Best Trade Planet

If I remember correctly, trade route values are determined by (1) the length of the trade route, (2) the age of the trade route, and (3) the incomes of the starting and ending planets.  So you want a planet that is far away from where you want to send the freighter, and one with a high planetary income.  In Crusade, the income is determined by raw production modified by improvements and star base effects.

population is one metric, as it resolves to income.  However, specialized planets with lower population might be better, especially if further away from your source goods.

I usually gage distance.

Thank you for your answers. Income seems to be the consensus along with the distance factor.

That's good, because I have just found a Q25 planet that loves to make money and sits far away from anybody else 

A PQ25 on the edge sounds ideal.  If you build one or more economic star bases around it, don't forget to build the star base improvements that boost trade routes.

you also get a diplomacy bonus for having a trade route, so sometimes it can be worthwhile to send them races you have differing ideologies from just to help offset the negatives.

Publius of NV,

"A PQ25 on the edge sounds ideal.  If you build one or more economic star bases around it, don't forget to build the star base improvements that boost trade routes."

Thanks! I forgot about that...

Thanks Charch,

"you also get a diplomacy bonus for having a trade route, so sometimes it can be worthwhile to send them races you have differing ideologies from just to help offset the negatives."

You know, that's the way it used to be, but I no longer see that listed as a plus in the Diplo pop-up when hovering over another Civ.

I still see things like Out of Travelling Range, Ripe for Conquering, Open Borders Treaty, etc, but no more mention of the Trade Routes. I don't know what's up with that.

hmm, maybe they changed that, but i was getting messages saying our mutual trade reduced tensions, if it doesn't would be nice if i no longer got those messages then.

There was a change in GC3 at some point, maybe Crusade only, where the diplomatic bonus from trade only applies to civs that have certain trading/economic traits.  I'm not clear on which civs have that bonus and which don't, although I think that the Iridium definitely have it.

Hi Charch,

Maybe you're thinking about the Open Borders Treaty? That still works.

It could be that I haven't gotten the needed Techs. I will pay closer attention to that. Thanks!

That, I did not know. Thanks for the tip!