Trade ability for Fixed Defense units

[virtutis.umbra]

Ha, I'm just full of questions - because my players are This one pertains to the Trade starship ability:

When Trade units are
assigned to Trade Fleets they add their Trade
rating to the income of the systems along the
Fleet’s trade route. This adjusted total is then
used to determine the amount of income the
trade route earned.

The Nulos race from the Menagerie fields Trading Post starbase units that feature a Trade special ability. I wondered how this is intended to work since the Trading Post units obviously cannot be assigned as Escorts to the trade fleet? Is there a benefit to building more than one Trading Post in a system?

[Tyrel Lohr]

The intended effect is that you add the total Trade rating of units in a system to that system's own economic output before calculating how much commerce income the trade links in the system generate. For example, if a colony has an income of 9 normally and contains 8 Trade rating, then it has an effective output of 17 for purposes of commerce calculations.

You can build as many Trade units as you want, and there is no upward limit to the number you can have in a system. I don't think any of the Trade units make enough money to cover their own maintenance costs.

[virtutis.umbra]

Aha, I see - thanks! By that interpretation are Trade-capable starships assigned as Escorts to a Trade Fleet considered "present" in all the systems plied by that Trade Fleet (And thus count their Trade rating up to 3x)?

[Tyrel Lohr]

Aha, I see - thanks! By that interpretation are Trade-capable starships assigned as Escorts to a Trade Fleet considered "present" in all the systems plied by that Trade Fleet (And thus count their Trade rating up to 3x)?

I would say that you have to just pick one system along the trade route for them to give their bonus to. Otherwise ships with Trade would get to count their bonus multiple times, which is a little excessive.

The 2E version of Trade simplifies this process so that you just add your total Trade rating to the commerce values of the system you are trading in before calculating your imperial commerce income. That makes it easier to track, and ends up turning Trade into a simple commerce value bonus that is just applied during the Economic Phase prior to calculating income.