Should you only sell or trade any Trade Goods to those who are leaning the same way as yourself?

Trade Goods

Ok vets,

If you are leaning to Good should you only sell or trade any Trade Goods like Diplomatic Translators to those who are leaning to good or neutral like yourself and not to the ones leaning to evil more or less?

Are Trade Goods just something to make a buck on at the time?

On the other hand, is it better for you try to sell ASAP to your friends and anyone else that will pay you a fair price or trade you something you want before someone steals it?

In addition, will other races hold it against you for trading with another race they just hate but are not at war with at the time when you made your sale?

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Mistralok1

Join Date 05/2006

+22

Never sell/trade a 'trade good' to anyone. They are too valuable. Your friends now, will be your enemies later.

, will other races hold it against you for trading with another race they just hate but are not at war with at the time when you made your sale?

Nope.

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"Never sell/trade a 'trade good' to anyone." They are too valuable. Your friends now, will be your enemies later In my current game it has gotten down to 3 races. I'm allied with the other against the Korath. I gave the repair trade good to my ally so they could help out more. In this game, never say never. But as a general rule you are right.

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I would agree that these are valuable assets to have **exclusively**.
It's a similar principle to a Galactic-achievement that nobody can build anymore.

BUT... and this is a biggy;

- Why hold on something sooooooo precious that it wouldn't give you a clear advantage?
- Any AI is always ready and willing to handover huge amounts of BCs for those!
- Unless you can be absolutely sure that ALL trade-goods will be yours only... could anybody ELSE exchange what they currently own for cash to other AIs? And, in short-term, witness the wide spread distribution of that particular one and its bonus values. With you - staying on the outside, watching the show!
- If you analyse those carefully, you will realize that each and any has a balancing tech further down the tree that gives anybody almost the same advantages for research-points, ONLY.
- 1000BCs here, 2000 there. One can put the cash to good use.

Conclusion(s);
1) I always sell any of these asap.
2) While making sure, the whole set of opponents GET their very own copy for money during the same turn or pretty soon afterwards.
3) The Universe is in a state of equilibrium & I've got meself cash to spend while i wouldn't benefit from such an edge in economic factors if i had just kept an idled and indirectly worthless trade-goods for monopoly reasons beyond my greatest attempts at figuring out exactly why!
4) 99%++ of an efficient war-machine is supported by solid industrial capacities AND, a steady flow of cash which you either get from sliders and taxes OR by stripping it away from opponents' treasuries.

Sell. Now.

- Zyxpsilon.

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I give trade goods to minors for econ and research treaties. It doesn't generate a huge return, but with enough minors it can add up. Otherwise, I never trade or sell anything with military or economic value, with the exception that I'll use trade goods to bribe a peace treaty out of someone if I find myself in more wars than I can handle. A few thousand bc isn't worth giving the enemy more HP, faster repair, the ability to fill transports as fast as he can build them without depleting his population, etc.

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Mistralok1

Join Date 05/2006

+22

In this game, never say never.

Indeed. There are certain situations where one might potentially gain advantage by selling/trading/giving away one of these goods. If I were going for a diplomatic type victory, I might gift a tech, if I thought that this action would bring me close to another race. If I were going for a research victory, I might send a tech along, if it would keep me out of a conflict long enough to finish up the final tech or two and win that way. If I were trying for an influence victory, oh, I don't know... maybe more bc to put towards another influence starbase. So, you're right- never say never.

But no matter how I start out my games, they almost always end up the same way- head to head. Let's take your current game, for example. What happens when the Korath are gone? You'll be facing the race that you have given that tech to, and will have lost your advantage in that respect. In other words, the time that it took to research that tech will have been wasted. These are weeks of research time that could be spent on miniaturization, in order to be able to squeeze one more weapon onto your ships, or on logistics, to give the advantage in fleet size, or any number of things that might actually help you defeat your enemy.

I have found, in my own experience, that these goods are only valuable if I keep them in my pocket, so to speak, and doing otherwise inevitably comes back to bite me in the backside.

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