I should add my counterpoint here.

In my games (all settings to ridiculous) I do not have enough troops to escort every single caravan.  Once one is attacked I look for the aggressor and find the nearest troops/heroes that I can spare to go hunt it down then rebuild lost caravans.  It would be too wasteful to assign the troops necessary to escort each and every trader I have running, it would strip my cities.  So I am fine with how it is now.  Though if SD can tackle the more important issues and eventually add a escort option, then I do not see the harm in that... But for now, there are more important issues such as AI, OOM Crashes, Balance, ETC.

I like this idea.  Hero outfitting of caravans would also provide a neat RPG twist to a 4x/RPG type game such as Elemental.

Best regards,
Steven.

I think we're over complicating things.

The basic issue is "Player infrastructure needs to be vulnerable". This is to allow for monsters to do more than simply attack units but actually have a significant effect on the short-term game as well as to allow for factions to hurt a superior foe without necessarily engaging in combat.

Rather than attempting to add micromanaging on to the caravan system (and really, it is because are you ever -not- going to protect your caravan?), we should address the issue and see if the system itself isn't a problem.

What if instead of routes/caravans being distinct units after a trade route is established, the route is automated. Bonuses happen as they do now, but instead of a caravan traveling, the route upgrades overtime. No units running around. However, now, monsters can 'attack' routes themselves. Monsters within a certain radius of a route as well as monsters 'guarding' or pillaging a route apply a cumulative penalty to the bonuses of that route as well as the upgrade time. After a few turns, the penalties offset the bonuses.  Factions and monsters can also outright destroy a section of road to force re-building. New technologies could add effects to caravan to counter-act monsters in the late game (Armed Trade Routes: Monsters take damage over time within a certain radius, etc).

Same overall effect as monsters attacking caravans and having to defend them (you still have to go out and clear out monsters) but you don't have to keep track of producing 12 units for every route, making sure they're all up to date in tech and unit number, etc etc etc.

And how am I doing that? Rather than the player having to manage a stack of units for every trade route that part is effectively automated for them except for the interesting bits where player involvement would be warranted. I don't really see the need to make the player have to go through the rote process of arming and defending caravans as a basic game action. It's not really fun and it simply adds to the micromanagement.

This whole issue is exacerbated by the facts that:

1. When you get a notice that a caravan was destroyed you don't get any idea which caravan it was and

2. There is no good method to manage caravans currently.

I would like to see either a guard unit function, as was mentioned previously, or some tech that would allow caravans to be upgraded with armaments.

On a semi-related note, where is the chart that lists the criteria that determines how/when the road gets upgraded and what the benefits of that are?

Thanks!

Interesting idea, my off the cuff two gildars:

1. Create ledger-type menu to manage all caravans - clicking on a caravan centers the view, make it easier to manage them
2. Instead of a design-view like normal units, option to upgrade attack/defense values of caravan based on current weapon/armor options unlocked in tech trees. Sunk cost of initial upgrade, ongoing maintenance cost depending on investment (i.e. higher quality troops defending, expect to pay for it). Cost would reduce the % bonus returned on said trade route (i.e. no escorts or upgraded caravans, more profitable route, higher attack/defense required, less profitable route). I imagine the menu would show gross value (10%) but show actual net return 5% (due to protection costs)
3. When clicking on a caravan, highlight the complete route in some contrasting color with start and ending points. I think the same thing should be done for any units in transit so it's easier to see who's going where. This would help on the strategic map.

I have no idea how difficult this would be to code and how it fits but this is my humble opinion. I like how they make roads, I like how the routes improve over time, but agree managing many of them at one time, especially figuring out where in the hell they all are, what was attacked, is sometimes difficult. When I create 3 caravans in a row, I'm having a hard time remembering where I sent each one. I usually send #1 to capital, #2 to close cities to build a quick road network. Anyway, I'm rambling.

the roads give a gold bonus. It starts at +10% and goes to 20%, 30% 40%

if you click on a caravan you will see how much experience is needed till next road level. They gain experience either from moving from one town to the next, or by making a complete circuit between the two towns.