underpinned the economies of the period, so it's a very important part of one of the key elements of Vicky 3, as per the game's website.
As the not-that-long-ago blocking of the Suez Canal reminded us, trade over water still carries the vast majority of goods traded around the world. Screenshots on the Vicky 3 webpage (which look sooooooo good
) suggest we'll be getting international oceanic trade routes (wonderful ), but it would be super-duper cool if rivers and coastlines were also important. As late as WW2, coastal traffic was still vital to economies' capacity to function domestically (the battles over coastal convoys, run by both sides, in the English Channel, continued until Allies were on both sides of the Channel) - even in the 1930s, the shutting down of coastal convoys couldn't be compensated for by Britain's train networks, despite them being amongst the most developed in the world at the time - but in the 1830s waterborne trade was vital, both within and without countries.
Rivers and canals were also hugely important - and became even more so over most of the period covered by the game - in Imperial Russia in 1904 rivers and canals transported around 39 million tons of goods, a 66 per cent increase in the amount conveyed by this method since 1904 - and this was despite the interruption to this form of transport caused by frozen waterways.
Waterborne trade during this period was cheaper and could cope with far greater volumes than land-based trade (and, prior to the advent of robust-enough railway networks, was vital). For example, In 1862, by far the cheapest way to send stores from St Petersburg to the Black Sea was by ship to London and then transship them to the Black Sea.
I'm also very interested to see how you plan to represent overland trade, with it going from very limited capacity at the game's start to being 'opened up' by railroads as the game goes on. I'd strongly, strongly suggest moving away from the HoI4 model of "contiguous non-hostile land means trade takes no resources at all and can be done at any volume" (which is wildly inaccurate for the 1930s and 1940s, let alone the 1830s and 1840s) and have some kind of 'overland trade route' system, that follows railroads, rivers and canals (with railroads and canals being upgradeable to allow greater capacity).
Representing this appropriately in-game will add all sorts of logistic depth to trade and military operations, and also emphasise the importance of maritime control of trade routes (be they coastal or oceanic). It's the kind of thing where well-built core systems can add all sorts of depth, and promote the creation of interesting stories around key trade routes or the development of infrastructure (for example, the opening of the 'West' in the USA via railroad being a game-changer for the US because of the overland trade capacity that (up until then) only railroad could provide - prior to the railroads, it was the great rivers of the US that formed the basis of inland trade, and were important strategically during the Civil War as well*).
I hope that's not too rambly - can elaborate on a bunch of stuff as appropriate if that'd help. Either way, best of luck with the game and can't wait to play it
* Riverine military operations are another thing altogether, but one theme per thread
As the not-that-long-ago blocking of the Suez Canal reminded us, trade over water still carries the vast majority of goods traded around the world. Screenshots on the Vicky 3 webpage (which look sooooooo good
) suggest we'll be getting international oceanic trade routes (wonderful ), but it would be super-duper cool if rivers and coastlines were also important. As late as WW2, coastal traffic was still vital to economies' capacity to function domestically (the battles over coastal convoys, run by both sides, in the English Channel, continued until Allies were on both sides of the Channel) - even in the 1930s, the shutting down of coastal convoys couldn't be compensated for by Britain's train networks, despite them being amongst the most developed in the world at the time - but in the 1830s waterborne trade was vital, both within and without countries.Rivers and canals were also hugely important - and became even more so over most of the period covered by the game - in Imperial Russia in 1904 rivers and canals transported around 39 million tons of goods, a 66 per cent increase in the amount conveyed by this method since 1904 - and this was despite the interruption to this form of transport caused by frozen waterways.
Waterborne trade during this period was cheaper and could cope with far greater volumes than land-based trade (and, prior to the advent of robust-enough railway networks, was vital). For example, In 1862, by far the cheapest way to send stores from St Petersburg to the Black Sea was by ship to London and then transship them to the Black Sea.
I'm also very interested to see how you plan to represent overland trade, with it going from very limited capacity at the game's start to being 'opened up' by railroads as the game goes on. I'd strongly, strongly suggest moving away from the HoI4 model of "contiguous non-hostile land means trade takes no resources at all and can be done at any volume" (which is wildly inaccurate for the 1930s and 1940s, let alone the 1830s and 1840s) and have some kind of 'overland trade route' system, that follows railroads, rivers and canals (with railroads and canals being upgradeable to allow greater capacity).
Representing this appropriately in-game will add all sorts of logistic depth to trade and military operations, and also emphasise the importance of maritime control of trade routes (be they coastal or oceanic). It's the kind of thing where well-built core systems can add all sorts of depth, and promote the creation of interesting stories around key trade routes or the development of infrastructure (for example, the opening of the 'West' in the USA via railroad being a game-changer for the US because of the overland trade capacity that (up until then) only railroad could provide - prior to the railroads, it was the great rivers of the US that formed the basis of inland trade, and were important strategically during the Civil War as well*).
I hope that's not too rambly - can elaborate on a bunch of stuff as appropriate if that'd help. Either way, best of luck with the game and can't wait to play it
* Riverine military operations are another thing altogether, but one theme per thread
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