It can be increased with econ starbases.

If you plan the route(s) correctly (and maximize the bases), you can make a lot of money.

The income is pretty pathetic, I gave up and just edited my race to have + 1000% trade income! There are some uses though. I never even use it for diplomatic boosts as generally only 3-4 civ rival my power once I get going and if they all want to war it's fine since the AI attack strategies are pooh. Understand that it takes years to pay for those star bases and freighters with trade income even if they are only 4-5 constructor bases. Now if you arm your trade ships it counts towards military might and you don't pay any maintenance. Takes even longer for them to pay for themselves but free military boosts can keep civs off your back while you build up infrastructure.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I had not thought of putting weapons on the trade ships for purposes of military rating. Interesting idea.

In regards to:



I agree that trade used to be very useful and I would get loads of cash from it, especially when using a bunch of trade ports on econ starbases. But NOW in ToA I get hardly any money at all from it. I am quite surprised at what Highwater was saying about making over 1000bc a turn from it with the Korx. When I play as the Altaran and have eight routes going through some econ bases with trade modules I still make well less than 200bc a turn. I recognize of course that Altarans don't get the trade bonuses that Korx get. All the same, I used to pull in 3x that amount on the last beta and in DA.

Right now trade is hardly relevant to my economy even though I play with very few habitable planets. For folks who play with lots of colonies, trade would be even less useful.

Does anyone know if it makes a difference whether you put all your trade ships going from just one planet (usually my capital)? Can each planet only support so much trade? If so then maybe that is part of my problem. I like having them go from all one planet so I can easily build trade ports on econ bases that cover all my routes.

Also, do trade modules increase the money I get from other races' trade routes?

I am a bit puzzled by the people that are saying it's less than in DA, to me it looks like approximately the same as in DA. (I often play with the korx and I notice not too much difference, TA seems slightly better when it comes to trade, but that's probably because of the extra 25% trade module the korx can research)
The 1000bc/turn total is with 12 routes that have been up for a while now, I'll have a look at my traderoutes when I get back to playing, to see if there's any further info (nrs of starbases etc).

I usually trade from homeplanet to homeplanet. Population size and economic income of that planet does seem to have a slight impact.