Foreign Trade, off-map external trading, merchant caravans
I would love to see the ability to trade resources with foreign settlements. The way I imagine this being done is somewhat similar to Ostriv. There would be two trade buildings, a trading post (for land-based trade) and a port (for river-based trade). You could send traders to foreign towns (with an up-front cost dependent on the distance between the towns), and barter for resources with the town upon arrival. This mechanic would hopefully make the world of Timberborn feel much more believable.
Additionally, there could be a third faction focused on trade. They would have the ability to send traders longer distances, sending traders would be cheaper, they would get better deals when bartering, and they would have access to stronger versions of the trading post and port - the trading emporium and harbor.
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Comments: 36
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12 Sep, '23
Gin Fuyou SystemHighlighted comment
"Trade" (suggested by A new player on 2023-09-10), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion. -
16 Sep, '21
YeeshñawSome more ideas for the merchant faction and international trade: The medium of foreign trade could be paper money (this would have no impact on the internal economy of your city, they would be used purely for trade with foreign city-states). The merchant faction would be the only ones who are able to produce this money (using a unique building known as the mint), while everyone else would only be able to get it by trading with the merchants. The merchants could also have access to a bank building, that would allow them to grant loans to foreign cities.
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21 Sep, '21
Ferran Ferri MergedMy idea is to simulate that there are other communities and that you can exchange excedents for some luxury/commodity/technology items that you cannot get by yourself. There are two ways to achieve this:
- A system to make carts or caravans of items and to lost some beavers for some time.
- A commercial beaver caravan that arrives and can exchange materials for things. -
21 Sep, '21
pmduda System"Comercial mechanics" (suggested by Ferran Ferri on 2021-09-21), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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05 Oct, '21
Thelightcosine MergedAdding trade caravans(or floatillas?) could provide a way to trade resources you’re abundant in, for ones you are not. It could also provide continued metal when ruins run out.
The caravans or floatillas could require a trade post before they’ll arrive. They could also come from different factions which prize resources differently. -
06 Oct, '21
EdesRozsaWould also be good for multiplayer games -- perhaps merge with https://timberborn.featureupvote.com/suggestions/221764/trading-with-offmap-coloniescaravans#comment318969 ??
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03 Nov, '21
Ignotus MergedLategame Trading/Resource system that when combined allows the player to specialize or generalize as they see fit.
- More item production and/or quality levels - more crops, more specialty production (clothes, tools, furniture, food, etc), higher quality items (masterwork furniture, tailored jackets)
- Items have use within the town (may increase work speed, happiness, longevity, etc)
- Higher quality items are created by (happier beavers, more experienced beavers, upgraded shops, etc)
- Items can be sold to trader or bartered for necessary resources and other items
Example:
I've survived a few droughts with a small town. Instead of expanding into more districts with the same forester/farmer/water pump setups, I create a town that specializes in apple cider, brewed from apples from an apple orchard. Or maybe I create a forestry town, specializing in growing hardwood trees and making high quality furniture. The town gets food and other supplies from the Trader or the main dist -
14 Nov, '21
HappyBeaverYes! It would be cool also to be able to trade food for water during a draught if under pressure. Just 2 days ago I lost a beautiful settlement because my beavers coudn't finish filling the big water tank before a really long dry season - my fault, I know, but still - all my beavers died :'(
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03 Jan, '22
Gemma MergedRelations with other towns/bandits on the map sending adventurers
- Defense mode (towers, soldiers...)
- Other towns on the map you can have commercial/spiritual/defensive relation with
- If you are prospering beavers can immigrate and the opposite.
- With a very good relationship o conquering you annex other cities -
03 Jan, '22
Gin Fuyou System Merged"Multiple Towns & Relations" (suggested by Gemma on 2022-01-03), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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03 Feb, '22
ChampiOr there could be outposts of the factions you're not playing displayed all over the map. It could allow for trade and, eventually, politics (exemple: the ironclaws ask you to generate more power, in exchange you get a free building, or food) but i think its a bit far fetched.
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21 Feb, '22
Tommy-xan MergedSome kind of exchange feature would be nice to get rid of excess produce, particularly towards end of game. In some of the Roman civilization games, they have nice features for empire-building and external trade that would be nice to see in this game.
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22 Feb, '22
Gin Fuyou System"Trading with off-map colonies/caravans" (suggested by Thelightcosine on 2021-10-05), including upvotes (10) and comments (5), was merged into this suggestion.
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22 Feb, '22
Gin Fuyou System"External Trade" (suggested by Tommy-xan on 2022-02-21), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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29 Oct, '22
Carmantar MergedWith a bonfire, beavers can signal wandering beavers where they are. This can happen in two tiers, with a player operated bonfire (like tnt) and a signal tower which is automated and burns every x days.
Caravans need a trade post to stay and trade. Beaver need to supply the caravan with water and food before they can initiate the trading.
The caravan has a random selection of goods on sale. The trade post is essentially a warehouse where a buy/sell order can be set by the player or automated in a second tier of the building.
Caravans would allow players to get a couple pieces of tnt or blocks of metal to create a first canal or build a battery. But would not be viable as a replacement for the production chain.
This also opens options for story quests. Trade with x beavers or supply x groups of pilgrims etc.
Image contains (very basic xD) ideas for a bonfire, signal tower, caravan camp and trade hall. Also a little cart for the traders.
