Trade Agreements

Trade Agreements require allowance by treaty before they may be established. They take time to grow, but can be quite profitable once mature. Only one Trade Agreement may be established between two powers at a time, and it may cancelled at any time by either party. If war is declared, any trade agreement between two hostile empires is ended.

Once a Trade Agreement is established, trade routes must be specified (from one empire's Major Planet to the other's). Most of the trade produced by an Agreement is handled by civilians, so protection of the trade routes is recommended. Ships may be assigned to protect a certain trade route, and will be handled (strategically) by the GM for the benefit of trade. Police forces also have a noticeable effect on protection.

Trade Agreements benefit both empires. The amount of revenue gained by each via taxes and tariffs follows a Fibonacci series,⁹ with no revenue the first turn, 1EP the second and third, and so forth. Trade maxes out at 80 each between allied empires, and 60 between non-allied. A sucessful raid on either side of the border prevents the trade route from producing that turn, and goes down one level the next turn. Civil unrest will also go up by 5 points for both empires.