guest

although it might seem tempting and profitable, it's not always such a wise decision to take arms all the way from america to the east indies. why? because you're missing other trade-opportunities inbetween, by occupying cargo space throughout the whole tour.
if you sell arms directly from america to the east indian colonies, you receive a profit of, let's say, approximately 150 gold per ton of cargo. it seems huge. but if you rather take the app. 100 gold per ton for selling arms from america to the caribbean, then 40 gold per ton for sugar from the caribbean to africa, and then 40 gold for jewelry from africato east india - you will gain a profit of app. 180 gold per ton of cargo, which is 20% higher.
of course i'm talking about averege numbers i have experienced. the market can change, and under certain circumstances, if a profit of 200 gold per ton for arms from america to east india is possible, the caribbean is low on sugar, african goods are not that much demanded on the east indies, or if just the current state of diplomacy doesn't allow the desired route, i do take the arms directly from america to shanghai.
but no matter what route you may decide, you should always plan as many stopovers as possible. why? that's simple: because the longer routes you take from one port to another, the more supplies you have to carry with you - not only more food, but also more ammo and more planks and sailing clothes, in case of being attacked in the middle of the ocean, with no nearby ports available - and the less space you have left for your goods, and hence, the less money you earn on your trip.


i, personally, like taking a tour that looks like this:

europe -> north america: liquor
north america -> caribbean: arms
caribbean -> africa: sugar
africa -> east indies: jewelry
east indies -> china: coffee

and then back:

china -> east indies: opium
east indies -> africa: spices, tea
africa -> europe: ivory

of course, it might seem boring, to take the same tour over and over again. but it's only an example, and the tour is not nearly always the same. what i like most in this game is, when the situation suddenly changes and - just because an ally surprisingly declares war on your country and therefore making it impossible to deliver your goods to the desired harbor, or new options occur due to an unexpected change of the market, or if you meet an agent of your country in the middle of business, urging you to take him all the way back to europe - making it necessary to overthrow the whole plan and having to make a new one. ;-)