Food Feature

[Brant]

You shall not pass!:

Summary:
It seems to me the new food markets take away a former dynamic of the strategy involved with food.  This idea may make it feasible again to starve out an enemy region... or even an ally's region

Details:
As either a diplomatic treaty or a Banker setting, disallow realm X to trade through your realm.  When a person goes to make a trade, a route is traced (somewhat like the routefinder for traveling), if no route can be found that does not go through a "disallow trades" realm, then there is a chance of your shipment being confiscated enroute.   For example: 
Realm A and B are at war. 
Realm A has selected to not allow realm B to trade food through realm A's regions.
Realm B needs food for it's city, realm C is offering to sell food. 
There is no path from the region selling food in realm C to the city buying food in realm B that does not go through realm A. 
Realm B can buy the food, and realm C will be paid, but there is a chance for realm A to confiscate the shipment.
Additionally there could be a chance for each region the food goes through that contains troops from realm A.

Benefits:
It would return the "under siege" feeling, especially on maps like Dwilight where cities are often completely surrounded by their outskirt region.  It would also make the scorched earth tactic feasible again.

Possible Exploits:
None that I can think of right now.

[dustole]

Isnt it that way already with the new diplomacy?  I think you need a trade agreement...   I would like to see a way to steal food.

[Brant]

The way I understand it, the new diplomacy system would only keep Realm A and Realm B from trading.   I'm not even sure it would prevent a trader from brokering between the two realms.  I want (just for example) Coriscantium be able to take Aegir's Deep and prevent food from getting to Aegir.  Or taking Chesland in order to starve Chesney.  But yes, stealing food should be possible too. 

Under the current system,

Realm A and B are allies
Realm A and C are allies
Realm B and C are at peace.

Could a trader from realm A broker a deal between realm B and C using food offers that are open "only to allies"?

[Indirik]

New diplomacy system does not work, and never did. It will not work in the foreseeable future.

There will eventually be some traveling mechanic for food shipments that may allow embargoes and intecepting food. It will probably rely on the presence of armed troops rather than just a passive diplomacy setting.

[Indirik]

@brant: a trader's ability to broker deals works indepently on both ends. As long as the trader can trade individually with both parties, he can broker a deal between them. So, for example, an Astrum trader could broker a deal to sell Terran food to Kabrinskia, even though the two realms are at war and cannot trade between themselves.

[Perth]

There should definitely be a way for the presence of troops to starve out a city, townsland, etc.

[^ban^]

Troops in a region already consume massive amounts of food.

[Penchant]

Troops in a region already consume massive amounts of food.

He means troops surrounding the region stop more from coming in like a siege.

[egamma]

He means troops surrounding the region stop more from coming in like a siege.

Yes. wasn't that the point of all those ring regions on dwilight, Like Paisly and Paisland, Chesney and Chesland?

[Charles]

Paisly has access via the sea.  I do agree with this idea though.

[Tom]

Rejected.

With the current system, there is no way to implement this with reasonable amounts of effort. Maybe something similar can be added with future changes to the trade system, but not at this time.

Why? Because it would be so ridiculously trivial to circumvent the idea as proposed here that it would be a huge waste of developer resources to add something that has basically no effect.

[Vellos]

@brant: a trader's ability to broker deals works indepently on both ends. As long as the trader can trade individually with both parties, he can broker a deal between them. So, for example, an Astrum trader could broker a deal to sell Terran food to Kabrinskia, even though the two realms are at war and cannot trade between themselves.

Heh, didn't realize that. So an Astrum trader sitting in Raviel, for example, might be able to reach sales in Larur, and ship them to Golden Farrow.

Hmmmm..... that is very interesting.

[Indirik]

One of the ideas I had to tie in black marketeering dealt with brokering deals between realms at war, with risk of being detected, and having the food and/or bonds confiscated. I suppose there are other ways to work it in, too.

[JPierreD]

One of the ideas I had to tie in black marketeering dealt with brokering deals between realms at war, with risk of being detected, and having the food and/or bonds confiscated. I suppose there are other ways to work it in, too.

Would work with a smuggler-kind of trader for adventurers/commoners. Something that was hinted in the past as an idea to be considered.

[Indirik]

I don't think there are any plans at all to expand the advy game into that area.