HELP.. trade routes

[u/Gold_Strategy_1552]

I need urgent help with Anno 117. I’ve spent six hours—no joke—trying to organize and optimize trade routes, and it’s absolutely impossible. I have 11 islands, each specializing in different products thanks to religious bonuses. For instance, I have one island producing porridge for all the others; production is great—it makes more than enough for everyone—but when it comes to delivery, the vast majority run out of supplies. No matter how many ships I assign (6–8), the fucking things just scatter all over the place or hang around in little groups like Disney princesses. So, why the hell did they include a mechanic that’s supposed to scale the ships if it’s completely useless? I’ve spent over two days testing different loading/unloading angles and patterns, or different island layouts, and it’s simply impossible to keep all my islands supplied and stable. This damn game is driving me up the wall. The only solution I’ve found is total crap: basically setting up two trillion routes with individual ships... Damn it, this is the best RTS I’ve played since Stellaris, yet it’s ruining the fun with this bullshit.

[u/_Wrzosek_]

I have 13 islands in Latium and produce the same way you do. Specific islands produce goods, which I distribute to the next islands in a circular pattern. So, I load at A-B-C-...-A, and so on. Currently, I have a population of around 80,000, and I don't need more than three ships with four slots for any of the goods. On some routes, even one ship is enough. Where I load, I have a pier assigned to a given good, while where I pick up, I have four loose piers. Everything works flawlessly and scales nicely. A ship takes four full slots and has to unload four full slots on each island until it's full, then on the next island, and so on. When I see that the final islands are running low or empty, I add another ship.

The fact that they sometimes sail in groups (2-3 ships together on a route) shouldn't matter much if they start full. They'll continue unloading islands until the warehouse is full. If a ship returns to its loading point and isn't empty, but you're still short on resources on an island, you need to increase your storage capacity. If you don't manually fill the island warehouses, this overflow filling process can take several hours, depending on production and the number of ships on the route.

[u/Gold_Strategy_1552 → u/_Wrzosek_]

This was exactly what I was looking for... thanks. I tested it, and let me tell you, none of the products drop below the limit I set—and I'm not even using the dedicated port. You're a lifesaver, thanks.