Mr. O wrote:An act of war, is an act of war. Just because you pull back troops doesn't mean you are friendly.
And an act of trade is an act of trade. Just because you pull back merchants doesn't mean you are reneging.
There are a number of legitimate reasons to recall merchants.
* Renegotiating the trade (be it first or third person. "I spoke with Guild A's leader, and you need to send 30k of each resource to city Y because of your attack." <on its way> "Wait, because of new information, it seems you sent your troops when the city was a barb city, they took it and your forces couldn't be recalled. So you don't owe them anything." <woops>)
* Needing resources elsewhere more immediately - You sent 100k lumber off to city B which used up all of your merchants. Now city C was just attacked and its resources are gone. It needs support units (which can be sent) and resources, but your merchants are in the middle of their trip out. You could save much time by recalling them.
* Correcting that screw up. Yes, you check to make sure your resources are going to the right place. That's great. But mistakes can and do happen. Sometimes you send it to the wrong city that you own. It can happen. Would be nice to redirect or recall.
* Sending resources to a city that you owned, but that has been conquered prior to the merchants arriving. Nothing like supplying your new enemy with resources. [Note: I have no idea if this works or not as I have yet to have a city captured by an enemy that I had resources en route to. I assume it would happen though. And yeah, that amuses me, but it's a reason for recalling merchants
).
All that being said, I find equally appealing the idea of being able to play the fun game of "screw your neighbor." Arrange an exchange of goods. He sends you 100k of iron and you send him 100k of lumber. Then he shuts down and leaves to play ball for an hour or two. You then recall your merchants. He's ****ed when he returns. Bummer! Guild diplomacy time or might makes right.
As well, this is the reason (in my opinion) for the market: if you don't want to risk another player reneging on a deal then trade resources on the open market. It is slower and opens things up to competition, but has the safeguards in place. If you deal directly then, in my opinion, you should be open to being double crossed.
If you still disagree that's fine. It's not a huge thing. But I think that allowing merchants to be recalled is not a game changer by any stretch. And it opens up some interesting possibilities. I would probably advocate the same restriction that is on troops; 15 minutes to recall else they are too far gone to be recalled. But otherwise... let people have fun ticking off their neighbors.
[quote="Mr. O"]An act of war, is an act of war. Just because you pull back troops doesn't mean you are friendly.[/quote]
And an act of trade is an act of trade. Just because you pull back merchants doesn't mean you are reneging.
There are a number of legitimate reasons to recall merchants.
* Renegotiating the trade (be it first or third person. "I spoke with Guild A's leader, and you need to send 30k of each resource to city Y because of your attack." <on its way> "Wait, because of new information, it seems you sent your troops when the city was a barb city, they took it and your forces couldn't be recalled. So you don't owe them anything." <woops>)
* Needing resources elsewhere more immediately - You sent 100k lumber off to city B which used up all of your merchants. Now city C was just attacked and its resources are gone. It needs support units (which can be sent) and resources, but your merchants are in the middle of their trip out. You could save much time by recalling them.
* Correcting that screw up. Yes, you check to make sure your resources are going to the right place. That's great. But mistakes can and do happen. Sometimes you send it to the wrong city that you own. It can happen. Would be nice to redirect or recall.
* Sending resources to a city that you owned, but that has been conquered prior to the merchants arriving. Nothing like supplying your new enemy with resources. [Note: I have no idea if this works or not as I have yet to have a city captured by an enemy that I had resources en route to. I assume it would happen though. And yeah, that amuses me, but it's a reason for recalling merchants :) ).
All that being said, I find equally appealing the idea of being able to play the fun game of "screw your neighbor." Arrange an exchange of goods. He sends you 100k of iron and you send him 100k of lumber. Then he shuts down and leaves to play ball for an hour or two. You then recall your merchants. He's ****ed when he returns. Bummer! Guild diplomacy time or might makes right.
As well, this is the reason (in my opinion) for the market: if you don't want to risk another player reneging on a deal then trade resources on the open market. It is slower and opens things up to competition, but has the safeguards in place. If you deal directly then, in my opinion, you should be open to being double crossed.
If you still disagree that's fine. It's not a huge thing. But I think that allowing merchants to be recalled is not a game changer by any stretch. And it opens up some interesting possibilities. I would probably advocate the same restriction that is on troops; 15 minutes to recall else they are too far gone to be recalled. But otherwise... let people have fun ticking off their neighbors. :D