Related: 252921, 214853 -
09 Nov, '22
Gin Fuyou System"Trading with caravans" (suggested by Carmantar on 2022-10-29), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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03 Jul, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Economy and trading system" (suggested by Alex on 2023-06-22), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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10 Sep, '23
A new player MergedYou would trade with your other colonies so if you have a massive abundance of something you can trade it for food metal wood or other Resouces this also doesn't have to be trade between your colony's it could just be between you and NPCs maybe factions also factor into trade like if you trade with a folktales settlement and your iron teeth the prices will be higher and if you add an underground bever faction iron teeth might have better relationships with them making prices lower also trade would not be instant it would take days also you could make it to where you have to place a port to trade and ship would use the river as their way off the map this would also mean you would have to open the flood gates that most people use to block water from leaving the map. thou people might try to cheat with the time thing by setting their computer time forward..
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01 Nov, '23
Gin Fuyou System"Late-game off-map trading and diverse, quality item production" (suggested by Ignotus on 2021-11-03), including upvotes (7) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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28 Apr, '24
zovjraari love a trading option in games like these. sometimes you over-produce something but need something else, and trading is a great way to balance your production.
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25 Jun, '24
Marasen MergedMy idea is to have off map colony(s) that you can donate resources to to improve relations provide disaster relief and trade with. If a story mode gets introduced these colonies could be mother or sister colonies with the mother being able to trade more and the sisters asking for more help. Also you could sacrifice your standing to ask for free materials to save you from a disaster. How I think it should be implemented is to have a trading post in each of the four directions that you have to make and path to in order to trade with one of the outside settlements.
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30 Jun, '24
Gin Fuyou System"Trading with other offscreen colonies" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-06-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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12 Jul, '24
NacoranMaybe some trade goods might be going to someone with different needs. There was a suggestion for fishing... maybe something other than beavers is out there... someone else evolved,... you could establish trade with other species. Maybe cats want catnip and fish, dogs want bones,... you could have a building where caravan show up... I think people would love to see a cat caravan or dog caravan show up to trade.
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30 Jul, '24
Gaberwocky MergedAn idea to help 'end game' ideas, 'start play on neighboring map', or 'create settlement on neighboring map'. You'd send some number of beavers and resources to one of the cardinal dimensions, where there'd be a different map and constraints / challenges. You could have 'long range' district crossings in this scenario. Imagine the original map doesn't have badwater or metal, but the neighboring map has it in abundance but nearly zero trees or farmland. Creates a challenge around 'exchange.'
Also could have neighbors be AI and want to trade, akin to how Sim City 3000 handles 'neighbors.' OR, once in the end game and going to a neighboring map, the original map/beaver civilization is taken over by the AI and becomes a counterparty you play against/with. (this dovetails into the 'colony' game mode idea suggested). -
15 Aug, '24
Gin Fuyou System""Play neighboring map"" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-07-30), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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29 Oct, '24
sharksandlasers MergedA new workplace where if connected to a path that reaches the edge of the map then workers will take food, water, and excess resources designated by the player off the map and return with a new consumable item called Trade Goods that raises population welfare. Any item can be traded, but higher tier items will produce better Trade Good yields. For example, 10 logs will give 1 trade good, but 5 treated planks will yield 2 trade goods, which is more desirable because the workers can only carry so much material at once.
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02 Nov, '24
Gin Fuyou System"Trading Post and Trade Goods" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-10-29), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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19 May, '25
Piper The Beaver MergedIdea: have the ability to trade materials. This would be in the form of a new building, The trade hub.
This building would generate trades (e.g. 15 gears for 30 logs) using a algorithm that uses weight (e.g. 1 iron = 5 weight, 1 log = 1 weight) to determine amounts. Additionally, this building could be used early-game to acquire harder-to-obtain resources and can be modified to be more balanced, or cost more materials, or take time. If Multiplayer is ever added, this could link to it as you would be able to sell resources for a resource that is hard to obtain (e.g. wood when you are starting a oak-based wood farm) in certain circumstances. -
21 May, '25
Gin Fuyou System"computer generated trading" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-05-19), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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25 Sep, '25
Beerwolf MergedI was thinking it might be really cool if a couple other animals were added as traders. So say a wandering Moose every now and then really loves something and is willing to knock down some trees for a price. You direct him where to knock down a large portion of trees and then he moves on until the next wandering animal comes along. Then after that the haulers are able to haul away the stock quickly be it wood, crops, or destroy a wall. Dynamite is cool but so is a Moose with a love of Berries, Carrots, or whatever for trade.
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29 Sep, '25
Gin Fuyou System"Other animals as traders." (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-09-25), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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28 Dec, '25
branden Mergedwe could put a path to the edge of a map and trade via that. maybe there are random requests at each border.
for example
if you connect to the west border, there are trade demands of treated planks and metal blocks, 500 of each, or however much for however long. the payment could also be a random thing (dynamite, planks etc) per item traded. maybe a trade post would need to be added to employ traders.
or there's a request for a canal of badwater to the east border because they're opening dynamite factories. if you connect it, you get 20 dynamite per day unless there's a drought.
makes colonies feel connected to a world rather than just lone -
30 Dec, '25
Gin Fuyou System"quests/trade routes to other colonies" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2025-12-28), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
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