Trading is a vital part of any economy, whether it’s modern or medieval, you will always need resources for almost everything. In Foundation 1.0, trading opens a fantastic route early in the game, as you will gain the ability to trade goods with your neighbor with the help of the trader. Traders will rely on Trade Route to transport commodities, so you will have access to more resources without crafting them. Here we will go through all the details about Trade Routes and its mechanics in Foundation 1.0.
Trade Routes In Foundation 1.0
When you are starting out in the Foundation, you will not have access to all the resources in the game. Some resources can be created, but others can only be accessed from trading. Here, unlocking a Trade Route will help out immensely in finding other helpful resources for your city.
The game also gives us the option to unlock new Trade Routes and upgrade them to make Trading a more efficient and critical part of the economy. But first, you need to build up a Market to get the trading started in your city.
Unlocking Trade Route
Northbury is the first Trade Route you will unlock in the game. It gets unlocked after you send 20 Wooden Planks to Northbury. Each trader will transport different commodities. When you click on a Trader, you will see all the items they can purchase and sell. The list of products that they work with varies from one trader to another. Throughout the game, you will unlock different Trade Routes to keep your economy strong.
Trade Route Information
When you click on a Trader, you will see plenty of icons and numbers on their profile. The number next to the items or commodities shows the maximum amount of the respective item. To get more information on Trade Routes, open the Royal Book, then head over to the Trade Route section, it will be located at the third option from the left.
The Trade Route section will list all the Trade Routes available in the game, but most of them will be locked. When you start the game, you will only have access to the Northbury Trade Route. Here, you will see two arrows, Green and Red. Under the Green arrow, you will list goods sold by the city and the Red arrow is the items the city will buy from you.
The Trade Route section also reveals other useful information about the route: Level, Volume, and Volume to Upgrade.
- Level: It represents the current level of the Trade Route. The lower the level, the more limited the volume of resources. On your first level, you will be allowed to trade only 25 Goods at a time. But if you level up to Level 2, the amount of tradable goods gets raised to 50.
- Volume: Shows the maximum quantity of commodities that can be traded per visit. Upgrading the Trade Route is the only way to raise the Volume of the Trade Route.
- Green and Red Arrow (Volume to Upgrade): Tracks the quantities of traded resources on the route for an upgrade. You have the option to upgrade the Trade Route but that falls into two categories. First, you need to use the Trade Route a number of times to become eligible for an upgrade, and then the rest carries over to the Mandates section.
Upgrading Trade Route
You must have a Bailiff built in your city to access the Mandate section. After you have built Bailiff, you can then now open Mandate, and go over the Bailiff section. Here you will see options such as ‘Improve the Northbury Trade Route‘. The upgrade is not going to be free, as right next to the title, you will see the amount of resources needed for the upgrade.
If you have the resource in your inventory or stockpiled in the warehouse, you can click on the Invest icon on the upgrade page to level up the Trade Route. If the icon for an upgrade is in the color grey, then you lack the amount of resources for an upgrade. Once you have all the required resources, the color of the button will turn to orange from gray.
Time Requirement for Upgrade: The upgrade will take time to roll out, it will not happen instantly. The time for upgrading a Trade Route is tied to in-game days. So you will just have to wait a while for the upgrade to roll out on the Trade Route.
Note: Most of the upgrade requirements for the trade route will require storage of common items, such as bread, or stone.
To get more information about Trade Routes, head over to the Budget section to learn more about them. It offers a monthly overview of all the items you have traded over to your neighbors. An excellent way to learn more about goods, so you can prepare for the production of demanding materials.
The next thing that you may want to get going in the game is Mining. Check our detailed guide on how to unlock the Quarry in Foundation 1.0 to do exactly that.
