Related topic http://www.gamedev.net/topic/650519-industrial-revolution-strategy-post-mortem-and-ideas/

Check that one if you want to get into the mood of mercantilism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism :)

Trade subsystem for a *relatively simple* strategy game during industrial revolution. You govern an island nation and want to industrialize it.

I look for a suitable trading system and please try not to go too complex, it's just a subsystem, it's not a trading sim :)

Basic requirements:

- it needs to allow acquiring some resources, since the player won't have them all domestically in sufficient quantities

Advanced requirements:

- it should use merchant ships (player owned) to carry stuff

- you should be able to buy raw resources

- you should be able to sell finished products (preferably with some limit, so you can't simply produce and sell everything and make big bucks), maybe some sort of "markets for finished products" would do the trick?

Expert requirements:

- it might use navy ships to "protect the trade"

OK, I will start then.

Maybe two kinds of trade mechanics at once?

1) Buying from foreign merchants

Simple, a list of goods and a buy button, these will be delivered (by the ships of independant merchants) to your port next turn. The drawback is that you can't sell anything this way and that the prices are high.

2) Trade via your own merchant fleet

Complex, you send your ships to distant land and sell/buy (at better prices). Maybe some sort of an expedition, you decide where your ships will travel, how many ships, what they bring there (to sell) and what they should try to bring back (buy). Then after several turns (months) these ships return bringing income from sold exported goods and bought imported goods.

Or maybe like this:

From time to time there is an event "merchants arrives". You will get a screen displaying 3 fleets, you need to decide with whom you want to trade and whom to send away (also you can accept all of them). The trick is each fleet carries a fixed cargo and you have an option to either buy it all or nothing at all. In addition, only if you bought from them you will get an option to sell to them (they will tell you what they want, again yes/no is the only option, no negotiation) (you can sell only after buying because only if you bought they would have an empty cargo hold).

On lower difficulty levels these fleets will tend to bring goods you lack the most.

And similarly, you have a list of "distant ports" to whom you can send your own merchant fleet.